1979 Ford Thunderbird Town Landau with only 16,000 (26,000 kilometers, odometer is still in kilometers since it's a Canadian car) original miles on this car. I purchased this car off the original owner who was 93 years old and could no longer drive. Mr. Kirchknoph purchased the car back on 6/15/1979 and lived in Hamilton, Ontario with his wife. The car was literally his Sunday driver and according to him, his family, and his neighbor he would only drive the car to church on Sundays and maybe on a nice day to go get some ice cream.
The car has never seen a winter and was always put up on blocks in a climate controlled garage while stored. When I picked the car up a neighbor was outside and she told me that in the 30 years she lived next door to Mr. Kirchknoph she had only seen the car out of the garage a couple dozen times when it was cloudy out.
I purchased the car and imported it into the United States, it is being sold with a New York State title in my name. When I purchased the car it still had the original tires on the back but after driving it around the block one tire started to have the tread separate so I replaced the tires with new tires he had in the trunk (original style Firestones, probably 20 years old) the original tires still had the wheel weights that had FoMoCo stamped on them.
Being that this T-Bird is a Town Landau it has every option for '79 except for the moon roof, leather seating and CB Radio. The car has the newly introduced AM/FM Cassette Stereo with power antenna and nice sport instrumentation cluster which gives you the tachometer and gauges. All the power equipment works on the car and yes the Air Conditioning blows cold.
The motor is the 5.8 351 ci Windsor so it's nice and smooth and has the FMX three speed automatic transmission which delivers power to the 2.47 conventional rear axle. The carburetor is perfect and it does not hesitate at all, depress the accelerator pedal once and the car fires right up on cold starts. The cold idle works properly and so does the kick down.
Mechanically the only thing I have noticed is slight pulsation in the brakes but not bad at all. When I had the car inspected the person inspecting it stated that the pads etc all still say FoMoCo and look totally original on the car. He could not believe the condition of the undercarriage and the car was rustproofed when new. The mechanic also stated that the only thing that should be replaced is the rag joint on the steering shaft and I have purchased the part, it will be included in the sale and the hood springs are week and should be replaced (need to assist it once popped).
The body of the car is nice but please remember that the car is 40 years old with original 40 year old paint. The car shines up amazing but there are imperfections in the paint here and there along with minor scratched, environmental and a couple minor dings. The worst part of the body is the left front fender where a vehicle bumped the car in the church parking lot. Rudy did not want to have the car repaired and painted since it was all original and even at car shows it does not take away from the car.
Last week I had the car in an all Thunderbird show and it took first place due to how original and the condition of the car. The car is very nice but again it is not a 100 point show car. I would consider this a very nice original unrestored example with extremely low miles. The black on red interior with matching wheels looks amazing.
Thanks for reading my long write-up. This car is being sold AS-IS without any warranty, if you have any questions please feel free to contact me. The car is registered and insured and if you would like to come see it and drive it I would highly encourage that. Shipping is the responsibility of the buyer and I will assist however possible with the transporter that you chose. Ford produced many of these old birds but even at that this one is one of 1,720 with this paint and trim option.
Reason for selling, I have 10 cars right now and need to thin out a couple. I don't drive this car often so have decided to sell it for someone else to enjoy and drive it so others can appreciate it.