Dillon Beach Street Sighting - 1966 Ford Thunderbird

She looks a bit forlorn today, but this was one of the nicest American cars available in 1966. It's a Ford Thunderbird, a personal luxury coupe that featured one of Ford's biggest and most powerful engines. It was offered with a 390, but a 428 was also available, producing 345 horsepower. This one looks like it was originally equipped with a vinyl top, making it a Town Landau coupe, the best-selling trim level that year. It still has its original California black plates and original paint, or what's left of it.

1966 was hardly my favorite year of the T-Bird, but it was sad to see it sitting there with a flat tire and a tow tag. Hours after I photographed it, though, a young man came out and changed the tire. The next day it was gone. Young owners of classic cars are an unknown. Many have reprehensibly poor taste and ruin clean old cars with atrocious modifications. Some fancy themselves as latter-day hot rodders and some respect their cars as they are (or as they should be when factory stock and in good shape). I hope that this 'Bird receives the attention it deserves and doesn't end up sitting on huge ugly wheels or something.