Remove Continental Tire from '56 Bird?

[dmsfrr]

Originally Posted by cb

If you go over to Vintagethunderbirdclubinternational and click on 1955-1957 modified/custom thunderbirds and go down about 8 threads and click on 56 bird minus continental kit I some pictures of mine.

Here's the link... It looks very nice.

https://www.vintagethunderbirdclub.n...p?f=22&t=15410

[Oldmics]

In my case I originally used a 55 bumper on the rear.


I did not like the look as the ends of the 55 did not wrap around and go up towards the wheel well openings as far as I thought it should when compared to the 56 wraparound.


I acquired off of eBay a 56 kludged together bumper that had been assembled from the right and left sides of the continental but had a filler piece welded into the middle area.


It gives me the exhaust out the bumper. It still looks a little weird but it gives me a longer wrap around than useing a 55 bumper.


And by removing all that weight off of the rear gave me MUCH better steering and handling.


Oldmics

[flatrod]

I guess I better unwrap my new smooth bumpers and see how they fit, I didn't have the lower quarters filled because I didn't know to do it when I sent it to the body shop. I did send a 55 bumper from my daughters car for fitting. I get the feeling I am going to have my new gray paint redone!

[blucar]

I have a '56 Bird of which I am the second owner, I have owned the car since 1983. The car has a very unusual past, it was purchased new for a family friend as a 21st birthday present, it was purchased on Mar. 3, 1956 in Las Vegas, NV. The lady that owned the car was a wannabe actress/model, married several times until she meet a man named Paul Schiefer. Paul was very active in performance cars and racing. He owned a company called Schiefer Engineering that made performance parts in So Cal.
When the '56 had 113k on it, it was getting very tired, Paul took the car to a couple of his contacts in the custom auto industry to rebuild it. A '68 302 and C4 was installed along with a Paxton Blower. The spare tire carrier was removed, replaced with a front bumper to eliminate the exhaust ports. The car had a non-porthole top so the removal of the rear spare tire and special Hurst wheels made the car look very sporty. The addition of Burgundy colored paint really made the car look sharp.
Paul raced the car during the '68-69 season, then lost interest in it so he had the Blower removed, de-tuned the engine and gave Patti back her "tennis car".
From 1970 to the early '80's the car was daily transportation for Patti. Paul had passed away and Patti had trouble getting work done to the car to keep it in good shape. Patti finally gave me the car to sort out the problems that had developed..
I fixed everything that had been neglected on the car, had it repainted it's original red and had the interior redone to a correct black/white. I did not put the spare tire back on the car. Never did like the looks of the '56 Birds.
During the course of my membership with the local chapters of the EFV8 and T-Bird International clubs I met a man named Alex Tremulis. Alex was a very well known auto stylist that was a member and regular attendee at the local car club meetings. Alex worked for Ford Motor during the mid '50's, prior to working for Ford he worked for Tucker, during which he designed the Tucker Automobile.
Alex liked to talk about the redesign of the '56 Birds. Alex told the club that in 1954 prior to the release of the '55 Bird, engineering had discovered that the Birds had a design flaw, it was found that in excess of 105 mph the car became light in the rear due to lift. As I recall the rear axle weight was something like 1,300 lbs., at speed the weight distribution became a negative resulting in lift. Two '55 Birds did end flips on the test track.
Alex and his team in the design department of Ford designed the continental kit for the '56 Birds to offset the weight problem. Ford put out advertising touting the increased trunk space, reputedly calming peoples complaints about the lack of storage room in the trunk.
The redesign of the trunk area and "spoiler" fins on the '57 Birds was also a design that Alex came up with. Alex did not like the term "fins" when describing the '57 Birds. The spoiler was an early use of an 'Air Damn', that kept the air flow on the deck lid, eliminating lift. If you look closely at the rear portion of the '57 deck lid, you will note that it curls into the body, Alex referred to this shape as being "a bustle".
Another interesting feature on my '56 is the heavy metal bar that is welded to the length of the frame. Alex claimed that my Bird has an export chassis under it. Reputedly Ford offered an export chassis in '55, discontinued the option for '56. To use up the export chassis' that they had in stock, Ford fed them into regular production at random.
I had always thought that Paul had added the steel bar to beef up the frame for racing. Of course a racer would usually want the car as light as possible.

[dmsfrr]

Originally Posted by blucar

..... Alex told the club that in 1954 prior to the release of the '55 Bird, engineering had discovered that the Birds had a design flaw, it was found that in excess of 105 mph the car became light in the rear due to lift. As I recall the rear axle weight was something like 1,300 lbs., at speed the weight distribution became a negative resulting in lift. Two '55 Birds did end flips on the test track......

Dang, gotta keep it under 105.

[blucar]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

A continuation of my earlier story about my '56 Bird.
Many people are of the mistaken believe that the '55-56-57 Birds are performance cars, being Ford's answer to the Vet and some of the British cars that were gaining popularity.
The small birds were never intended by Ford to be performance cars. Ford was after the personal luxury car market. As a general rule performance cars are not built with Auto trans, power windows/seats, fender skirts, etc. For the most part the majority of the small Birds were purchased by or for women. My Mother in-law, my wife and my wife's best friend all had '56-57 Birds.
The only reason I own a '56 Bird is because of it's history and association with the family. My wife passed away in 2016, I sold her '57 last year, she had owned it since '75. It was a very nice car.
I have attached a few pix of my '56 Bird. Some of the pix are of the car when it was white, Paul got tired of the Burgundy color so he had the car repainted white, then he had it repainted British Racing Green, then white. I had it repainted it's original red a few years ago.

[KULTULZ]

A little late in the discussion but I somehow believed the 56 CONT KIT was an option.

...wrong again...

Rear Spare Tire Carrier*

*Designates new standard feature for 1956

SOURCE- http://automotivemileposts.com/tbird...equipment.html

[Anteek29]

Informative responses...thanks guys! I do like the 'after' pics