I'm in no great hurry but I've decided to sell my fabled 1957 Thunderbird convertible — the same one driven by the heroes of my comic books, Crossfire and Hollywood Superstars. It's a wonderful car but I think I've wrung all possible fun out of it and I could use the garage space. Just how one sells something like this, I have no idea…so I thought I'd tell its story here and see if anyone has any suggestions.
I purchased the car around 1982 from the legendary actor, Anthony Perkins, star of Psycho and many other movies. Mr. Perkins told me he was its original owner and that he'd driven the car in several of his movies, occasionally repainting it so it would better fit his "character." Since most of Mr. Perkins' films were black-and-white, I don't really understand why it had to be repainted. But sure enough, when I later had the body redone and all the old paint stripped, there were at least seven layers of sometimes-garish paint. Someone sent me this still of Perkins and a '57 Thunderbird (with New York plates) and while I can't swear it's mine, it seems possible.
Around 1970, Perkins decided to have it completely restored and he gave it to a gent who was famous for fixing cars for Italian movie and singing stars. The guy was so busy with Sergio Franchi's Porsche and Tony Bennett's Jaguar that he didn't finish Perkins' T-Bird until the early eighties. Part of the long restoration time was because Perkins had moved into a dwelling where he had no place to house the car and so was in no rush to get it back. When it was finally done, he decided he really didn't want it, nor did he want to pay the bill, which was about what the car was then worth. He told the mechanic to sell it for the cost of the restoration, which he did — to me.
This was in 1982 and at that point, the odometer said the car had around 10,000 miles on it. I have no idea if or how many times it had been rolled over or back but I've never touched it and it now shows a little over 14,000 miles. I've only driven it now and then, mostly on short trips for fun.
During those years, I repeatedly allowed it to sit undriven in the garage for long-enough spells that the battery went dead and I had to have it towed, serviced and detailed. I had planned to do all the servicing and repair work on it myself but I've never really had the time. The car has been fixed up by a succession of good mechanics but one after another, they all went out of business or moved or otherwise became unavailable. So the car occasionally sat in the garage for a year or two until I got around to finding someone who knew how to fix the thing. That is its current condition: The battery is dead and it needs servicing…but it ran fine the last time I started it, three years ago. Since I've lost interest in taking care of it, I figured it was time I passed it on to someone who would drive it and love it and pay the insurance bill on it.
I've had three major restorations done on it, including the major body job where we stripped off old paint, removed tons of Bondo and pounded out all the dents, and repainted it its original "baby blue" color. As far as I know, everything visible on the car is original equipment: Original radio, original hubcaps, original seat, etc. I have both tops — the hardtop and the soft — and have used neither. The hardtop is on a shelf in my garage. The softtop is folded down behind the seat and the canvas has probably gotten so brittle that it will need to be replaced. Under the hood, all original T-Bird parts were used in the restorations except for expendable items like the carburetor and the battery. I also installed a couple of fuses that weren't there in the original design. The last time I had it appraised, the expert said he'd never seen a '57 Thunderbird that was closer to its original state.
Right now, I'm looking for advice on the best way to sell it…maybe for someone local (Los Angeles) who knows a lot about old cars and would help me get it running and auctioned in exchange for a commission. I just don't have the time to run around with it, find a new mechanic, show it to dealers, etc. If you have interest or an idea, drop me a note.