Words & Photos: Gary Rosier
Mark May resides in Edgewater, Fla., having moved from a speed shop and auto parts business that he worked at and owned for many years in Wisconsin. "Too many years of cold and snow," he says with a laugh.
His wife Rosemarie was very agreeable to get out of town to seek greener and warmer pastures too. A peach of a gal - who wouldn't adore a gal who said "Just get me a house with that shop you want and I'm a happy camper!"
Mark spotted this hulk of a 1959 Thunderbird in the parts/swap meet section of the Daytona Turkey Rod run recently and said that while he's built many cars in his lifetime, he still needs to keep after it in retirement so "he doesn't jump off the roof;" he couldn't resist taking on another project. It's just ingrained in his DNA!
The new second generation Thunderbird captured Motor Trend's Car of the Year award in its debut season (1958), making history as the first individual model line to do so. Not only that - it started a new category with an automotive line-up referred to as the personal luxury car segment. Owners of 55-57 T-Birds (two-seaters) were less than thrilled about the new direction Ford took (adding a rear seat), but sales about doubled in 1958 and double again for 1959!
At a very early age, Mark had worked in a Dodge dealership that his dad's best friend owned. He worked his way up the ladder starting with washing cars, chasing parts and learning to use the various machines around the shop. He was a MOPAR guy all the way, he says, Dick Landy of course being one of his early favorites! He LOVES all cars though, as witnessed by his latest creation here, a T-Bird.
This most recent project started off as a 1959 Thunderbird alright, but with no engine/transmission and in need of a nice paint-job as well. All tasks at which Mark has succeeded very well in the past, so he was undaunted. Money changed hands and soon it was sitting in his well-equipped but modest garage next to his home in Edgewater, Fla.
Now Mark has done the whole deal - raced drag cars, ovals, even some ice racing, so he was no stranger to all this go fast, make it work stuff. Mark has always been a hands on guy, fabricating most all of his own material.
Mark was able to purchase a 352 cu in motor (Craigslist) and attached a Ford C-6 trans. It's a dual exhaust, 2brl - pretty much stock motor - but it's a cruiser, he says! The standard Ford 9 inch rear is stock but with 3:10 gears. It all rolls on a set of American Chrome torque-thrusts, shod with 215/70R14's. Brakes are drum rears and discs up front. These Thunderbirds were already quite low to the ground stock, but Mark cut a coil from the front springs, then added two-inch lowering blocks to the rear so it sits pretty low, but is still comfortable to drive.
He had to clean up the interior, even dyeing some of the material to bring it up a notch, then added a set of Autometer gauges to monitor everything the engine was doing. Exterior-wise, Mark bought some Hot Rod Flatz Saturn Gold Firemist paint. Bodywork was minimal, thankfully, and was one of the things that appealed to him when starting this project. He added some metallic to the top as it's cleared with several coats - while the exterior bottom portion was left alone for that flat look. Next he laid out some cool scallops, again adding some metallic flakes for that old school custom look.
Why this 59 T-Bird project when he's such an avid Mopar Guy? It's what he does and has done all his life, says Mark! Take someone's run-down ride or discarded old relic - waiting for the crusher even, perhaps - but returns them to a new purpose; trash to treasure if you will and a repurposement to their life. Guess Ford got it right, as the name means "Supernatural Bird of Power and Strength," and this T-Bird - as well as Mark - sure fits that bill with us just fine!