Some cryptozoologists have theorized the thunderbird myth to be based on sightings of a real animal that has of late dwindled in population.

Consider this account: July 25, 1977 Lawndale, Illinois. About 9 p.m. a group of three boys were at play in a residential back yard. Two large birds approached, and chased the boys. Two escaped unharmed, but the third boy, ten-year-old Marlon Lowe, did not. One of the birds reportedly clamped his shoulder with its claws, then lifted Lowe about two feet off the ground, carrying him some distance. Lowe fought against the bird, which released him.

However this may be, I can report to you the the big Thunderbird is alive and well in Spokane, Washington. In May of 1999, the big bird swooped down and captured Barry and Kayse Lyn Iverson. To date they have been unable to escape from the clutches of the bird. It is reported to be a bright Viper Red in color The big bird has been seen flying from car show to car show.

I recently caught up with the big bird at the Inland Empire Car Club Council car show in downtown Spokane, Washington July 20th, 2006. Here’s the story as related to me by Barry.

Barry and Kayse were not planning to acquire a Thunderbird, but through a mutual friend discovered the 1965 convertible with the roadster tonneau gathering dust in a barn near Chewelah, Washington. What do you do when you find your dream car lurking in a barn only a modest distance from your home? You buy it! The owner wanted $14,000 for the old bird. That seemed a bit much to the Iversons, but after some dickering a deal was struck and the bird found a new home with the Iversons in Spokane.

No one seemd to know the history of the car, but the T-bird started life as a white car with white interior. Sometime in the past the previous owners had changed the color to red. They must have really liked the red color as they had painted the car with so many layers of red paint that it was crazing and cracking from being too thick. In an attempt to shape the car up to be presentable the Iversons had a relatively inexpensive repaint job done on the bird. The result was that the car looked very good, but on closer inspection you could see the crazing and cracking coming back again. So, after a few years of being less that satisfied with the appearance of the thunderbird, there was nothing to do but run the car into the shop for a quality restoration job, and do it right. That was about a year and a half ago.

Scott Kennedy was the man at Watson’s Body shop who was commissioned to do the restoration work. In order that the costs be kept as low as possible for a quality job, it was agreed that the T-bird would be fill-in work when the shop was not preoccupied with time-sensitive production work.

Many folks who set out to restore a classic discover that the work needed is much more extensive and expensive than they had planned or hoped would be thecase. Indeed, that was the case here. Rust repair was much more extensive than anticipated. They even found a dent that had been filled with bondo instead of proper repair. But, when you have a collectible car that you love, it is like dealing with the expense of a sick child. You simply find the money to do it right. As will happen, the months rolled by and the work required steadily increasedas new problems were found that needed correction.

As you will see in the photos, replacement panels were installed on the lower rear quarters, the lower doors and rocker panels. The rear wheel well liners needed to be completely rebuilt. One front fender was replaced and the other repaired.

Quality body work is neither cheap nor fast. Finally, the day arrived when the body was ready to be refinished. Viper Red was chosen. Although not a stock Thunderbird color, Kayse decided that the bright Viper Red did not have the “tomato soup” look of the stock Rangoon Red Thunderbird color.

With the body work completed the search was on for perfect door panels and the seats were due for a complete rebuild by Jacob’s Upholstery. After 18 months in the auto hospital the big bird roadster was home again for final assembly.

Take a look at the photos of the completed job. Who wouldn’t want a gorgeous red Thunderbird convertible such as this in their collection? Congratulations to Barry and Kayse for job well done on a magnificent example of 1960’s automobile style.

When asked, “If you had it to do over again, what would you do differently?”Barry replied: 1. He would not have started off with the inexpensive refinish job that eventually needed to be completely redone. And, 2. Figure out as best you can what the restoration work is going to cost and how long it will take… then double those figures, and you will be about right.

For a listing of some of the suppliers and resources utilized in the restoration of this fabulous Ford Thunderbird, see the web site of the Inland Northwest Thunderbird Club and check their resources list:http://www.inwthunderbird.org -WDM