No shaving…

This is what I would like if I decided not to shave and I was part Arabian or I could be serving slurpies down the street at the local 7 Eleven convenience store. Now that’s messed up! 

1963 Thunderbird – Happy Birthday!

One year ago to this day I drove my 1963 Thunderbird home. It was a cloudy and rainy day, I really didn’t know what to expect getting a car that was only a year younger than me. Throughout the year I had spent countless hours fixing and repairing issues that cropped up or already had. It was a learning experience for me but also added the confidence to work on anything. 

It was fitting that I purchased a couple of NOS tail light setup for Josie this morning, sort of a birthday present!

 I plan on keeping Josie until my golden years. Hopefully by that time i would have done most of the work and restoration I set out to do. 

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1963 Thunderbird Tail light lens…

Woke up this morning to get an early start at the swap meet held at the Lodi Grape Festival facilities. I’ve been hunting for a rear tail light lenses assembly for a couple of years now. I have gone to several car swap meets but never gotten lucky until today!!

I was able to fund a set for Josie brand new inside of the package and to top it off I got a set of the lens center trim piece that fits inside! All this for the price one NOS replacement lens on EBAY. What a freaking score. It also shows that you need to come early to these shows and at least have a first crack at something if it is being sold.

1963 Thunderbird Squeak Continues…

Well, I jacked up the front of Josie to gain access to the upper A arm inner shaft and bushings. On different variations the end caps will have a zerc grease fitting. I was hoping I had a plug and would be able to install a right angle 90 degree fitting. No luck. The damn inner shaft was an older type and no fitting access.

Since I had the car up in the air I went ahead and greased up the zerc fittings that were available and accessible.

1963 Thunderbird Squeaking…

My wifey and I went for a ride for a cruise and coffee at the local Starbucks this morning. Somewhere during the ride Josie developed this squeaking sound from the front right of the car.

I jacked up the car and removed the front right tire and hub. I was able to duplicate the squeaking sound by pushing the front end up and down. I was not able to repeat the sound by shifting the car side to side. I applied some grease onto the stabilizer shaft as shown below. This stopped the squeak for now but I expect it will return once the grease has come off or dried. I’ll need to replace that piece later on.

One good note is the brake pads are still good and have a ways to go. I’ll need to check out the rear brakes to see if they are the cause for the humming noise when the brakes get warm. It sounds as if it is coming from the right side of the car braking system but I’m not certain.