Photo: Classic Auto Mall
Talk about Ford’s older, iconic models, and there’s no way around the Thunderbird. As one of the Blue Oval’s longest-running nameplates (it was introduced in 1955 and they kept at it well into the 1990s), it went through a lot of changes during its life. However, it never rolled out the factory doors looking like this one here.
Over the years, we’ve seen our share of strange custom Thunderbirds taking center stage, most recently as a 1959 example chopped and painted purple for some reason. Few of those builds were as unsettling, though, as the one we have here.
A 1962 model year by birth, this Thunderbird was transformed into something the people behind it call the Phat-Mobile: a chopped low-rider sporting a body kit with fender skirts, 15-inch Cragar wire wheels, and tail fins out back.
The entire visual package is not at all awful to look at. But the thing is, it comes wrapped in a color called Lavender with a Passion Pearl clear coat. That would be purple and, like all other shades of purple sprayed on any car, it is awful to look at.
Especially when one pairs an extravagant exterior with a much more down-to-earth interior. In this case, the purple doors open to a somewhat less eye-popping gray with bucket seats, console, and age-appropriate dashboard.
The not-quite-right feeling you get when looking at the thing from the outside somewhat subsides once you learn what’s under the hood. There, you’ll no longer find the factory-supplied 390-ci (6.4-liter) V8, but the massive 460-ci (7.5-liter) unit that first saw action on the Lincoln Continental.
The engine works with the help of a 3-speed automatic transmission, but no performance numbers for it in this application are provided.
Like many others of its kind, the unsettling Thunderbird we have here is for sale. The asking price is $32,900.
A 1962 model year by birth, this Thunderbird was transformed into something the people behind it call the Phat-Mobile: a chopped low-rider sporting a body kit with fender skirts, 15-inch Cragar wire wheels, and tail fins out back.
The entire visual package is not at all awful to look at. But the thing is, it comes wrapped in a color called Lavender with a Passion Pearl clear coat. That would be purple and, like all other shades of purple sprayed on any car, it is awful to look at.
Especially when one pairs an extravagant exterior with a much more down-to-earth interior. In this case, the purple doors open to a somewhat less eye-popping gray with bucket seats, console, and age-appropriate dashboard.
The not-quite-right feeling you get when looking at the thing from the outside somewhat subsides once you learn what’s under the hood. There, you’ll no longer find the factory-supplied 390-ci (6.4-liter) V8, but the massive 460-ci (7.5-liter) unit that first saw action on the Lincoln Continental.
The engine works with the help of a 3-speed automatic transmission, but no performance numbers for it in this application are provided.
Like many others of its kind, the unsettling Thunderbird we have here is for sale. The asking price is $32,900.
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