Mark S. Gustavson

The so-called Squarebird ('58-'60) has often been the subject of customizing. George Barris built several including one for his wife, Starbird built the over the top bubble-topped Electra, Hershel Conway did a really beautiful one, Dean Jeffries famously panel-painted and pinstriped a factory-fresh '58 Coupe (which has recently been restored, and often cloned). Even mildly-modified Squarebirds are great in appearance; check out these shots of a very mild custom '60 built in the last half-decade (with an aftermarket tubular custom front grilles).

This mild custom 1960 Thunderbird is designed and owned by noted author and editor Pat Ganahl

Though Squarebird customs are unusual these days, Salt Lake enthusiast Frank Shifflar has owned a mild custom '59 'Bird for many decades. His red coupe features '67 Cougar taillights, Mopar quarterpanel/front fender side marker lights and a red velour interior.

I've always loved the Squarebird. In June of 1960 (when I was 9), my parents bought a 352, fully-optioned white '60 coupe (black leather, air, radio, auto transmission and 3.00 rear gears), and I immediately started to modify that 'Bird during my youth. I pinstriped it, punched holes in the mufflers with an old screwdriver to make that desired "performance" sound, installed some baby moon caps and rings (in place of the factory hubcaps), screwed up the engine compartment with CalCustom metalflake-painted valve covers, a chrome aircleaner. My cousin advanced the timing. My father hated all of those changes, reversed them all, and sternly lectured me not to try those stunts again. After fooling around with the car for 6 or so years, I decided, about 18, that I would one day own a stock and custom Squarebird. I restored that car about 10 years ago, including a full paint job, new leather seating, and mechanic Mike Smith rebuilt the 352 with a 390 crank, forged pistons, a medium performance cam, lots of blue printing, and disc brakes to slow the beast down. 

In 1980, I happened across an absolutely mint, ultra-low mileage 1958 Thunderbird still wearing original platinum and black paint, original chrome, and nearly-perfect Ford script glass. The car had been purchased in early 1958 in Mahweh New Jersey, and the car was moved to Salt Lake in 1975 where it sat for a few years, covered, in a garage.  I paid a decent price for the car. The paint was hand rubbed to bring back the gloss, the suspension was dropped, stripped to bare metal, painted and reinstalled with all new mechanical parts. The 352 was smoking just a bit, even though the car had just 17,243 miles on the odometer, so buddy and mechanic pulled the 352, pulled the heads and sent them out for disassembly and some light machine work (planed, fresh valve, new guides, etc.). The engine was bolted back together, painted correctly, and re -installed in a motor compartment that I had repainted. My '58 is the lowest mileage registered '58 coupe known to exist. 

About one year later, I purchased a somewhat beat-up 1960 Thunderbird sunroof from a friend in Salt Lake. This car was painted a light factory blue, with two-tone blue vinyl interior, auto transmission, air conditioning and no other options. The car had been repainted in lacquer and the paint was failing in 1981.  Rust had started to perforate the rocker panels, and the rear quarters had been poorly repaired before the repaint, and the typical rust had made a mess out of the lower rear quarterpanels. Still, the price was reasonable for this very rare car (only about 1200 or so '60 sunroofs were built), so I bought it and started planning for the work to be done. (For more information on these rare sunroofs, please go here:

http://www.squarebirds.org/power_golde_top.htm

http://www.squarebirds.org/sunroof_technical.htm

http://www.vmrintl.com/cctm/General/squrbird.htm

http://www.tbird.org/gallery/gallery/kharkema.htm

Because I was entranced with the "look" of my '58 Coupe, I came up with the idea of creating a custom '60 Coupe with most of the '58 exterior chrome taking the place of '60 parts. A kind of "phantom" Squarebird started to jell in my mind, and I started to buy NOS '58 trim: in Hemmings, I found two mint/unused '58 taillight bezels and original lenses as well as a front grille, and I miraculously located an NOS set of '58 roof side moldings! I also started to purchase reproduced parts: sill plates, a black carpet set, mechanical parts (ball joints, etc.) and an incredible '63 Thunderbird tri-power set up including an NOS oval aircleaner "Bird." I also found a Ford top loader 4-speed, '63 406 cast iron headers, a manual transmission bell housing, and a solid lifter '63 390 Ford big block (that needed to be rebuilt, but all the cool parts where there). 

As I continued to inventory parts and buy everything for the car that I could find through dealerships and from vendors in Hemmings, I also started to do the body work.  Inept at heavy-duty body work, I hired super bodyman George Layton (one-time GSL Best of Show winner) to restored the body, and then carry out the custom bodywork that I had in mind. I purchased a mint set of right and left rear quarter panels from a vendor in Arizona (they were absolutely rust free, inside and out, though there were a few minor dents) because my '60 had a rust problem in the rear quarter panels. 

After doing some drawings, and thinking about what needed to be done to create a distinctive custom, I decided to have George Layton to make these changes to the body of my Sunroof:

• Duplicate the rear quarter panel pot metal moldings with sheet metal duplicates. There are too many seams around the taillights and they were eliminated. No shape was changed – just duplicated;
• The potmetal hood scoop was duplicated in sheetmetal and welded to the hood;
• The left and right front hood corners were rounded; the body was modified to match;
• The headlight area was modified to accept vintage Marchal rectangular headlights (very popular in the early Sixties);
• The seam at the base of the headlight area – where it meets the front fender – was welded shut and smoothed;
• The long indent atop the front fenders was removed and smoothed over;
• The '60 door script was removed, thought the lovely door handles were retained;
• The many unnecessary holes on the inner fender panels (motor compartment) were welded up and smoothed. The firewall was also shaved and filled to eliminate use of the factory air conditioning and heater. Aftermarket A/C and heater will be used; and
• The drip rails on the roof were shorted to permit the installation of '58 side roof moldings.

The body will be painted a dark gunmetal/blue color – probably from the 2004 Audi line, with a pearl black roof. Of course, both colors will be clear coated. The interior will be feature the art deco factory '60 interior components, rendered in black, with black leather factory seats. The engine compartment will be painted a slightly darker version of the body color and suspension components will be powder-coated in a series of dark greys – I don't want this car to be an over-chromed show queen. I want to have a subtly-rendered Squarebird!

With this introduction in mind, please check out a photo essay on my restyled 1960 Thunderbird Sunroof (yeah, I know it's rare!).

Bibliography

1959 Bird

Motor Life

July

1959

cover

1959 Barris 'Bird

Motor Life

October

1959

pgs. 48-49

1959 'Bird of Paradise"

Rod & Custom

August

1960

pgs. 32-33

Taillight Styling

Rod & Custom

December

1961

pgs. 40-41

1958 Thunderbird

Rod & Custom

April

1962

p. 17

1958-60 T-Bird Styling

Rod & Custom

April

1962

pgs. 16-17

Hershel Conway's '58

Rod & Custom

June

1964

pgs. 21-22

T-Bird Conversions

Custom Rodder

March

1995

pgs. 9-13