I love Bullet Birds. Actually, I love them better when we call them Cigar Birds, but tomayto/tomahto, and all that. I loved these so much I bought one. And as much as mine abused me, I love them still. So, why wasn’t I more excited when I found this one?
Actually, I didn’t really find this one. I found the 1956 Packard Patrician (CC here) that was sitting out in the same driveway. The owner of both cars seemed surprised that I was more interested in an old Packard sedan than in a T-Bird convertible. A red one, no less.
Here is my problem – that blasted fiberglass tonneau cover. Why, you might ask, does this cool accessory cause me such angst? Let me explain.
A year into this body style, Ford did what many guessed could not be done. It gave the T-Bird convertible added sex appeal. The 1962 Sports Roadster was designed to bring back the aura of the revered two-seat Bird in a modern package. The biggest feature was the fiberglass tonneau cover with the faired-in headreasts that attached behind the front seats. The package also included Kelsey-Hayes genuine wire wheels, a grab handle on the dash, and a little emblem on the front fender.
Cool, right? Especially since Ford made only 1,427 of these cars for 1962, and another 455 1963 models. Ford didn’t actually intend to sell that few, but it just kind of happened. Probably because the car with this package cost $5,439, which was less than $200 below the cost of a Cadillac. The Bird was a prestigious car, but in 1962, that prestige had a limit. OK, and maybe a wire wheel recall didn’t help. There is an interesting article on the Sports Roadster on Automotive Mileposts (here).
So, JP, given the rarity of these and all, why the attitude? It’s like this, guys. Some time back in the ’70s (if not before), every single person with a 1961-63 Thunderbird convertible bought a reproduction tonneau cover and stuck it on the back of his car. OK, every single owner might be a bit of an overstatement. I think there was a guy in Euclid, Ohio who left his alone. The tell is that if the car ever had fender skirts, it was not a SR because the standard wire wheels required exposed rear wheels for clearance. It got worse when someone started making one for the 1964-66 models, too. Before there were Mustangs, Camaros and Hemi-‘Cudas at every car show, there were faux Sports Roadsters.
I guess my problem is that I love the lines of the 61-63 convertible so much, I see no reason to detract from a beautiful car with a fiberglass toupee, even if it is a well-crafted toupee. My rant about unnecessary accessorization aside, this really is a nice car. A little too much red for me, personally, but this is a popular combination for lovers of early 1960s Fords. And I suppose I would prefer one of these to the Landau models with the fake landau irons on the vinyl-covered C pillars. And it is certainly a nicer car than my worn-out ’61 hardtop could have ever dreamt of being.
So, what do you have here if you can ignore the automotive equivalent of breast augmentation? As far as I’m concerned, you still have 4,000 pounds of fireworks that anybody would be proud to own.
I love those taillights. I really think Ford should’ve tried to do a modern take on them for the current Fusion, whose taillights are rather small and plain.
Every time I get behind a few-year old Altima at night, I have the same thought – Why has Ford never come up with the big round taillight look again? In today’s world, you don’t even need the shape, just a big round light inside of whatever the housing might be. But no.
“Why has Ford never come up with the big round taillight look again?”
JP – well Ford did do so, on the 2002>2005 Thunderbird. Bullet Bird rear but no fins.
And I believe the 1965 Custom 300 (or 500 or whatever it was called) was the last full sized Ford with round tail lights – a design very poorly adapted to the boxy binnacle that on more upscale cars (Galaxie, LTD) housed lenses designed to fit ’65s.
They had rounds on the 2000 Ford Mondeo
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p215/boratsbaby/Y658%20WEN/P1190132.jpg
though I think they may have been following the contemporary Fiat Bravo rather than referring back to older Fords.
that’s a boring triangular taillight that lights up round, lame lol
Why not? Chevrolet was able to make round taillights in the 2000 Impala. I personally loved the lights on that car. The look was clean, and iconic. To this day, I can tell when I’m behind one.
We used to have a 2000 Impala, though, so I get a little misty-eyed at times. I don’t know why Ford didn’t make round lights for these cars.
The reason that I like the older cars is because of their character. They missed a good opportunity to being some of that character back.
So was there a back seat under there or was the seat omitted from the original and removed from the clones?
I agree with you, that cover makes the car stand out for all the wrong reasons. It is like a gold door on a silver car.
The tonneau on the Sports Roadster fastened over a normal, everyday convertible. One problem was that the tonneau cover would not fit in the Bird convertible’s shallow trunk (whether the top was up or down) so you had to stow the thing in the garage when it was not in use. But if you weren’t going to use it, why spend a ton of extra money over an already expensive T-Bird convertible.
The rear seat and all the stock trimming are under the cover.
I probably should have mentioned the cause of the wire wheel recall. It seems that one of the early Sports Roadster customers was Elvis Presley. One of those Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels buckled on Elvis’ car, which was very, very bad PR for Ford. Stouter wheels were retrofitted to all of them.
I wonder if he shot it? The folklore has it that he shot his Pantera.
“…the automotive equivalent of breast augmentation”
That’s a good way to characterize the cover, since, like plastic boobs, it’s hard to ignore but it doesn’t look quite right. I would definitely be among those who preferred the more honest, not-augmented look.
Still, it’s a smashing car. I would prefer a ’64, but I wouldn’t throw this one out of the garage.
I always thought these were cool, thought it seems that the car in the article does have the tonneau and the Sports Roadster fender flag, I don’t see the passenger side grab bar, so I am assuming that this isn’t a Sports Roadster.
The Sports Roadster is something that you will never see again in this age of max space efficiency and consumer clinics, its a pure pleasure automobile, you pretty much can’t use the trunk when the top is down, the tonneau is an “all or nothing” prospect, you can’t stick it in the trunk if you need that back seat, so when its on, its staying on, so with a top down Sports Roadster you have an 17ft long, 2 ton, 2 seater without a back seat and without a trunk, just a decadent delicious personal traveling device.
The car also lacks the wire wheels and you can see the pins in the rear wheel openings which were used for mounting the fender skirts. As you noticed, no grab bar, either.
I agree completely with your assessment. The closest we have seen in modern times is the Chevy SSR sport truck, perhaps. Then there was the Plymouth Prowler, also. The Sports Roadster starts to look pretty sensible when I think of these other two examples. 🙂
Er….. yeah, thats EXACTLY what you have. A large, underpowered, 2 seat auto with no back set access and no truck space. Wanted one my whole life and pulled the trigger Friday. Will be delivered by transport in three days. Route 66, here I come!
Nice car. I have one blue. Everything redone great working top bmw dark blue top diamo d back window. I’m gonna sell it, hope the value is there. I have the continental kit for it, just not installed, too long for garage . Lol
When I was 12 or 13, I asked for an AMT Turnpike race set, which was touted as more fun than the typical slot car of the day because the cars were steerable; It was 1/25th scale, and came with controllers featuring steering wheels. Of course, in a kid’s imagination, the cars were more steerable than was actually the case; they ran on swiveling dollies that limited the amount of arc that could be achieved. Even though a crossover slot allowed lane changes, we tired of them fairly quickly. At the time, I was perplexed by the choice of cars that came with the set. Included were decals that, when applied, mimicked the look of NASCAR racers, but you could either run a powder blue Catalina or a buff T-Bird. My Dad was a stock car fan, and I watched the races with him. They ran full size “grand national” sedans, not “personal cars”, so the Pontiac fit the mold while the ‘Bird didn’t. I couldn’t comprehend the set as anything but a mini super speedway, even though AMT marketed it as an “authentic model TURNPIKE”. Why put numbers on the cars if its supposed to be a public road? I knew or cared nothing about your Mille Miglias and Pan American road races, so I always chose the Pontiac if I got first dibs.
With the decals applied, the white T-bird in the inset photo looks a LOT like the Chrysler Turbine driven in the road race in the movie The Lively Set. I’m guessing the similarity was intentional.
Oh for heaven’s sake. Why did you have to go and describe this Authentic Model Turnpike thing? I had somehow never heard of it before. Now I want one — shortcomings and all. I just went looking on eBay and someone is selling the T-Bird, and there are a few listings for ads and instruction manuals, but nothing even close to a complete set. I guess that is good for my wallet’s sake. I was only 3 years old when it was sold which is, I suppose, why I just missed it.
I’d prefer my Bullet-bird with fender skirts. I’m kinda torn on the tonneau cover, some days I like the look, some days not. Given that, I probably wouldn’t spend the extra money for one.
Is that chrome bump strip running along the middle of the body factory? I see a lot of them wearing an identical one in a google image search.
No, the chrome piece that runs all along the side is aftermarket. These cars were like the contemporary Continentals (and your 66 Chryslers) in that they had big, smooth, exposed sides with zero trim that would have helped to fend-off door dings and parking lot rash. I don’t like the look that well, but cannot fault an owner who wants to try to protect the car’s bodysides.
I would have guessed aftermarket, but I saw pics of so many that had the same chrome strip. Also, looking closely at the piece ahead of the door, you can see that it’s beveled so that the piece on the door doesn’t hit it when opening the door, as if made specifically for this car. Those two things made me think that it was optional, possibly dealer installed. It certainly doesn’t help the lines of the car at all though.
I’d no idea they were so rare and there were so many Sexton Blakes.
In ’62 the chrome strip was a factory option in response to complaints from ’61 owners. It could be installed on ’61s by dealers, although it didn’t fit the rear side trim, and looked awkward
Ah-ha. I was going off my 61 experience.
JP – did a real Sports Roadster have an identifying digit or two in the VIN? Or, was there a special code on the car’s data plate? Or is the only way to decode a real SR to use the various identifiers you have discussed?
I believe the “tonneau” was also available as an option or accessory from Ford for any bullet convertible and it looked fine on those cars too.
Certainly bullet bird can not be imagined to have any sporting pretensions – Sports Roadster version or no. My thinking, even back in the day: the car was designed for the country club as a boulevard cruiser and was very limited in any other duties – even the four seater without a “tonneau”. I think of the ’80s Riviera convertible being sold to perform the same function the bullet bird did – cost too much, too heavy, too thirsty, luxurious interior, looks great going down the boulevard at 30mph and destined to spend most of its time in the garage or in the country club parking lot.
As to the VIN codes, no idea. I looked up a club, which indicates that early 62 models had no special VIN ID, but that mid-60 through 63 had a unique VIN code prefix. You can read more here: http://clubs.hemmings.com/tbirdsportroadster/
If you go to the factory data plate and look under Body Type the Convertible is 76A. The Roadster is 76B. Theres no counterfeiting that due to thr Rosette rivets and the plate embossment. The body code is definitive.
I am with you on the Sports Roadster. For years every 61-63 you saw at a show was the SR and it got boring. I thought the tonneau cover made the rear deck look too long and ruined the proportions.
The regular convertible was probably the prettiest body style although the hard top was sure nice, it almost looked removable. I guess that’s why I like the Landau so much, it accentuated the separation between the upper and lower body.
For sure all of the body styles looked better without the skirts.
I definitely prefer the skirts on these cars. As a kid, I was a little surprised (and confused) when the promo model below arrived from Ford (note original box and enclosure). It is a 63 coupe with wire wheels and the Sports Roadster emblem on the front fenders. I don’t know if you could order a coupe with the wire wheels but if so, I doubt it would have had the roadster emblems on the front fenders. Perhaps even Ford got carried away with what it perceived to be the halo effect of the exclusive Sports Roadster?
Hmm, photo did not come through. Will try again.
One more try:
I have one of those “breast augmented” T-birds. A 63 model that I don’t plan on selling in my life time. It’s not an original Sport Roadster but the cover came off an original that got creamed head on by a semi . The thing I like is I can take the cover off, with a little help, and carry the grandyoungins around.
Just curious, was the SR creamed in it’s own era, or years later?
Cool. I do exactly the same things, putting my 3 kids in the back. Nice to have that option.
no wire wheels on this one……hmmm
The owner of both cars would be really surprised that I’m more interested in the 70-72 Ford Truck!
I mostly like the look of the cover, as it smooths things out and does give the two-seater apperance, but I can also see that it makes the deck appear too long from some angles and the whole “overdone” aspect of it.
Regardless, any bullet ‘Bird convertible can come home with me any time. Hardtop too. Landau? Ehh..might have to do a bar-ectomy first. Those just looked silly on a car with flowing, sharp styling like this.
Barko,
Apparently the T-Bird, especially the Sports Roadster, was a popular car for use in slot car race track sets. After 2 years of asking, and a fair amount of Christmas Day sulking, I finally got a 1/43rd scale race track. The 2 cars were 63 Fords, a sort of greyish T-Bird Sport Roadster and a 63 and 1/2 Galaxie hardtop, white top and sky blue bottom.
BTW, I saw the price tag on my track….when new it cost $20-$25. I priced a similar track last Christmas as a possible present for my nephew…they now cost $100.00 YIKES. My nephew got a small “fleet” of plastic and metal tractor-trailer trucks.
Howard, that brings back memories!
Around ’65 I got a slot car track. Not a set, just the track, and ONE slot car in a separate box. It was a Kogure 1/24 Ferrari 250 GTO/LM. Dad then realised I couldn’t race one car, so got me another a few months later, another Ferrari, a regular GTO, but in 1/32 scale! The big track was so big I couldn’t set it up on my bedroom floor, without running part of the track under my bed! A smaller scale would have made much more sense.
Would have been great for drug/gun smuggling/human trafficking when new! I’m sure your average border guard could easily have been convinced that Ford was making a 2-seater T-Bird again.
It’s OK, but I prefer the original. The fender emblem looks cool, though!
Hi Guy. This is NOT a Sports Roadster, unless some owner once removed the grab bar – and I have never heard of that happening.
Most faux SR´s can be instantly seen because of the lack of grab bar. Even though there are copies out there, they are very rare and hard to come by and expensive.
Also, why would anyone remove the original K-H spokes? Oh, yea, the recall…. but then they would have gotten replacements. OK, so they broke some years later, but really, if I had a real SR, I would buy some copies – there are some out there that are just great, look quite original (even on the part inside under the tire) and are safe.
Check the serial numbers as well.
Still an awesome car.
Where did you find this one? I sold mine 22 years ago. Yours looks alot like mine. My son wants to try to find the one I sold in Michigan