My Favorite Ride: Sprucing up a 1964 Thunderbird for its 60th birthday
ELLETTSVILLE — I've had my eye on the black 1964 Ford Thunderbird parked outside Thurman Body Shop a few years now. There it sits, I note whenever I'm in downtown Ellettsville, always in the same spot out front.
I stopped in this week, tempted by the classic automobile. Carl Thurman took a break from the nine cars he was working on, in various stages of bodywork, to tell the story.
The car belongs to his son, Taylor Thurman. It's been parked outside the shop "three years, maybe five," Carl said. When I suggested the classic car deserved restoration, he assured me it's in the works, albeit slowly.
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It was repainted during that time and needs to be buffed out.
They've replaced the floorboard's rusted metal. The next step is a thorough tune-up of the car's 300-horsepower 390 V-8 engine. His brother, Jerry Thurman, whom Carl described as a "vintage mechanic," is in charge of that.
"He got tired of keeping up with the technology on new cars, and he found a niche working on older cars," Carl said of his sibling. "Model A and Model T owners know where to find him. He'll have it running quiet as a sewing machine."
After that comes reupholstering the seats and replacing the carpet.
"We have to put the interior back together," Carl Thurman said. They have the supplies. Finding time is the challenge since the body shop is always full of paying customers' cars and Carl works by himself.
As I admired the car and took some pictures, Carl said if he put a new battery and fresh gasoline in the car, it would start right up. I almost offered to go get both so we could take the car out for a spin.
When he took his son out in the car a few years ago, Taylor was uneasy when his dad put the gas pedal to the floor.
"I took off like a lightning bolt, and he grabbed the dash and said, 'Dad, dad, you can't drive these old cars this fast.' I assured him you can," Carl said, a smile on his face as he remembered.
"The car probably went from zero to 70 in no time, out on a straight stretch on Delap Road."
The 1964 Thunderbird had a more squared-off look than previous models, and Ford sold more than 92,000 of them at a list price of nearly $5,000. It was the only year the word "Thunderbird" was spelled out on the front hood instead of on a chrome emblem.
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The Thurmans plan to take the Thunderbird to a vintage car show at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Father's Day. Participants drive their vehicles around the 2.5-mile oval on the way out.
The old Ford will be marking its 60th birthday at the event. Carl has eight months to finish the restoration. "Plenty of time," he said.
Contact My Favorite Ride reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: My Favorite Ride: Sprucing up a 1964 Ford Thunderbird
