The following is in response to Oldmics question:
Some background info on my '56 Bird...
The original owner of the car was a long time friend of my wife, Patti, they had known each other since the age of eight.... Patti was a very attractive lady, professional model and wanna-be actress...
In 1956 she went to Vegas with a boyfriend to celebrate her 21st birthday. Sometime during the weekend a visit was made to the local Ford dealer, wherein the boyfriend told Patti to pick out the car she would like for her birthday present.. Patti picked the T-Bird, but she did not like the red one on the floor, she wanted a Colonial White one.. The dealer did not have a white Bird, said that they would repaint the red bird white and deliver it Patti on Monday afternoon.. Deal was made with the boyfriend paying cash for the car..
Patti did not marry the boyfriend... Through the next several years she married three times.. Patti once told me that the only thing that stayed constant in her life was the Bird.. When her personal life would be falling apart, she would throw her personal stuff in the Bird and split.. She described the Bird as "Being the nicest thing that anyone had ever done for her"...
By the mid 1960's Patti had married for the forth time, a man named Paul Schieffer, Schieffer cams, clutch's and other speed/performance parts. The Bird was getting tired, it had over 100k on the odometer... Paul knew how Patti felt about the car so he had it completely rebuild, discarding the 312/FMX trans for the 302/C-4, that he acquired from Ford's Racing Team.. A Paxton blower was installed on the engine and custom Hurst wheels.. The car was painted burgundy... Paul raced the car on weekend, Patti drove it to her tennis match's during the week..
The car attracted to much attention, Patti insisted that Paul repaint the car white... He did so..
Buy the early '70's Paul was terminal with cancer, he sold his business' and the two of them went on an extended trip (s) around the world.. Paul's son could not stand having the Bird just sitting in the garage... The car was painted British Racing Green and put back on the drag strip's..
After Paul passed away Patti got the car back from her step son, she had the car repainted white and had the blower removed.. Patti had her "tennis car back"
By the early 1980's the car was in pretty bad shape.. It was becoming increasingly difficult to get good repair work done on the car.. Patti had to break down and buy a new car.. The Bird became a garage fixture..
One evening Patti mentioned to me how upsetting it was to her that her Bird just sat in the garage, tires flat and covered with dust... She had remarried following Paul's death, however, the new husband had no love for the Bird, refused to have anything to do with it... I opened my big mouth, offering to put the car back into operating condition.. Patti took me up on my offer..
I got the car running, fixing all of the mechanical issues.. I had a hunch that the car would never leave my garage, returning to Patti's, so I decided to CMA and have the car surveyed and appraised before I got to much time and money invested in the project.. I took the car to Prestige Thunderbird's in Sante Fe Springs, CA
During the course of the survey by a man at Prestige, he mentioned the heavy steel bar, about 5/8" thick by approximately 2" wide, running the length of the frame on the bottom of the frame.. I told the man that I had noted this steel bar and that I assumed that it was something that Paul had had installed to strengthen/re-enforce the frame for his racing ventures..
The man at Prestige told me the about the export option and how rare it was to see the option on a '56 Bird..
Anyone that has ever owned a small Bird is well aware of the limited trunk space.. There was limited room for luggage, leave lone a set of golf clubs.. An additional complaint that prospective purchaser's had was a lack of a back seat.
The rear axle weight problem was discovered prior to the car being released to the public... Alex Tremlis was the head of Ford's design department at the time.. Alex told the story many times at our local Bird Club meetings, how the Engineering Department wanted to delay the release of the Bird for sale until the lift problem could be addressed.. According to Alex, Marketing overruled the Engineering Department.. The cars were released for general distribution to the dealers.
When the Bird came off of the Daytona tract, Ford was able to squash the news and thereby it did not become public knowledge.. No such thing as instant replay video in 1956..
According to Alex, his hasty band aide fix solved the lift problem until he could do a proper redesign of the car.. Of course the PR that was released to the public was that the the spare tire had been removed from the trunk, thereby creating room for luggage, etc., while at the same time giving the car a "Continental" look..
Alex Tremlis passed away several years ago, the majority of the original members of the local chapter of the T-Bird club are also gone, therefore I am possibly one of the few people that can recall Alex' comments about the little Birds..
A side bar to Alex's comments about the little Birds: The car was never intended to be a performance car, in competition with the Vette and/or foreign sports cars. Alex described the car as being "A personal luxury car".... Think about it... How many sports cars have you ever seen with power windows, power steering, power seats, auto transmissions, etc...
I wrote a similar article to the above, which was published in Old Car Weekly a couple of years ago, in response to an article that OCW published regarding the high performance features of the little Birds...
Two years ago I had my '56 Bird repainted red with an original style of interior in lieu of the custom work that Paul had done.. The original red was to "Tomato" looking so we used a deeper red.
