The restoration was completed by Starlite Rod and Kustom, based in Harbor City, California, a car repair shop specializing in building bespoke vehicles. This car has spent its entire life in California.

The car did not meet its reverse price and went unsold but the four years of labor involved in transforming this Mad Men two-seater into a boulevard king is worth mentioning. The same engine still powers this custom 1963 Ford Thunderbird showcased on Stratas Auctions last month. The standard engine for the third-gen Thunderbird was the 6.4-liter 390 V8 matched to a three-speed Cruise-O Matic transmission, good for 300 horsepower in the early 1960s. One of the easiest ways to spot a ’63 T-bird is by its set of chrome hash marks on the car’s profile unique to that model year. These are known amongst car-enthusiasts as the “Bullet Birds” due to their space-race era sleek design. The third generation lasted from 1961 to 1963. In 1961, Ford debuted the third generation of the Thunderbird with an all-new design.

It started as a direct competitor to the Chevrolet Corvette but quickly evolved into a softer, bigger, personal luxury sports car by the late 1950s. Why? Because the Thunderbird nameplate has been around since 1955, with 11 generations under its family name. People who have no particular interest in cars can remember hearing or know that a Ford Thunderbird is a kind of sports car. You have to be very young to have never heard of the Ford Thunderbird.

Ford thunderbird 1963 custom