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I purchased this beauty in early 2020. Sadly, I had to let it go in 2022 but it was a blast owning this classic piece of 1960s Detroit luxury. Duco is the original Sauterne Gold but looks to have had a respray at some point. Body, underside and drivetrain are excellent, as is the interior.

The original Autolite 4100 needed reconditioning so I ordered a kit from Mike’s Carburetors in Washington state, USA. Leigh McKechnie from Sandy Carbies did the rebuild - the Tbird now starts and idles on cold mornings. When you put your foot down there’s a deep bellow from the twin exhausts that you only get from 400+ cubic inches of big block V8.

Although she came from the factory with the stock 390, at some point in her life a 1966 date-coded 428 replaced the original engine. Being the same year as the car, and the fact that from ‘66 Ford did offer a 428 in Tbirds means the swap only adds to the car’s appeal. Even at idle you know there’s a big fire down below.

Mileage? I like to use the available power from time to time so it could be better - I get around 150 miles to a tank which works out at 8-9 mpg.

The car has been in Australia since 2018 and I’m lead to believe it was a one owner car in the US. Original owner was said to be a timber company manager in Oregon.

Sold new to Hodgdon Ford Mercury in Coalinga, California, in November 1965, the T-bird had a sticker price of $5,608.29 and came with the below options: