11x08 - Ford Thunderbird

[bunniefuu]

This time on Wheel of Dealers,
I'm looking for one of the great

legends of automotive history,
the iconic Ford Thunderbird.

For a car that's 60
years of age, it's still got a

surprising turn of speed, but
can I find a car I can afford?



Without buying a disaster,
would I go all the way

to sunny California and
bring you back a rockbox?

It looks like it's come
out at such force it

actually hit the bonnet,
so that's not looking good.

I search for parking motors.

I give you 24,500 cash
and I'll drive it away.

Ed breathes new life into them and then
we sell them on, hopefully for a profit.

Over the years, Ford produced
almost four and a half million

Thunderbirds, the most iconic
being the original 1950s two-seaters.

The Mark 1 Thunderbird
defined a whole new market sector

when it was sold as the
world's first personal luxury car.

Up against Chevrolet's sporty
Corvette, the Thunderbird

outsold its rival 23 to 1 in
its first year of production.

Today, the two-seat T-bird
isn't just an American icon,

it's a fast appreciating and
highly collectible classic.

If we want one, there's
only one place to start

looking and that's the
Golden State itself, California.

So I've come to America to find
myself a rust-free example, because

if I can't find one here in
California, where can I find one?

Built between 1955 and


Thunderbirds I'm after are
getting on for 60 years old.

That means they're either going
to be pristine, loved and worth a

fortune, or cheap cars that ain't
worth the paint holding them together.

I need to find something in between
and that's going to take some searching.

There's one here that's
going for $60,000, I kid you not.

And there's other
ones that are just too far

gone to justify shipping
across the Atlantic.

After sifting through a huge
range of cars, there is one car

that's coming up which might
be just what I'm looking for.

So 57, which is one of
the last of them, that's got

the restyled nose and
more elegant front bumper.

It's got the bigger 312 V8
engine and automatic gearbox.

In the pictures, it's really a smart
looking car. I like the wheels as well.

The only thing is, the seller is
asking 26 for it, and my budget's 25.

I'll tell you what, just give them a call.

I'm ringing about the car you got
for sale, it's the full Thunderbird.

Any signs of rust or rot?

No, that's the great thing about
it, there's just no rust on this car.

The seller, Don, sounds
like a real character. He's

a dealer and he's prepared
to negotiate on the price.

Thanks, bye. So you know what? I'm
going to hit the road and go and see it.

Now the trick to all of this is to go and
find a car that needs a little bit of work,

but not too much work that
the numbers won't add up.

Also, don't want to find
a car that's too clean

because I just won't be able to add value
to it and therefore increase my sale price.

This car seems to tread
the line okay, but I'm

going to see a car that's
nearly 60 years of age,

and I'm really going to have
to have my wits about me.

Oh, look at this, this must
be the place, fantastic.

An Eco line, couple of Rolls
Royces, nice little Porsche Speedster.

This is what I've come to see.

Mike, how are you doing? You Don?

Good to meet you. Nice to meet you.
Thanks for coming.

It's my pleasure.



So three owners, California
car, came here from brand new.


just a good solid car.

I like it in black with a white hood.

Yeah, it's a raven
black over colonial white.

It's nice and straight.

I love the white wall tires,
they're good aren't they?

Yeah, and the side skirts
look great too, don't they?

Nice and sharp around the back.

This chrome's a little bit sad, isn't it?

Yeah, I think it could stand
to have the bumpers redone.

Let's take a look at the trunk.

Look at the size of that boot, it's huge.

And there's no signs of rust or rot.

Nice and dry underneath the carpets.

Yeah, it's very good.

Jack, bias ply spare tire, it's all there.

Okay, it looks nice and straight
down this side as well, doesn't it?

Can we have a look inside?

Let's do it.

Oh, this is nice. Is it leather?

Well, it's actually vinyl.

It's vinyl, is it? It looks like leather.

It feels like leather.

These little portholes, these are good.

These are specific to a 57.

So it was only offered in that year.

Only on a 57.

I like the steering wheel.

And it's got what?
Master guide power steering written on it.

And the transmission? A Ford-O-Matic.

So it's a Ford-O-Matic.

So they would name everything and put their
own name on it as if they invented it.

I love it.
I love the period details on the dashboard.

This turn dial, aluminium.
Does everything work?

Everything works.

Can I hear it?

Fire it up.

Well, there you go.

There you go.

That sounds wonderful.

Runs like a car.

Very, very good.

Strong engine, huh?

Should we pop the hood?

Okay, now what we got here?

Whoa, look at that.

That is fantastic.

It's strong.

Yeah, that sounds great.

Here's your power steering. You can see
there's a little fluid coming out the top.

All right, so that's a
little problem there.

Let me turn it off because I
know that it sounds all right.

And it looks really nice
and straight and tidy.

And it doesn't look like it's
had any restoration work.

It almost looks original down there.

I think also you don't see any weld seams.

It doesn't look like it's had any
problems with the front end getting hit.

I really like it.

The only thing that's left
for me to do is to get this

car out on the roads
and take it for a test drive.

But I'm not going to come all
the way to California on these

roads in that sunshine
without getting the roof off them.

I don't blame you. Let's take it off.

What a wonderful way to get down a road.

I've got the sun in my face, wind in
my hair, and a throbbing V8 up front.

You don't get much more
American feel than this.

And at the moment, I feel wonderful.

Now the Thunderbird isn't a
big car by American standards.

Actually, it's only got a small block V8.

But for a car that's 60 years of age,
you've still got a surprising turn of speed.

This car was brought out
as a response to the Corvette.

But this isn't a hardcore
sports car like that.

Ford realised lots of other
Americans didn't want that kind of car.

They wanted a car that had
luxury, style, and panache.

And as I waft along these amazing American
roads, that's exactly what I'm feeling.

But the only fly in the ointment is this
wayward optional guide power steering.

Because it's not guiding me down
a road very well at the moment.

It's all over the place.

Plus the paint work and the chrome
work, they could do with brightening up.

And it is missing some of those
luxurious items like the soft top.

And these, look, keep fit windows.

This car needs power windows.

It's all about luxury, this car.

And it's lacking it.

But basically what we've got here is a
good solid two-seater Ford Thunderbird.

And these things are
getting rarer, rarer, and rarer.

And this one right now is
at a price that we can afford.

And I'll tell you what, the
price is only going one way.

And I reckon by the time I get it back
and give it to Ed to work his magic on,

we could probably turn
it round with £35,000.

And that will give us a very fat profit.

But Ed's saying that,
Don doesn't know that.

So let's go back, see if I can do a deal.

How'd it drive?

Yeah, it drove really well.

I thoroughly enjoyed
being out on the road in it.

I really like the car.

I've sort of made my mind
up that it is the one for me.

It just comes down to how much
money you're prepared to take for it.

You want how much?



$26,000, which I think is pretty fair,
but it's just a little bit over my budget.

I'll offer you $24,000.

Come on, it's only a couple
of thousand dollars off.

Yeah, I don't think I can do 24.
I could go 25, mate.

$25,000.

If you help me put the roof back
on, I'll give you $24,500 cash,

and I'll drive it away. What do you say?

You got yourself a deal, mate.

Cracking.

You just bought yourself a 57 T-bird.

You just stole my line.

I think I've bought a
good solid Thunderbird,

but this is an old car now with
steering issues and a tarnished exterior.

Ed could really have his work cut out.

There isn't much that's more American

than driving down a Californian
highway in a 1957 Ford Thunderbird.

Even better, I paid just £16,000 for it.

What a wonderful way to get down a road.

I've got the sun in my face, wind in
my hair, and a throbbing V8 up front.

I'm living the dream,

but is Ed about to find that one man's
dream is another man's nightmare?

Now, this is a fully
paid-up American classic,

and prices are riding really high for these
all across the world, including Europe.

So, what's the plan?

Well, we've got to fix this steering.

There's something wrong with it.

We've also got to tidy up the bodywork
and do something about that pitted chrome.

But the Thunderbird is all about luxury,

and what we need to
do is get some of that

luxury back, make it
feel a much better car.

We could do that by
putting a soft top on it,

also doing something about
these wind-up windows.

I think we need to put power windows in
this car, so there's plenty of work to do.

Now, Ed is 5,000 miles east from here,

and I can't wait to see
what he makes of our T-bird.

That's a very stately horn.

How are you, mate? You all right?

Look at this.
It's an original two-door Ford Thunderbird.

That's great.

That's a slice of 1957 Americana, that is,
and very rare this side of the Atlantic.

Obviously, you left it running.
Can we have a look under the bonnet?

Of course. That's why I left it running,

so you can get straight
to the engine department.

That sounds really good.

Yeah, underneath there is
your 312 or 5.1-litre American V8,

and it's all coupled to the fantastically
named the two-speed Ford-O-Matic gearbox.

Ford-O-Matic?

Ford-O-Matic. How good is that?

That's fantastic.
How much did this thing cost?

Well, it cost $24,500,
around 16,000 pounds.

Not bad, eh?

Well, it might sound like a bargain,

but no doubt there's loads
of things that need doing on it.

Would I go all the way to sunny
California and bring you back a rock box?

It wouldn't be the first time.

Well, it's not this time, let me tell you.

Things that are wrong with it is a little
power steering leak under the bonnet.

As you can see, look, a
little bit is dropping out the top.

So we're now getting down
to the nitty-gritty. What else?

Okay, well, the other
things that let this car down,

really the shiny bits, you
know, the front bumper.

It's all pitted, it's rusty.

Is the rear the same?

It's not looking brilliant, I must admit.

So we're going to need to re-chrome those.

Don't be down in the dumps about it.

Sit yourself down inside there.

Okay.

Look at that, isn't it lovely?

It's a little bit tiny, but
it's pretty cool, isn't it?

Oh, look at that.

Got town and country
available on the stereo.

This is great, this is all right.

It's just missing a tiny bit of that
sparkle that we need to put back in.

Okay, so we want to make it more
luxurious, but how are we going to do that?

We're going to do it with
a fantastically named,

yet again, piece of equipment,
the Dial-O-Matic electric seats.

The Dial-O-Matic.

State of the art back in the day.

The thing is, its date was 1957,

and that means it's going to be a
billion wires and a nightmare to fit.

It'd be really easy to fit.

And if we get it right, get
the interior looking sharp,

fix the older soft top on the car,

sort out the chromey bumpers,

you'd sort out the links under the bonnet
and get the car looking nice and tidy,

I reckon we'll have a really tasty
motor that's worth massive money for us.

It might be massive money, but it's a
massive amount of work, as always.

But you get to work on
an iconic American car.

Come on, be happy about it.

I'm not sure I really
see it quite that way.

Let me try that again.

Come on, be happy about it.

Should we get it in the dark shop?

Yeah, there you go.

Come on, let's get it in.

After 60 years,

the Thunderbird is still one of
America's most recognisable cars,

but because it is nearly 60 years
old, obviously it's not that surprising

that a few things don't work
quite the way they should.

So I'm going to start by
trying to sort out that problem

with the power steering that
Mike noticed on his test drive.

The Thunderbird has
hydraulic powered steering,

which uses pressurised
fluid to steer the wheels.

Just having a look at the pump here,
and you can see the reservoir just here,

and it is actually rather moist.

It's got power steering
fluid all over the top of it.

Most of it seems to be coming
from a little air vent on the top there,

and in fact, it looks
like it's come out at

such force it's actually
hit the bonnet as well,

so that's not looking particularly good.

The power steering pump sends high-pressure
fluid to a hydraulic ram under the car,

which pushes the
wheels either left or right.

What controls that is this little
control valve at the end here,

and you can see what happens
is you actually turn the steering,

and that's connected to the pitman arm.

If I just actually rock,

you can see this little sleeve here
moving backwards and forwards,

and the idea is if you
turn the steering to one

way or the other, it
actually moves a piston,

and so that distributes
the high-pressure fluid

coming from the pump in
through that valve to whichever side

of the ram you need to steer
the car one way or the other.

Once spent, the hydraulic fluid
returns at low pressure to the reservoir,

so why is it leaking?

It's possible that the
control valve has failed

and it's sending
high-pressure fluid back up to

the reservoir rather
than to the hydraulic ram.

I need to take it off to find out.

I start by draining the hydraulic fluid.

Once that's done, the
pipe work and linkages can

be disconnected and
the control valve removed.

I also took the Liberty of
taking all the hoses off the car

because you can see they're
actually covered in power steering fluid.

In fact, at a closer inspection, you can
see some of the pipe's actually ruptured,

so I think the best thing to
do is to replace all of those,

but the thing I'm really interested in
is in here inside our clever little valve.

There should be some kind of
little piston with some seals on it.

You can see there's a little
sleeve that holds a washer in place.

Make sure I get the order right.

I'll just put that a little bit further.

There you go, just pop those out.

So this is the important bit.

This is the bit that's moving
backwards and forwards.

Your seals at each end,
so that keeps all the fluid in,

they actually seem a little bit loose,

but also that top edge is looking
a little bit smaller than it might be.

If you look at the other end,
I would say it wouldn't hurt

to actually recondition this
by changing both of the seals.

So I've bought a seal
kit and some new hoses.

Now, this is very telling.

Obviously, in the kit we have, we
actually have four seals rather than two.

But if you look closely, you can see
that one of the seals is very similar.

You can see it's got
this little void just inside.

The idea being, of course,
the higher the pressure,

the more the seal
is sealing, if you like,

because, of course, the
pressure's pushing on the

inside of that and kind
of expanding everything.

But clearly, they had a problem with this,

and so they've actually added
another seal that sits on the back of that.

So you can see you've
got about three ribs in there.

So you've got, imagine,
a point of contact there.

That helps seal.

If anything gets past that, it'll
go and block by the next one.

If anything should get past
that, there's the next one,

and then another one after that.

So the idea is this should work
much better than what we had before.

With the new rubber seals in place, the
control valve can be refitted to the car.

The service kit was just £15,

although the new hoses
were a bit pricier at £80.

Once everything's back together,

the system needs to be topped
up with fresh power-steering fluid.

Back in the day, they actually used
transmission fluid of a model called Type A,

and unfortunately, that was
actually made from whale oil,

so obviously we can't use
that again for good reason.

So what we've had to do
is find a modern alternative.

Now, you've got to be very careful,

because if you used
synthetic power-steering fluid,

actually, the viscosity's not quite right,
but also it might mess with the seals.

So we've had to use the right spec,

and actually it's a
mineral-based transmission fluid.

It's vital there's no air
trapped in the system,

so once everything is topped up,

the car needs to be started
and then the steering turned

from lock to lock to make
sure all the air is vented out.

Well, no more leaks up here, which is good.

So while the engine's
running, I can check for leaks,

and there are none, which is
fantastic, so our power-steering is sorted.

The Thunderbird is all about luxury,

and luxury isn't winding windows
yourself, so while I was in the US,

I took a chance to get the
car's manual windows upgraded.

I'm somewhere north of San Francisco,

and I'm looking for this guy called Gil.

Apparently, he's the US
authority on everything, T-Bird.

This guy can take one apart and
put one back together in his sleep.

But when I get to the address I've been
given, it's not exactly what I was expecting.

Looks like a little house.

I thought it'd be a big industrial complex.

Wow, there's T-Birds everywhere.

Look at that one.

This looks like the place then, doesn't it?

How you doing? Are you Gil?

That's right, I'm Gil.

Gil, nice to meet you. I'm Mike.

Good to meet you, Mike.

Nice to meet you too. This is my T-Bird.

What do you think?

Wow, first impressions
are good impressions.

It is a good car.
I'm really pleased with it.

But I'm a little bit disappointed because
there's a couple of options missing,

and one of those is it's got these
windows that you have to crank.

Well, we can take care of that.

First thing we need to do
is pull the door panels off.

Pull the door panel on.

Right, cool.

Gil puts me to work straight away,

removing various screws
that hold the door card in place.

The window winders are removed

using the appropriately named

window winder clip removal tool.

There you go, one door card off.

Very good.

Behind the door card is a plastic
membrane that has to be peeled away.

so I can undo the retaining
screws of the inner panel behind.

With that panel out of the way,

a hook tool is used to pull the
lifting mechanism of the window free.

Pull it straight out.

Got it.

And the window glass
can be lifted out of the door.

That parts good.

With the glass out of the way,

more screws removed and
the quarter light lifted out.

The regulator, which is the
winding mechanism itself,

can finally be removed from the door.

That's one door stripped down.

Ed would be proud.

Time for the new kit of parts.

So what are we looking at here?

Well, we're looking at the regulator
and the motor that runs the regulator,

the switches, the relays,

and this is the switch
retainers and the wiring and the

wiring retainer that goes
through the door under the dash.

Shall we go for it?

Yep. Go for it.

The first part of the process
of fitting power windows

is a simple reversal of work we've done
so far, but fitting new modified parts.

Okay, now what we've got
to do is tilt this over this way.

Yeah.

Drop it down in the door.

With the new mechanism in place,
the glass goes back in, a four-handed job

with at least two hands
belonging to an expert.

Finally, we're ready to test it.

Just touch it here and see.

Ready to go.

There we go.

That's a really good operation, isn't it?

Slick.

Now we know the window works,

we can start fitting the new
wiring harness that goes with it.

All that remains is for the
door to be put back together.

Well, that's very, very good, isn't it?

We've got the switches installed in the
door card now, and that operates both sides.

That's correct.

So now we've got to
install it and wire it up.

Not for the first time today.

I'm glad that Gil's an expert,

and I'm glad he's a nice guy, too,

because although the kit of parts for
the electric windows comes to $800,

Gil's only charged me a couple of hundred
dollars in labour for fitting both windows.

That's because I helped.

So that totals up to a
very reasonable £600.

Well, there you go.

That's the finishing touch.

And this car has now got its
much-needed power windows.

Gil, thank you so much.

Good job.

Our Thunderbird is an old lady now,
and she deserves loving care and attention.

Trouble is, the cost of all that care
and attention could easily mount up.

Re-chroming is not a cheap process,

and to get just the front
and rear bumpers and the

grille done, it's going to
cost the thick end of £2,000.

But if we want to get over £30,000,

our T-bird needs to live up to
its tagline of personal luxury car,

and there's still a long way to go.

The full Thunderbird is a
legend in the Motrin Hall of Fame.

You don't get much more American feel than
this, and at the moment, I feel wonderful.

But our 1957 car is nearly 60 years old,

and having spent 16 grand buying it,

we have to hope its
best days aren't behind it.

With working power
steering and electric windows,

this car is now well on the way back

to being the luxury vehicle it
was always designed to be.

There is one option
that it's sorely lacking,

and that is the fantastically
named dial-a-matic power seats.

They were absolutely the
height of fashion in 1957,

and an early form of what we
now know as memory seats.

Mike's got a kit from the US for
this rare and desirable upgrade.

All I need to do is fit it.

Wow, now there looks
like quite a lot of stuff here,

but actually, it's probably less than
you have on a modern powered seat.

But of course, because
it's so old, it's a lot bigger.

On a modern seat, you have all of
that stuff actually kind of attached

to the inside of the
structure behind the phone,

whereas on this car, all of
this stuff actually gets bolted

onto the car first, and then
you attach the seat afterwards.

Before I can do anything, I need
to take the seat out of the car,

which means undoing the seat
retaining bolts from underneath.

Once they're off, the seat can be lifted
out, but it's heavy, so it's a two-man job.

I'm just having a look at these covers.

They're not actually in a bad state.

There's a few little tiny nicks
and tears, but nothing serious.

But they are also a little bit dirty,
and again, it could be cleaned up.

But the thing is, when you compare
them to actually the data plate

on the bulkhead of our vehicle,
they're not quite the right colour scheme.

They should be black and cream.

Now, thankfully, Micah saved the day
by finding some replacement covers,

but of course, that
means I have to take these

off before I can put
those into position.

The seat back is separated from
the squab and the back panel undone.

Then, once the retaining
pins have been pulled out,

the old vinyl can be peeled away.

It's a shame that the wrong
covers have been used

because the seats are actually
in relatively good condition

and must have been
renovated quite recently.

The new seat covers have cost £240,

but at least I'm fitting them myself.

The trimmer would have
charged about £600 to do this job.

Oh, look at that.

So we now have an upholstery that
matches the original spec of the car.

We're now going to zhuzh it up by
actually fitting the dial-o-matic spec.

Inside every Thunderbird,
Ford fitted some preparation

for the dial-o-matic seat, even
though it was only an option.

It was cheaper for
Ford to fit this little

bit of metal to every
single car just in case.

Mounting brackets are
bolted in place to allow the

motors and rams to push the
seat backwards and forwards.

Luckily, the kit has come
with some instructions

that show where
everything needs to go.

The screw rams are attached to
the motors using rubber couplings.

The cables and relays are
attached to the rear floor,

making sure they're properly earthed.

And finally, the dial-o-matic control
unit is mounted under the dash.

So the wiring is now in, the battery
is connected and the ignition is on,

so now when we operate
our little switch down here,

the motors should start to work.

The first one to play
around with got our up and

down control and this is
the one at the back here.

So if I just hold
this... Position D...

You can see each of these
positions obviously tells the motor

where it needs to be and it'll
wind itself into that position.

You've got the same
thing on the base as well.

Two and one.

The clever thing is, when
you turn the ignition off,

you can see it resets the
seat to the fully back position

to make it easier to get out
and then back into the car.

The problem is, in modern seating,

you'd have some kind of micro-switch
to actually stop the motors going too far.

But with this system,
it's a bit more mechanical,

therefore it's critical that we
actually set up these motors

and connect them to the seat
in exactly the right position,

otherwise we might actually
force the motors and break them.

So now I'm happy
everything works as it should,

I turn the ignition off and
let the motors return to their

part or base position all the
way back and all the way down.

The seat is then bolted onto its runners
and it's ready to go back into the car.

The ram screws are lined up and, where
necessary, adjusted to the right length

by rotating the outer sleeve nuts.

Now all that's left is to check it,
one position at a time, just in case.

Well, that works brilliantly,

and even though our dial-o-matic
isn't exactly cutting edge anymore,

it'll certainly add even more good old-fashioned
luxury to our wonderful Thunderbird,

and hopefully that will add a few
more dollars when Mike comes to sell it.

Ed, how you doing?

I'm good, sir. I'm good.

You all right?

Got your present.

It looks like more of a
present for the car than for me.

You'll be right.

I've got this lovely soft top,

it's all complete, it's wonderful,
it's ready to go on the car.

All you've got to do is fit it.

Oh, joy.

So, what have you been up to?

We'll be pleased to hear
that the power steering.

is no longer spraying
hydraulic fluid all over the place.

That's good news. Anything else?

You're never satisfied, are you?

Not really, no, not with a car like this,

because it's all about the
luxury that was lacking in this car,

and I'm hoping you've worked
on a couple of those bits.

Well, I do know that, of course,

and that's why we now have a
fully working dial-o-matic seat.

It's getting there, isn't it, this car,
but it's still looking rather shabby.

It's all right, I've got that in hand.

Please say you're not
going to paint it pink.

Actually, pink, I hadn't thought of that.

Even though our Thunderbird now
has all those lovely luxury options

it so deserves, it still looks
rather unloved on the outside.

So my next job is to try and do something

about that rather tired paint,
and also the pitted chrome.

I'm going to start by removing
the bumpers and the grille,

ready to send them off to the re-chromers.

Now, unfortunately, re-chroming
is not a cheap process,

and to get just the front
and rear bumpers and the

grille done, it's going to
cost the thick end of £2,000.

But to get top money for this car,

this sort of stuff has to look pristine.

Time for a bit of penetrating oil to help
release those 50-year-old nuts and bolts,

and then the front bumper
can be lifted away from the car.

It's a hefty piece of
kit and a two-man job.

So now the bumper's removed,

you can actually see why it costs so
much money to get re-chroming done.

All this rust here and the
bubbling, flaking chrome

all has to be cleaned away,
any damage has to be repaired,

and, of course, you
can't chrome plate filler,

so it has to be done
really, really well.

That takes miniman hours,
and, of course, they cost money.

It's a similar story
at the back of the car.

A few large nuts and
bolts need to be undone,

and then the substantial rear
bumper can also be removed.

So all of the shiny bits are off that
are going to go to the re-chromers,

and while that happens,
there's going to be

plenty of time to be
sorting out this paint job.

Now, obviously, to re-spray a car
like this, you could spend easily £4,000,

but there is a way
of actually getting that

fresh paint look for
a fraction of the cost.

The process is called colour sanding,

but first I need to remove
all the various badges, logos

and bits of chrome trim.

I've come with the car to a paint
shop to meet a man called Clive.

Now, as the name suggests,
colour sanding involves

sanding back the top
layers of the colour coat

and then polishing it back
to get a lovely deep shine,

but, of course, that rather
requires there to be enough paint

in the first place, so that's
what Clive is doing now,

checking the depth of paint
we have at the moment.

So how are we getting on?

It varies from panel to panel.
It's 250 there.

That's pretty good.

So, actually, what could we
kind of safely sand down to?

A modern car would be 150. OK.

So you wouldn't want to
go any further than that.

I mean, I guess one of the
problems might be that this car

has been painted more
than once, so if there's two

layers of top coat on
there, what happens then?

If you go too far, you'll go through
and you'll get a colour change.

Wowzers. OK, that's quite scary.

After he's thoroughly
checked the whole car,

Clive is happy that the paint is
thick enough to start the process,

which begins by Fl*ttening
down the paintwork

using water and very
fine 1500 grit sandpaper.

Where there's really deep scratches,

a lacquer pen is used to fill them.

Now, Clive's been giving me
a bit of a masterclass with this

and a very interesting
top tip he's pointed out

is that rather than going around
in a kind of a swirly motion,

like I might normally do,
the problem with that is, if you

catch a bit of grit, you're
getting up with lots of swirls

and it'll be very difficult
to Polish back out again.

So it's much safer to keep those
movements as linear as possible

because it's much easier to
Polish a scratch out from a straight.

Once we've got an area
down as far as we want it,

we move on to 2000 grit,
an even finer sandpaper.

OK, so Clive, while I've been
busy at the front of the car,

you've obviously been getting
very busy at the back end here.

You've left that patch, I guess,
so we can see the difference.

And like myself, you've already
done the 1500 grit and the 2000,

so what's that?



So is this going to help
Polish out the scratches?

Yeah, take all the flat-in scratches
out, just to make it easier to Polish.

That's cool, and you've
got a bottle of water there,

so I'm guessing you have
to be pretty wet as well.

Yes, keep it nice and clean, wash any
dirt off and hopefully no more scratches.

The 3000 grit sanding
disc on the Dual Action,

or DA, orbital sander is
the finest we're going to go.

I'm intrigued to see what result we'll get.

Well, that is amazing, actually.

So you've just done
really one pass with the DA,

and already you can see the
shine beginning to come up.

Yeah, go over it again
and then Polish up lovely.

The paintwork is definitely starting
to look much better than it did,

but there's a lot of work involved and it
takes us several hours to do the whole car.

So, Clive, this is great.

So we've now got the car,

so everything's been basically
sanded down with 3000 grit,

so now the next reason,
I guess, is polishing.

So what's the process here?

It's a C20, which is a resin-free Polish,

because if you use a resin Polish,
it'll just fill in all the scratches.

OK.

It'll look shiny until you wash
it and then go matte again.

So, of course, when the resin washes out,
you end up with the scratches still there,

but this way we end up with a kind
of mirror finish that should last forever.

Yeah, and no more polishing.

As the polishing continues,

the car starts to look almost
as if it's had a full respray.

And remember, a respray could
have cost as much as £4,000,

but this colour-sanding
process has cost just £920.

And I can't wait until
the car's back in my

workshop and Mike
sees the finished effect.

That's fantastic. Well done, sir.
Thank you very much.

OK.

Well, we're well on the way to bringing
the glamour back to our Thunderbird.

But it's come at a cost.

We've spent over £5,000 on it already
and we're not out of the woods yet.

We should have some kind of resistance.

I'm getting absolutely nothing.

I've been to California
and bought us a legend.

I've bagged us a proper
two-seater Ford Thunderbird.

I managed to find a
solid car for just 16 grand.

But we're spending a
fortune giving it back its mojo.

And there's still plenty of work to do

if we're going to get top
dollar for our American icon.

Well, now our paintwork
looks as good as new.

The Thunderbird is on its final
straight, but we're not quite there yet.

All the shiny bits are still at the recromers
and while I wait for them to come back,

there are a couple of
things I need to attend to,

the first of which is the lovely roof
that Mike managed to find for us.

Ordering the car without
the optional soft top.

may have made sense in sunny California,

but in Europe the constant possibility of
rain showers means the soft top is a must.

The first part of the process is
attaching the roof frame to the car.

Frame's in.

The next thing is to attach
the soft top fabric roof itself.

The trick is to make
sure that all the nuts,

bolts and washers are
put on in the right order.

With everything in place,

there's still a large
number of adjustments to

be made to get the roof
straight and watertight.

That is now miles away.

It ain't easy.

You want to change this one first?

But eventually...

after a lot of fiddling...

and plenty of skin knuckles,

the roof is finally straight...

and true.

That was actually quite tricky,

but of course it's going to be quite taut

because it's been in
storage for quite a while,

but it does look fantastic, lovely quality.

Now, while it's resting,

the next thing I want to have
a look at is the fuel Gauge

because I noticed that wasn't
actually working properly.

I know there's at least
half a tank of fuel left

in our Thunderbird, but
if I turn on the ignition,

nothing is showing on the fuel Gauge.

Something is obviously wrong.

I'm going to start my
investigation by looking in the boot.

because my hunch is
the problem lies with the

fuel sender unit which
sits in the fuel tank.

The fuel sender contains a variable
resistor attached by a lever to a float.

When the fuel tank is full,

the float is lifted and the resistance
is reduced to nearly nothing.

But when the tank is empty,

the float drops and the
resistance is increased.

So, I can actually cheat this.

I can find out whether
the Gauge works or not

by actually plugging our
little wire here straight to earth,

shorting out as if the
car is actually full of fuel.

And immediately, the
fuel Gauge Springs to

life, so I know the
problem isn't the Gauge.

It must be a fault at the tank end.

Using a voltmeter, I start by checking
that the fuel tank is properly earthed.

Look at that.

It goes straight down to a
short circuit, which is fantastic.

We've got a really
good connection to earth.

I mean, there could have been a problem

with the fact that the tank
might have been isolated

from the rest of the
bodywork, but that's all good.

But when I try and run a
circuit through the sender itself,

the news is not so good.

We should have some kind of resistance.

I'm getting absolutely nothing.

Even if it's a bit squiffy,
there should be something

showing and it's just a
completely open circuit,

which suggests that something
is actually broken inside.

I've ordered a new sender
straight from the States.

It cost me $80.

That's about £50.

The new unit just drops straight
into the top of the fuel tank.

Now, our new sender has a different wire
terminal to what we actually had originally,

but I want to preserve as much of
the originality of the car as possible,

including the wiring
room, so I've made a little

link wire here so I can
connect the two together.

So, first of all, I'm going
to turn on the ignition

because, of course, now,
hopefully, the Gauge should

slowly be registering exactly
how much fuel we have.

So, assuming everything's working perfectly,
we should get a nice little reading.

So, let's have a look.

Ha-ha! Look at that spot.

I've got half a tank of fuel. Result.

And even better news,

the large bits of chrome have
finally returned from the re-chromers

and I've replaced the smaller
chrome bits with new parts.

Now it's all ready to go back on the car.

Having gone to the trouble and
expense of re-chroming our bumpers,

I've ordered a new kit
of bolts to go with them.

They weren't cheap at 30 quid,

but on a car that could be
worth more than 30 grand,

I think it's worth it.

So, that's it.

With fixed mechanicals,
upgraded optional extras

and, of course, refurbished
chrome and paint,

our Thunderbird, the very first personal
luxury car, is luxurious once again.

Ed, wow!

Look at the T-bird.

Oh, Ed, you've gone and done it again.

I gave you a reasonable
car, a bit tired, admittedly.

And what did you give me back?

An amazing car.

It looks brilliant.

Well done.

Well, thank you very much, sir.

Got me a little bit worried, though,

because a car that looks this good.

usually comes at a cost,

so tell me you haven't blown the budget.

Well, it hasn't exactly been the
cheapest car we've ever worked on.

Oh, don't say that.

Come on, you've got me worried now.

Well, the thing is,

this is supposed to be a
luxurious motor, isn't it?

It is a luxurious vehicle, yes.

And therefore, obviously,
we've had to put in all

those luxury features, so
we have spent a few pounds,

I mean, obviously, for that lovely roof.

Yeah, the roof looks lovely.

I like that.

It's very nice indeed, yes.

And underneath the roof?

Yes, of course, we've got
the dial-o-matic electric seats,

the master guide power steering,

the full-o-matic gearbox,

and thanks to me, the
Micamatic electric windows.

I see what you've done there very good,

because all these features do cost
a few quid, but I think the final tally

won't be quite as scary
as you might imagine.

There isn't much that says 1950s
America better than a Ford Thunderbird.

It's a design classic with power
and luxury to match its good looks.

We paid £16,000 for our 1957 model.

You got yourself a deal, mate, cracking.

It was a solid car, but after the
thick end of 60 years on the road,

there was plenty of work to do.

The power steering was leaking,

the paintwork was tired,

and the fuel Gauge wasn't working.

Most of all, if you want a luxury
car like this one to sell for top money,

it needs to have luxuries.

So we've added power windows.

We didn't stop paying the toll.

A power seat with new trim.

It'll certainly add even more good old-fashioned
luxury to our wonderful Thunderbird.

And a soft top.

It does look fantastic.

On top of the purchase price and shipping,

we spent £95 on power steering.

The electric windows were £600.

The dial-o-matic seat and
trim came to just over £1,700.

The paintwork roof and chrome wasn't cheap,

at over £4,000.

And the fuel centre was
another £50,000 on top.

Bringing that total to just over £25,000.

Now all we've got to do is sell it.

We've got to be clever to bag a
profit on an American car in the UK.

My plan is to take our
Thunderbird somewhere where

it'll be surrounded by
American car enthusiasts.

So we're heading 30 miles
south to Dunsfold in Surrey.

Could get much better
than this, does it, eh?

Wind in the hair, sun on the face,

open top, 50s convertible T-bird,

living the dreams up.

Such a cool car. What's it like to drive?

Well, it's one of those cars that,
when you're behind the wheel,

it just puts a big, stupid
smile on your face.

As a personal luxury vehicle,

this car has really succeeded,
because it feels epic.

Well, it is a stunning car.

I mean, you can imagine driving down
the Pacific Coast Highway in California

with, again, as we say,
the sun on your face,

enjoying nature,
it'd just be wonderful.

It would be. I can't sort of promise
you that, but what I can give you

is I can give you a nice
sunny day in the British

countryside, and I'm driving
us to an American car show.

That sounds perfect.

But the car show is proving to be
more popular than anyone expected,

and pretty soon, we're
in a very long queue.

Well, Ed, if you're going to
be stuck in any traffic jam,

you'd like to be stuck in this one.

We've got everything in this queue.

There's four pop hot rods behind us,

there's Plymouths, there's Granada coupes,

there's literally everything here.

And I've got to say, our
T-bird, it does fit right in.

It really does.

Finally, we make it to the front
and get shown where to park up.

From hornets to hot rods,

cobras to corvettes, and
everything in between,

there's something for everyone here.

Well, it's so good to finally be here, Ed.

And look, I even bought
the appropriate jacket wear.

I have to say, I'm quite curious.

What kind of money are
we actually going to sell

this little slice of
American nostalgia for?

Well, do you know what, Ed?

I went and found us a really good
car in the first place in America,

and with all the work you've done,
you've turned it into an even better car.

So I reckon we should ask,
well, top dollar for it, really.

Or do you mean pounds?

Perhaps top pound.

Pounds would be better.

And the market for
these is a little bit strange

because it goes anywhere
between £30,000 and £50,000.

£50,000, depending on condition.

This car, in this condition,

I reckon it's worth anywhere up to £40,000.

But you know what we're like.

We're not greedy.

So I went to the printers and
they made us up a little sign earlier,

and we're going to
pitch it right in the middle,

in the mid-30s.

All we've got to do is attract the buyer.

T-bird for sale, anyone.

Come on, have a look.

Yeah, look at this.

Our T-bird seems to be
attracting a lot of attention.

What do you think?

You like it?

Yeah, nice, 1957.

It's got the detachable hard top with it,

which is the porthole
window version, this one.

It's got a brand new
soft top, which we put on.

I think I may have found a buyer for it.

Come on, son, hold out your hand.

You just bought yourself a T-bird.

Well done.

Things are looking promising.

Perhaps there really is someone here.

who's got pockets deep
enough for our American classic.

Anybody want a card?

Anybody want a card?

Here you go, sir, take your card.

Cards for sale.

Give us a shout by the end of
the day and it could be yours.

There you go, sir.

A card for you.

Thank you very much.

Anybody else want a card?

But sadly, even though it's springtime,

the very best time to sell a convertible,

our beautiful T-bird remains unsold.

The obvious thing to
do would be to cut the

price, but I'm sticking
to my g*ns at £36,000.

It's pushing it, but I've had a call.

Now, this fella behind
me, he's called Mike.

He's been through a drive,

likes to wait and gets
us down the road, but the

question is, has he got
the dollar to pay for it?

So then, Mike, you're
looking at it adoringly.

Do you like it?

I do like it, actually.

She's lovely.

It looks exceptional on the outside,

but there's been plenty
of work under the skin.

What would you want the car for?

I would want it for our wedding.

What, is it your wedding car?

I want to use it for our wedding day.

What a fantastic thing to
have for your wedding day.

Yeah.

Very cool.

Leaving the church in this.

Yeah, it'd be very good indeed.

Well, I hope she's worth it,
because this car ain't cheap.

You know, I want £36,000 for it,
and I think it's worth every penny.

What do you reckon?

I'll give you 30 for it.





I've had bigger offers
than that for the car.

Well, listen, I'll give you a price.

It's one price, and you
can consider your discount,

a bit of a wedding gift from me and Ed.

Okay.

And if you want the car,
you can have it for 33 grand.

What did you say?

Oh.

Come on.

Come on.



Yes?

Top work.

You just bought yourself a Thunderbird.

Lovely.

Thank you.

So, sadly, we have to say
goodbye to our wonderful

Thunderbird, but hello
to a hefty £7,000 profit.

At nearly 60 years of age,

this Thunderbird's journey shows
no signs of coming to an end.

If you want to see more faded classics
turned into magic motors like this,

then join us again soon on Wheeler Dealers.

Ta-ta.

Ta-ta.