Ultra Rare 1 of 1 of 1169 1959 J Code Thunderbirds - The story of a J bird with two VINs
I purchased the Tbird from Charles Shay in Aurora CO in October 2019. He had advertised the car as a J code Tbird with a 1967 390 not the original 430 engine. The VIN he did a vin decode on was J9YJ137330 which matched the door plate and had all the correct info, convertible, color, engine etc. etc. When I went to get it registered the CA DMV noticed a difference between the vin on the door plate and the one on the spring mount in the engine compartment. The one in the engine area was 1 letter off, it had a H in the 4th spot which would be for a hardtop. That started me on the search to find out what was correct. I documentation that outlines my contacts with some of the Tbird experts and their conclusion that I have a car that was mismarked from the factory as a hard top but actually left as the convertible. All the docs going back years had the convertible VIN on them. It wasn’t until the car was at the Mecums auction in Denver that it was retitled with the vin with the H. I found out from Dan at Mecums that their vin verification guy noticed the difference and had the previous owner get a new title since Colorado uses the frame stamps not the door plates.I received a bunch of old paperwork with the car and noticed that the owner prior to Charles was Stacey Williams who owns the Classic car museum in Salt Lake. I was able to get ahold of him and he said he had owned the car for 30 years as part of his collection. He sent me a copy of the title he received from the couple he bought it from and it had the J in the vin denoting a convertible. You’ll see in all the attached emails how I took pictures and sent to the Tbird guys for verification. You can see how all the convertible hydraulics, mounts etc. are all factory when compared to some of the pictures they sent of one of theirs. I found the “ROT” / build sheet in the rear seat springs showing it was built as a convertible and that the door plate info was all correct. There is a decode sheet for the ROT sheet as well. They sent me some info outlining the differences between the frames on the hardtops and the convertibles. It has a page showing the extra bracing that is in the rockers of the convertibles. I took pictures of mine using an inspection camera and it has the extra bracing as described. Alan Tast, who wrote the book about Tbirds and is the technical expert says this is the only case he’s seen documented of this type mis-stamping from the factory. During my investigation I also tracked down another prior owner,,, the Moffat Brothers in Salt Lake. Both of them have passed away but I did talk to one of their sons Steve and a daughter Charlotte. They both remembered the car, said their dads had about a dozen of them back in the day etc. Steve was the one that took the original 430 out and swapped it for the 390 out of his 1967 truck!! He remembers his uncle got the car on a trade deal from a guy named Steve Aflac,,, I am still trying to track him down. Charlotte remembers Steve Aflac owning the Midas Muffler shop and that he and their dad did a trade for the car. Steve and Charlotte also believe the car was originally sold at Petty Ford in Sugar House UT.
This Tbird is a maintained as needed unrestored 59642 mile documented original car. It has the original interior except for new door panels, original carpet, top, trunk mat etc. and has had one repaint by the second owner and his brother with Dupont Imron paint back in the late 1970s. (not the best job since they did it in their truck shop business,, It just needs to be cut and buffed.) The original 430 engine was taken out by the second owners son and put in his 1967 ford truck and the 390 from his truck is in the Tbird. The engine runs very well. It has a Mallory dual point distributor. The following outlines some of the parts and repairs that have been done to the car and the rebuilt 430 engine ready to be installed.
The 4th owner purchased the car at the Mecums Auction in Denver in July of 2019. (see the Mecums sales docs etc.) Shortly after the purchase he took it to Berkeley Garage, a restoration shop in Denver, for some repairs to make the car more road worthy since it had been in the International Car Museum in Salt Lake for 30 years. (see notes from the museum on times they put gas in the car other notes etc). They did $6500 worth of work. They put in a new gas tank, sending unit and fuel pump. Replaced the exhaust system and used Magnaflo mufflers. Installed new shocks and other suspension repairs along with a new generator and voltage regulator. Their invoices are enclosed.
The following are what I have done since purchasing the car in Oct. 2019. I’ll list the engine rebuild notes separately later on.New power steering cylinder, valve assembly, hoses etc.New sway bar bushings and mounts.Replaced rusted splash guards in wheel wells.Fixed, repaired or replaced all gauges, dash lights, door switches headlight switch etc. along with an electronic dash voltage regulator. Everything works except the windshield washers!! And I have a retrofit for them.Installed new original style radio that has a remote CD player, blue tooth capability etc. I have the original radio as well that works great. I stalled new stereo speaker in console along with under seat speakers. $1000 system.Replaced the door panels, front seat cushion foam and installed leather steering wheel cover. Everything else in the interior is original.Had rear window pot metal tracks/housings repaired. $1400!! Could not find replacements in good shape so had to have them repaired. Replaced all window rollers for lifts in front and rear windows. All window felts, cats whiskers along with drivers side motor. Spent HOURS adjusting windows.Replaced ALL rubber seals and bumpers! Doors, trunk and convertible top. The doors close and sound like new with no rattles etc.New battery, hold downs and cables.
As mentioned before the current engine in the car is a 390 out of a 1967 truck. It runs great and doesn’t need any work. My original plan was to go back stock to a 430. To do that I have purchased ALL the necessary parts to bring it back to stock. To that end I purchased a date code/year correct 430. The engine I bought is a Jan 59 date code, out of a Lincoln Premeire showing 79,000 miles on the odometer. Upon doing research the engine had both 1959 and 1958 numbered parts. The Tbird guys said this would be normal since the factory would be using up parts from 1958 on the early 1959 engines.I spent over $500 to get the correct Tbird J code engine mounts, (that need to be re-welded to the frame), and I have all the block mount brackets and rubber mounts and insulators.The engine looked to be in good shape. Upon tear down it was found that the # 7 cylinder was gouged from a broken ring. All other cylinders could have been cleaned up and the original pistons retained but it took going 40 over on the #7 bore so all pistons etc. were replaced. Looking back I wish I would have just sleeved # 7 and used and kept all the stock parts. With that said I did a complete rebuild as needed.All the cam, rod and main bearings had little wear so standard replacements were installed.I installed a new cam, lifters, rockers pushrods etc.Heads/valves were done with new seals etc.I purchased a new correct A/C fuel pump, rebuilt the oil pump retaining the vacuum pump as well.I found and installed a correct NOS Tbird numbered Carter carburetor.It has the “Tbird” correct water expansion tank.The generator and power steering pump are correct and rebuilt. New water pump not a rebuild
I was in a car accident a few months ago and am dealing with the that Therefore I am looking to sell the engine and car as a packaged deal to the right person that will finish and appreciate this rare J Bird!
