I have won about 90% of the parts I need on eBay over the last few days. I am still looking for a bumper and some odds and ends, but over all I am happy with my shopping results.  Some of these parts are in pretty rough shape and will need some work before I can bolt them one, but such is the way with classic cars. There are some companies around that still sell OEM, remanufactored, and NOS parts - but the cost of conviences for picking up the phone and having shiney new parts arive is hard pill to swallow. I have to imainge that if you are the kind of car guy that can order parts through these catalog companies, you are the type that can afford to have someone else call and install the parts for you.  I reserve the right to be completely wrong about that, and feel free to comment here or Tool Kingdom threads if I am miss guided on that.

When the parts arrive I will break down some of the cost and and outline the project a little better here.  The first stage will be to get the motor running so I can move her around a bit. The second will be gettin the front end put back together and all those mangled parts straigtend out. Third stage will be fixing some minor rust spots and prepping the entire body for some fresh paint.  I am sure there will be about 6 or 10 more stages thereafter, and about dozen inbetween stages as I dive in and find other issues and problems.

I wish I would have had the presence of mind to start this site from that moment, but I wasn't entirely sure what do or where to start. After all I didn't really know anything about Thunderbirds and never really cared much about Big Blocks of anykind.

I have always wondered how the pros go about rebuilding cars. For me there has to be a love affair with a vehicle to warrent the time and money you can sink into them.  It is really hard to fall in love with a car you've never driven, so my eagerness to start diving into the Thunderbird was non existent.  Not to mention it is cold in Colorado in the winter, and our garage is full of moving boxes so work has to be done outside for now.  Or that we started new jobs and have a baby on the way eating our time.

I have putzed around with the battery as it was the logical place to start with a dead car - but after the guys at interstate battery got it back to life the car was still dead.  I guess it has been sitting for a little longer than I thought.

Fast forward a few months and a new year -

Over the past couple weekends I have diagnosed that the entire ignition system is toasted. Plugs, wires, dist cap, rotor, and coil are all pretty much shot.  These are standard maintainace items so not a big deal, I am cofinident that the motor will run with about $50 of the cheapest parts I can find.  Once we get this motor running and I can move the car around the driveway we can get some more things done and determin where it needs to go from there.

I also tore into the front end. The body is in good condition with only two rotten spots behind the doors, ignoring where the front end hit a light post. More or less the entire drivers side front end needs to be replaced.   I have the entire front end dissasybled and parts orgainzed for repair, paint, and trash.  I get the distinct impression that the Ford engineers never planned for that front end to come appart.  It took me an entire weekend ( spread over about two ) to remove all the bits and bolts.  It didn't help too much I am stuck with hand tools for now. ( I would have killed for an impact and air ratchet )  I mean I only work for the biggest on line tool retailer in the world, ToolKing.com it isn't like I have an excuse here. Actually, I do, but that is a long and boring story.

That is where things are for now, From here on out nothing is getting done without being posted here.  My goal is to entertain and hopeful help other car enthusist by writting and posting videos of a lot of the aspects of auto build ups.  I am not a professional, and this process will take some time - a few parts here and there every paycheck or two - But that is the way most people have to do it. We would all love to drop our cars off with Foose and a briefcase full of money, but where is the fun in that? Blood, sweat, tears, and money are the keys to a real hot rod.

I will also be posting at ToolKingdom, ToolKing.com's community forums. So eventually you might get some good tool advice, reviews, and demostrations. Personally, I can't wait to get to some welding.

Highlighted some of the parts I am still trying to track down

More parts that still need to be found