“It’s a good cruising speed,” he affirms. Likewise, the wheel covers are the same ones used on the Ford Fairlane models.īurnette says the car handled well at 70 mph during a 500-mile trip. The taillight units are identical to the 1956 Ford sedan with backup lights above the taillights. Tilting the Continental-style spare tire rearward exposes the door in the trunk lid for the gas cap. If there were not a small door in the trunk lid, filling the gas tank would require opening the trunk. “I rubbed on the paint for three months to achieve this sheen,” Burnette adds. There was no question as to what the color had to be. Reassembling the Thunderbird, he electrically welded each piece to meet or exceed Ford’s specifications and then leaded the seams.īurnette painted the Thunderbird using enamel paint because that’s what Ford used in 1956 and he wanted his car to be authentic. He then washed and scrubbed the double-box X-frame before he painted the entire unit black. Around the hub is the legend “Master Guide Power Steering.”īefore reassembly, Burnette had the frame dipped in a chemical bath. The deep-dish three-spoke safety steering wheel is telescopic. The power window control is positioned lower on the door. The seat is a power four-way unit with controls on the door. The carpeting is black while the door panels and bench seat are black and white leather. The sun visors are padded, as is the dashboard, although the black padding is paper thin.Ī signal-seeking AM radio is mounted in the dashboard. A tachometer and a clock anchor both sides of the speedometer, along with a turn signal flashing light. “If it wasn’t chrome or stainless steel, I painted it.” While he was restoring the mechanical and body parts of the car, the chrome parts were sent off for replating.īehind the wraparound windshield is the see-through speedometer, which records speeds up to 150 mph. “I held every nut and bolt on the car in my hands,” Burnette says. The front fenders, with vents on the sides, were laboriously straightened and both rear quarter panels were replaced. Burnette replaced the trunk floor with healthy rust-free metal along with a new 16-gallon gas tank. The Fordomatic transmission and rear axle were overhauled, too, returning to “like new” condition.Īdditionally, the floor of the trunk had rusted away. The 312-cubic-inch engine was overhauled so it could once more generate 225 horsepower. Then it was only a question of how long restoration would take. “I’m going to make a new car out of this,” he decided. “It looked OK,” Burnette says, “but it was a sad case.” Despite the shortcomings, he bought the car with 96,000 miles on the odometer and drove the strikingly handsome black Thunderbird for about a year while evaluating what to do with it.Īfter removing the body from the frame and disassembling everything down to the last nut and bolt, Burnette changed his mind. Many years later Burnette saw an ad offering a black 1956 Thunderbird for sale. Burnette accommodated his customer and then drove the red Thunderbird as his personal car for several years. The Ford owner wanted to trade his T-Bird in on a 1955 Cadillac. Not long after these new models were first on the street, a motorist in a Fiesta Red 1956 Thunderbird drove up to the used car lot owned by Bill Burnette. Each one weighed 3,038 pounds and carried a base price of $3,151. Only 15,631 Thunderbirds were built in 1956. The dual exhaust pipes were redirected from exiting through the trunk and out the valance above the rear bumper to exiting through slots at the corners of the rear bumper, avoiding the trunk altogether. To make space in the trunk, the 6.70×15-inch spare tire was hung off the rear of the car. Those woes were addressed with the 1956 Thunderbird featuring a hard top with a round porthole on each side.
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