Save the dates, Oct 3rd-4th&5th. We're heading up to the Uplands of Southwestern Wisconsin! Exploring the scenic backroads and many sites to see, Cave of the Mounds and Little Norway-a Norwegian Settlement.
On Saturday from 1:00 to 5:00 our Little Birds will be featured at the Mt. Horeb 27th Annual Fall Festival, while we enjoy the area shops and Historic Museums as well as the Festival.
We have found a Brand New Holiday Inn Express opening May 30th in Verona and will be meeting with the Groups Mgr.
We will keep you updated on our progress.
More to come!
Lisa and Pete Ekstrom
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Fall Tour is in the planning stages
Friday, May 9, 2008
48 in 08- May update
Some of you are probably wondering why you haven't heard much about 48 in 08 lately. Mostly because Doc and Lucy have been doing some pre-'48 in 08' traveling:
Doc was out-of-country for over 2 weeks touring New Zealand and Australia with members of the Santa Clara Valley CTCI Chapter. (They did not take their Thunderbirds but did meet with a Thunderbird club in Australia.)
Lucy just returned from the Arizona Route 66 Fun Run in Seligman/Kingman/Topock, Arizona. This trip provided the perfect opportunity to try out the cruise control recently installed in Betsy Bird. It worked great and will be used a lot on the Interstates during the 48 in 08 tour.
Now we're ready to concentrate on 48 in 08 again -- only a couple months before we start the tour. Here's the latest:
1. A few 48 in 08 apparel items will be available soon, including 48 in 08 caps and shirts. Check our website in another week or two for full details and photos. A portion of the sale price of each item - after setup cost is recovered - will be donated to Mc Pherson College's Automotive Restoration Department.
2. A limited number of small car window 48 in 08 static-cling decals are now available. They look like the 48 in 08 sign on the Chick Magnet. One will be provided for each Thunderbird registered for 48 in 08. They will also be available for purchase. If you want a free car window decal, register now while supplies last.
3. The historic Dearborn Inn has been selected for our overnight in Dearborn, MI, Monday, August 25. This hotel was built by Henry Ford in 1931 and is near Greenfield Village.
4. We would appreciate receiving all Registration Forms by June 30 so we have contact information for everyone participating in the tour before we are on the road (our mail will be on hold at the post office during the tour).
5. The 48 in 08 website has been updated, including the start of the May-June Newsletter, additional Hotels, more Friends, and a section where Photos taken during the 48 in 08 tour will be added as we travel.
Note: It has been a challenge to keep up with the e-mail and phone calls. If we haven't responded, please accept our apologies and contact us again.
Hope to see you this summer in Portland and/or during 48 in 08.
Lucy Clark, phone 714-630-4066
Doc Dockter, phone 650-591-5939
Thursday, May 1, 2008
CTCC Spring Tour May 2-5
Back To Where It All Began -- Dearborn, Michigan
CTCC Spring Tour May 2-5 2008
We will meet at the Lincoln Oasis at 8:30 AM on May 2, and start a trip back into automotive history. Upon arrival we will be staying at the Hilton Suites in Auburn Hills. The rate is $99.00 per night and includes a deluxe breakfast buffet for 2 each day. Call (248) 334-2222 to make your reservation. Be sure to mention Classic Thunderbird Club of Chicago.
America's Greatest Automotive Attractions:
- Meadow Brook Hall (the Dodge Estate)
Call Ken Smizinski at (847) 397-3747 if you plan on attending or if you'd like more detail. Look for upcoming information here as it becomes available.
* Room Reservations must be made by April 11, 2008.
Editor's Notebook- April 2008
Editor's Notebook Apr 2008
HAVING SPOTTED THREE ROBINS early on the morning of March 13th, it seemed a positive sign that Spring would soon follow! The arrival of some 5 Inches of snow on the 21st doomed any chance of seeing a classic T-Bird roaming the salt-laden highways.
photo caption: This month our cover features the 1957 Ford Thunderbird. The photo is one of 63 included in The Thunderbird Anthology CD that was introduced in the February issue of Bird-News. Pictured is a Thunderbird Bronze 'Bird, a color which appears in varying shades in restorations that are entered in today's Concours d'Elegance competition.
The CTCC Calendar (page 2) now includes "A Day at the Hangar" with complete details of this exciting event appearing on page 5. Also, some PREVIEWS of additional T-Bird events are listed on page 3. For more info on "the Dells" and the "Spring Fling" events, check out the following: DELLS
Gail Hascek says that not only were she and Art at the Willowbrook Party on January 27th, but they braved the dance-floor to "trip the light fantastic!"
In compiling the 1977 Ford Museum information that appears on page 6, I recall having included Mr. Burnett's name on a list of Ford contacts for Karl Ludvigsen, who was writing "The Short, Happy Flight of THE EARLY BIRD" for Automobile Quarterly Magazine. As the Research Consultant for A-Q, I set-up as many Ford contacts as possible in the allotted 2-week "crash" program, to complete my part of the project. The article - and color photos - appeared in the Volume 9, Number 1 issue (Fall 1970) of A-Q, and I still recall Mr. Burnett's consternation when he discovered that he had not received a copy of the issue! A-Q promptly responded to my request to have a copy of the issue forwarded to Mr. Burnett. Happily, once this oversight had been resolved, Bill and I remained friends until his passing in December of 1975.
The T-Bird Registry (page 7) is reprinted from the March 2008 issue of Trail Bird News. Your T-Bird info would help expand this worthwhile project; why not send your Thunderbird data to Dave Tulowitzky and be included?
Get Well and Hurry Back! Joe Zambon has recently undergone surgery, and we all join in wishing him a speedy recover.
I HOPE EVERYONE ENJOYED A HAPPY EASTER!
-- Bert Eisenhour, Ed. Bird-News
Star of Ford Museum
A 1956 Ford Thunderbird stars in The Henry Ford Museum - 1977
PREVIEW - While we are well aware that many museums rotate their display materials over the course of time, we would hope that the 1956 T-Bird owned by the late William Burnett is still on display. The information presented here appeared in the 1977 issue of SPORTS CARS IN REVIEW. The entire issue was devoted to the cars that have been featured in the HENRY FORD MUSEUM over the years. In addition to the' 56, a brief description of a 300 hp Supercharged 1957 is included, along with a photo on the inside-cover page. With luck, the '56 'Bird will still be on display in May! (during CTCC's Spring Tour to Dearborn)
- Editor
photo one: In 1974, Mr. and Mrs. William Burnett proudly posed for a Ford Motor Company photographer with their (original) 1956 Thunderbird.
1956 FORD THUNDERBIRD - Frequently the perspective of history is required before a car is recognized as a classic design. Hardly so in the case of the original 2-passenger Thunderbird, however. The car seemed to progress from the status of a prestigious new design to the ranks of a collectible, skipping completely the lowly designation of "used car!"
This particular machine was the coveted property of the late Mr. William Burnett, who was chief engineer on the Thunderbird development project in 1953-54. The car is completely original, right down to the tires. Note the gold anodized wheel trim rings and custom spare wheel cover, both of which were Ford experimental items.
Official approval of a crash program to develop a "Ford sports car" came on February 9, 1953, with a 3-month deadline for completion of a full-size design and engineering proposal! The car had to retain Ford product identity and use as many standard Ford car components as possible. While design work was being done, Bill Burnett needed something to try ideas on, to get a head start on problems like handling and brake balance. So he took a two-door sedan and shortened it, with torch and hacksaw, to the 102-inch wheelbase of the proposed sports car. Inevitably, perhaps, this cobbled prototype was dubbed the "Burnetti!" It didn't look like much, but Bill didn't care. He had a test vehicle!
photo two: To Bert Eisenhour, from Bill Burnett - 1974; "The Burnetti" - This was our first cobbled proto-type. All components were placed in the correct position, dimensionally, wheel-base, tread and engine placement, etc. - signed, Bill Burnett
Maker: Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, Michigan
Engine: V-8, ohv
Displacement: 312 cu in
Bore and Stroke: 3.80 in x 3.44 in
Wheelbase: 102 in
Horsepower: 225 at 4600 rpm
Speed: 110 mph
Transmission: 3-speed automatic
Weigh!: 3147 lbs.
Lent by Mrs. William E. Burnett, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Displayed in the 1975 Sports Cars In Review show.
Jan. 15, 1977
Dear Bert,
Bill's beloved Thunderbird is now in The Henry Ford Museum, where I am sure he would have wanted it to be. Thank you again for so faithfully sending him the Classic Thunderbird Bird-News - he loved them.
Thought you would enjoy "Sports Cars in Review."
(signed) Lydia Burnett
'55-'57 Tbird Registry
55-56-57 Thunderbird Registry
The purpose of this Thunderbird registry is to find and document as many of these fine cars as possible. All information is welcome, even if the car has been totaled, parted out, or sold to a new owner. To register your 55-57 Thunderbird, please send VIN and data plate information to:
David Tulowitzky
14191 Tudball Ave.
Port Charlotte, FL 33953
Or email: tulobird@aol.com
As of 3/01/2008, the registry has more than 14,000 Thunderbirds registered.
Link to Smoky Mountain Classic Thunderbird Club
SMCTC Web Site Link
Subj: Club link
Date: 3/18/08
Hi Bert,
One of the important activities we have with our new Smoky Mountain Classic Thunderbird Club here in Tennessee is finding ways to quickly gaining visibility in our market for members. Several of our members belong to the AACA chapter here and we have linked their web page to ours which will help drive potential new members. The link to our website is here.
Might be something CTCC might want to consider with other clubs in the area as well. We are also posted to the "Members" section of the CTCI web site, thanks to Dick Burdette.
Our best to everyone,
Perry
Delaware
What happens in Delaware ... stays in Delaware!
[source: Kovel's Komments] - A Delaware man sold the rights to his Delaware license plate, number 6, for a record $675,000! It is probably a record price for a U.S. license plate. Delaware drivers can keep the same plate number indefinitely, even sell them. The first plates were issued in 1909. Low numbers suggest the owner has been a Delaware resident for a long time. It is a status symbol and newcomers to the state buy them to show they have "arrived." Another single-digit plate sold for $186,500 fourteen years ago. Low numbers are so popular there is even a website to help you find one (Iowtags.com). You can buy reproductions of the tags from the Delaware Historic Plate Company.
March Ford Quiz- answer
March Ford Quiz Answer
Based on the "dated" Ford script on the wooden-boxed Ford part (pictured on the rear-cover of the March issue), the QUIZ was aimed at the old timers in CTCC! Pictured was a Model-T Spark Coil! The "T" required one coil unit for each of its four-cylinders. The info appearing on the unit was dated: April 1914! Components in the slide-cover "box" are sealed in what appears to be a black-tar material.
Fuel Gauge Sending Unit
Fuel Gauge Sending Unit
Are any of you people driving around out there without a working fuel gauge? If the answer is "yes", the procedure for testing and changing your fuel gauge sending unit is actually very simple. You don't even have to get underneath your car!
The sending unit which tells your car's fuel gauge how much gas you have in your gas tank is located in the gas tank mounted underneath the floor of the trunk. To gain access to the sending unit you simply empty your trunk and pick up the trunk matting. You will see a hump located approximately in the middle of the trunk with a metal plate on top. There is one screw which holds this plate in place. Once you remove the plate, the top of the sending unit will be visible. Two wires will also be visible. One wire will be short and is connected to the sending unit resistor. The other wire is long and goes to your fuel gauge. Remove the wire going to the fuel gauge from the sending unit. You can test the operation of your fuel gauge by touching the wire you just removed from your sending unit to any good ground on your car. If your gauge reads full when the wire is grounded, your gauge is operating properly and any problem you were experiencing with your fuel gauge is lilely to be a defective sending unit.
Replacing the sending unit is very simple, but before you begin make sure you have no more than a half a tank of gas in your car. Make sure you have not only ordered the sending unit, but also the gasket which fits between the sending unit and the gas tank. Lastly, never smoke when working around gas!!!
If you have not already removed the wires going to the sending unit. do so now. Clean off any dirt and vacuum the area clean. 1955 and 1956 Thunderbird sending units are secured by screws around the perimeter. Unscrew the screws, gently tap the top of the sending unit and the unit should lift out of the gas tank. On 1957 Thunderbirds there are no screws. A metal retaining clip holds the sending unit in place. Simply work the clip out. A little WD-40 will help. Once you have slid the clip out, just tap the top of the sending unit and lift it out of the gas tank.
The new sending unit is installed reversing the above steps. Don't forget to install your gasket. You may need to bend the float up or down to get an accurate float reading on your gas gauge. I thank Ken Smizinski for furnishing this month's "tech tip."
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