S everal months ago I was asked if I could

put a booth together to promote Ford

Thunderbirds and the clubs that supported

Thunderbird owners at the Classic Auto

Show; a new show in Los Angeles, CA. Several

folks joined me in putting a group of Thunderbirds

together that would show a cross section of the

eleven models of Thunderbirds. Amazingly, we

experienced many T-birders that could not or would

not put their car into the show. So as the time for

the show approached, I realized that I was going to

have to drive my T-bird to LA!

I’ll tell you now that the show went very well and

myself and the others that manned the booth talked

non-stop over the three days of the show to dozens

of folks that wanted to reminisce about Thunder-

birds, locate Thunderbird parts or determine what a

certain problem might be with their Thunderbird.

There were even one or two offers to buy some of

the cars but, of course, they were politely refused!

One thing that stands out during these conversa-

tions was that most everyone was surprised that I

had driven a 52 year old car almost 1000 miles to

attend the show. Frankly, I had some concerns

since this was going to be the farthest distance as

well as the most continuous use that I had subject-

ed my T-bird since putting it back on the road. How

was it going to handle that long drive?

One plus I had was that I had been driving it reg-

ularly for the last two years and most of the bugs

had taken care of. You might say that I am intimate-

ly familiar with the quirks of the car. Like the rattle

sound when the trunk lid is raised (I have yet been

unable to fish out whatever is in there!). The power

steering pump makes a slight humming sound when

the fluid level drops to a certain amount. And I al-

ways know that if I am not the one filling the gas

tank (only in Oregon) that there will be a trail of gas

coming from the tank during the first right hand turn

since the attendants always insist on filling the tank

to the brim. If you are riding in my car after a stop

at the gas station I apologize for the smell. Don’t

worry, with the mileage of this car, the tank won’t be

that full for long!.

I felt pretty confident that the car was going to

perform well. After all, this was a car that a family

would have loaded into and headed off for vacation

to Disneyland back in the day, right? So, to borrow

a television theme song lyric; “I loaded up the trunk

and headed to Beverly...Hills that is.” Well, at least

headed in that general direction.

And do you know what happened? Not much.

The car averaged 10-11 mpg while loping along at

65-70 mph. The springy seats with the new foam

cushions provided a comfortable ride. Much better

than the seats in the multi-million dollar jet that I fly

for work. The weather throughout Oregon, into the

Siskiyou Mountains across the state line and then

though the Sacramento Valley of California was

mild and cool. Between the fresh air vents and

heater, I was able to keep the cabin cozy. The

only fluids that I had to top off was the gas station

coffee. I wonder if gas station coffee was as bad

back then as it is today?

The only nod to the present in the car was my

smart phone that provided me with traffic updates,

music and podcast entertainment and moving

maps. I synced that with a Bluetooth speaker that

sat on the dash. And since cup holders were not

something that automotive designers had started

putting in every car, I dropped a whole $1.29 for a

plastic cup holder that hung by the vent window on

the drivers door. The only thing that I think would

have been nice would have been a head rest.

Maybe I’ll bring one of those neck pillows you see

people wearing at airports.

I split the trip to LA into two days and planned

an overnight with some old friends in the Bay Area.

The first day was around ten hours of driving. It

took another seven to reach LA. As I said earlier,

the show went well with lots of folks talking to us

about Thunderbirds. Hopefully these people will

do something to get more Thunderbirds out there!

Oh, the drive home. Well there were some

challenges on the drive home. But you'll have to

come to the club meeting to hear that story!

Tom

Road Trip

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Thunderbird

Valuations

2

Passing of Dick

Aaron

3

Thunderbird

Registries

4

Local Car Resto-

ration Scam

5

NWVTC Meet-

ing Minutes

6

Calendar of

Events

7

Passing Lane 8

E X E C U T I V E B O A R D Thunderbird Flyer F E B R U A R Y , 2 0 1 7 V O L U M E 3 8 , I S S U E 2

S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O F

I N T E R E S T :

Thunder-

bird Appre-

ciation Day

on May 21st!

Newsletter of the Northwest Vintage Thunderbird Club

P A G E 2

To find a report on your specific model, the Hagerty Valuation Tool may be found at

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/search/auto

Square Birds

Both the Coupe and Convertible for 1958, 1959 and 1960 remain within a few hundred dollars

(higher or lower) of 2016 valuations.

T H U N D E R B I R D F L Y E R

Thunderbird Valuations

A s an insurer of classic vehicles, Hagerty is 800 lb. gorilla in the room. It isn’t surprising to find out that the company keeps a close eye on classic car valuations. Hagerty analyzes sources including auctions, dealer sales and peer-to-peer sales. They also note condition, history, optional equip-ment, quality of restoration, degree of documentation, and sales venue. Also incorporated into

vehicle values are inventory, demand, recent trends of similar vehicles, movement within related market segments, and general directions of the vehicle market overall.

Owners that insure with Hagerty may access a current valuation of their vehicle through the Hagerty web-site.

The following valuations look at the change in valuations from January 2016 to January 2017 for models of Thunderbird that can be found in most clubs.

Baby Birds

2017 valuations are a few hundred dollars less than the 2016 values for 1955 models while the

1956 model is a few hundred higher. All models for 1957 see substantial increases; from $4k for

a “Fair” C code to a remarkable $57k for a “Concours” F code.

Bullet Birds

Similar to the Square Birds, each model and year of Bullet Birds saw only mild changes from

2016. The biggest change was in the Sport Roadster models with an increase for a “Fair” model

of $3.7k and a high of $14k for a “Concours” vehicle.

Flair Birds

Flairbird owners of every body style also experienced a relatively flat year. Even with the addition

of the 428 ci engine models, Flairbirds were all within a few hundred dollars of their 2016 valua-

tions.

Retro Birds

Though not in the “classic” category just yet, all years of the Retro Bird saw a slight decrease of a

few hundred dollars with the exception of “Concours” quality vehicles that experienced several

hundred dollar increases. These vehicles experienced a several thousand dollar increase just

two years ago.

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 3 8 , I S S U E 2

Dick Aaron, an honorary member of the Northwest Vintage Thunderbird Club passed away in January. He had

just celebrated his 90th birthday in November. Some of our current members remember Dick and Pauline

(married for 67 years) from the early years of the club. Dick’s mechanical background provided an enjoyment in

restoring many vehicles, one of which was a 1965 Thunderbird convertible which was modified into a Sport

Roadster. Dick also fulfilled his ambition of flying by receiving his Private Pilot certificate and restoring a 1941

Boeing Stearman, a biplane that was used as a primary training aircraft for many of the aviators of WWII.

Club member Dennis Tokstad said he was

newly hired at Hyster Corporation, a heavy

machinery manufacturer here in Portland, OR,

in 1975 when he first met Dick (as well as de-

ceased club member Reed Fleener).

Dick retired from Hyster in 1984 and he and

Pauline would travel across the US and to

overseas destinations. The time spent at home was filled with their three children and

grandchildren. Dick and Pauline both served as elders at the Eastminster Presbyterian

Church and as guides at Vista House in the Columbia Gorge.

The last club event that Dick attended was the club’s 2008 summer picnic at Dennis’

house in Troutdale. Unfortunately, many members had already gone by the time Dick

and Pauline showed since he was showing some of his wildlife carvings, yet another

hobby that Dick excelled in.

A service will be held at 2pm on February 11th at the Hearthstone at Murrayhill in Bea-

verton where Dick and Pauline have resided since 2013.

Passing of Dick Aaron

Ford used heavy metal staples to attach some of the weather stripping and rubber trim to the body of the Thunderbird in many model years.

When you are trying to restore these pieces there is no tool that will replicate these staples. A member on the Squarebirds Forum, Deb

Liberator posted a simple, yet close way, to replicate these staples. The following text and pictures are from Ms. Liberatore.

First I made a pattern on paper of the holes in the metal skirt. Cut some brass wire (16 gauge) to length and mark where it should be bent.

These are the metal staples after I bent them into shape. It took 9 for each fender skirt.

I pushed the seal on and centered it, then pushed the staples through from the bot-tom edge (because it was easier to see holes) through the metal and the seal.

This shows after I shortened the staples and bent them over.

This photo shows the back side of bent sta-ples. A pretty neat appli-cation.

Here it is all done. I did rubber cement the ends as I saw rec-ommended by other members and allowed them to dry. Ford usually installed the staples

so the prongs were on the metal side of the attached piece. Editor

P A G E 4

Thunderbird Registries

T H U N D E R B I R D F L Y E R

This article appeared in the September 2014

Thunderbird Flyer. It is being reproduced

because of information received concerning

the Thunderbird Registry administered by

John Rotella and more recently, Cody Burch,

an employee at Bird Nest.

H ow many times have you seen the term

“RARE” used in an ad in the paper or on

line? Seems everyone has a rare part or car

for sale. I have a 1964 2-door Hardtop in my

garage, does this qualify as a rare car? How would I go

about finding out if this was a one of a kind example?

Hmmm……

Enter the Thunderbird registries. Maybe you have seen

them in a club magazine or website. But what exactly

is a registry?

Think of the registries as a history book. The owners of

the registries are trying to keep a history of these cars

as they came from the factory. John Rotella is keeper

of the 33,000+ entries on Thunderbird Registry. Rotella

says in an e-mail that gathering and sorting the infor-

mation details the production of

these cars: what options were

popular (or not), what types of

Thunderbirds were sold where

and even what factors may have

contributed to a car surviving for

40 or 50 years. William Wonder,

author of Thunderbird Restora-

tion Guide 1958-1966, also runs

a very specific registry for 1962-

63 “M” Series and 1963 Limited

Edition “Monaco” Thunderbirds.

Wonder writes in his e-mail “These registries help in

documenting the production history of these vehicles. A

hopefully permanent record of their production, options

and interesting histories associated with each. This kind

of information will also be helpful when others find exist-

ing examples to purchase and serve as a guide in the

restoration of similar vehicles.”

Rotella comments “There are far too many crazy adap-

tations and modifications. Not that people should not be

able to do what they want with their car, of course, but I

do think it is worthwhile for Thunderbird enthusiasts of

the future to have a resource which will tell the story the

way it was written in the first place.” Imagine having to

try to restore the 1965 Thunderbird that was “made

over” on MTV’s Pimp My Ride. If a past owner had

registered the car and left detailed information and

maybe even pictures on a registry the task would be

much easier. Wonder comments in his e-mail

that it isn’t just the VIN information that is im-

portant. He says the car “…may have been

built for special purposes (like a Pace Car or

Presidential Parades). Of course, photos of

any unique markings like paint daubs, grease

pen marks, etc. should also be documented.”

So not only does a registry share the unique-

ness (or possibly the commonality) of your

Thunderbird, it also adds information on the

history of these cars.

Now, how do you go about getting on a regis-

try?

Rotella says that all production years of the

Thunderbird are welcome to be in Thunderbird

Registry (www.tbirdregistry.com). The car

doesn’t even need to be around! As long as

the VIN and data plate info is known the car

can be registered. An owner submits the VIN

and/or production codes information along

with a narrative and pictures (e-mail or low

resolution settings).

Rotella then adds them

to the database. Thun-

derbird Registry then

has search options to

pick from. With over

33,000 Thunderbirds

registered on the site,

there is no limit on

what a person can

search for. When I

searched for 1964 2-

door hardtops, the database returned 1,000

Thunderbirds matching the criteria! So much

for my having a rare model! Then by scrolling

down the list I was able to find a VIN that was

produced five cars after mine. For some rea-

son it was fascinating knowing that there was

another Thunderbird still around that was

probably produced the same day mine was.

Registries can benefit us all with the infor-

mation they can provide. As Rotella puts it,

“We are writing a history, we are not produc-

ing a beauty pageant or a talent contest. We

must write this history as a team, I cannot do it

all on my own.”

See next page for current news about Registry

MTV’s “Pimp My Ride” did a number on this 1965

Thunderbird. Information from a registry could assist

in putting it back into original condition.

P A G E 5 V O L U M E 3 8 , I S S U E 2

A Vancouver, WA couple have been accused by Clark County (WA) prosecutors of taking thousands of dollars from veterans who hired him to restore their classic cars. Josh Evans and his wife Kathleen Householder used a Craigslist post to advertise full service car restorations. An investigation done by (Portland, OR television station) KOIN 6 News in July 2016 found at least 8 victims had suffered a

combined loss of more than $85,000 after responding to Josh Evan ’s Craigslist ad for restoration body work. Evans claimed to be a veteran himself by showing uniforms and awards and claiming to have been wounded. Several victims reported that payments were given without any sort of work accomplished. No customer of Evans reported that their car was re-stored completely. Carl Lange said he lost more than $50,000 for work that was supposed to be done on his Chevy coupe. Evans is charged with first-degree theft and unlawful issuance of bank checks. He is scheduled to go on trial in mid-March 2017.

Local Car Restoration Scam

A KOIN 6 reporter attempts to talk with Josh Ev-

ans. Photo courtesy KOIN.

The Thunderbird Registry is an on line database dedicated to registering all Ford Thun-

derbirds; whether they are operational, a parts cars, or just the data plate.

Cody Burch, who is assisting John Rotella, says the Registry has not been up and opera-

tional of late due to the fact that the database is outdated. It is in need of a current upgrade;

however, upgrading the Registry takes quite a bit of time and funding.

Since 2002, John Rotella, creator, owner, and curator of the Registry, has donated his

time, money and knowledge about Thunderbirds. Burch states that It is time to relieve some

of John's burden by donating funds to insure that the Registry continues to be viable.

To accomplish this a GoFundMe account has been established. GoFundMe is a crowd

funding platform that allows people to raise funds for ideas and projects. Funds will be used

to restructure and modernize the Registry. Specifically this will include: discontinuation of the

use of Access Database with ASPX pages and conversion to MySQL and PHP. PHP is a

modern technology standard that is reliable, quick, and unable to have data pirated or al-

tered. Approximately 30 pages of code will need to be reformatted, each containing approximately 100 lines of data.

As of February 1st, donations had reached $590 of the $3000 being sought.

Click on either picture to go to the

GoFundMe page.

P A G E 6

T H U N D E R B I R D F L Y E R

NWVTC Meeting Minutes

The January meeting was cancelled due to adverse weather that evening.

Calendar of Events

P A G E 7 V O L U M E 3 8 , I S S U E 2

Club Meetings

February 21st (Tue) Regular Club Meeting, Flying Pie Pizzeria, Details on page 8

VTCI Events http://vintagethunderbirdclub.net/events.htm

No Events scheduled

ITC Events http://www.iintl-thunderbirdclub.com/index.html

June 2nd-4th, (Fri-Sun) All Ford Nationals, Carlisle, PA

August 29th - September 3rd (Tue-Sun) ITC Convention, Fort Wayne, IN

Car Shows and Events

February 4th (Sat) Collector Car Auction, Salem, OR

Further information at petersencollectorcars.com

March 11th (Sat) Astoria Automotive Swap Meet, Astoria, OR

Further information at 800-220-0792

March 17th-19th (Fri-Sat) Portland roadster Show, Portland, OR

Further information at portlandroadstershow.com

March 25th (Sat) Pacific NW Model Car Fest, Portland, OR

Further information at sabanw.com

These are not all the events in the area. If I have missed any that you think the club members would like to know about send in the information and I’ll put it in the list! If you attend an event snap a picture or two and write up

something for the newsletter. Each event has a certain flavor and we all like to find a fun and interesting event.

Passing Lane fun and funny stuff from the road

2017 Executive Board

President Tom Przedwojewski

64skibird@gmail.com

VP Eric Johansson

ericlj66@gmail.com

Secretary Open

Treasurer Vicky Wimsatt

Web site/ Tom Przedwojewski

Newsletter

Find us on the web at

www.nwtbirds.org

Our next regular meeting will be on Tuesday, March 21st, 2017. We will be meeting

at Flying Pie Pizzeria located at 7804 SE Stark St. in Portland. This is the same

location as the January meeting which was cancelled. Please do not confuse this

with Stark Street Pizza where we have also met! Flying Pie is a few blocks west of

that location.

Meeting will start at 7pm and dining will be up to you.

Hope to see you all there!

Club Meeting Times

For your entire club apparel needs; hats, shirts, jackets or even back-

packs, go to Stitch-n-Embroidery. Order on-line, over the phone or in

person. Delivery to the next club meeting is available. Tell them you

want the NW Vintage Thunderbird Club logo!

stitchnembroidery.com/index.html

Car-Part.com and the Car

Part app (available as an

Android or Apple app and

also on line) is a quick way to

search thousands of auto

recyclers' inventories to

locate hard to find parts.

There are over 120 million

inventoried parts in the Car-Part.com

database, and the search is quick

and simple – you can choose the

standard search or multi-part search

if you know what you need, and if you

aren't sure you can use the image search to easily click on the correct part. Sort

your results by price, grade, or distance from your location. A live chat feature will

connect you to the recycler to ask more questions or arrange a purchase.