As bad as the photo looks it was actually worse! You never know what you're getting into when buying a car at an auction. At this particular auction, they start the car for potential bidders. It seemed to run okay and not withstanding the 4 inches of water in the back seat and 9 inches in the top well it was a comlete, slightly weathered car.
Convertibles usually gather a lot of interest at these junk car auctions but somehow I came away with the car for less than $1000. There was however, a moment of anxiety when my car buddy Jim Reid and I went to pick up the car. It started right up, but didn't move and inch. Five or six quarts of Type F solved that and we were on our way with my new Oakley sunglasses left on the roof of the Thunderbird.
It sputtered a bit on the way home and I could barely see out the windshield it was so dirty. A quick rinse then test two: would the top go down? I released the latch, pressed the button, and presto: topless magic!
After some serious cleaning (water was seeping out of the cracks for days), a tune up and the installation of an 8-track radio, we were ready for crusing! All I needed was a trunk full of Type F and the sun in the sky! Jackie O was proud!
I intended to do a cosmetic restoraton on the car. It desperately needed a new top and carpets. The exerior needed some dents pulled and a few new pieces of trim and of course, paint. Underhood, the A/C system needed to be rebuilt and of course the transmission need quite a few leaks fixed.
All this fell through when I bought my house. All available funds went into its remodeling and the convertible was pressed into service as a truck substitute. Unfortunately, the car wasn't cut out for this service and I ended up jamming a 2 inch pipe through the transmission pan while driving it through an empty lot. I parked it for a month or so then sold it for $1000. I probably could have got more judging by the number of calls I got. Now I go convertible crazy every summer wishing I had it back.