1966 Ford Thunderbird complete 8-track system

[midwaysearaider]

first year ever- back when the format was brand spankin' new- pulled
this system from a '66 T-bird, and got a pleasant surprise- the
original Ford 8-track systems had 4 speakers, 2 per channel in the
bottom of each door

now this is something that belongs in the 8-track museum

[DeserTBoB]

On Sun, 01 Jul 2007 06:39:40 -0700, midwaysearaider

Post by midwaysearaider
first year ever- back when the format was brand spankin' new- pulled
this system from a '66 T-bird, and got a pleasant surprise- the
original Ford 8-track systems had 4 speakers, 2 per channel in the
bottom of each door
now this is something that belongs in the 8-track museum <snip>

I had a '66 T-Bird Landau, but it came with the factory AM/FM Bendix
piece of crap. Bendix radios in the mid-'60s were garbage...bad front
ends, impossible to keep aligned and they wouldn't age well, due to
cheap capacitors and "caps-in-the-IF-bases" cost-saving design. I got
mine working pretty well (considering it was a Bendix) after many
hours of work and alignment, but it wasn't much, for sure. The AM and
AM/FM options used the front and rear speakers (no MPX stereo on the
latter, of course) and, due to the crappy little germanium power
stage, sounded like garbage. One would hope the 8 track sounded at
least somewhat passable.

I got that T-Bird running very well, redid the vinyl top and sold it.
Little did I know that, among "big Bird" enthusiasts, the '66 Landaus
are worth some serious coinage. Mine went for $6K and I thought I'd
made a good profit, but I later found out that, since it had factory
AM/FM and all the goodies including the 390HP engine option, it was
worth much more.

I don't think I've ever owned a more inefficient car, as far as
usefulness went; a Cadillac Coupe de Ville was far more useful as a
passenger car. The 'Bird seated four (five in a severe pinch) due to
the buckets and the "passion pit" wrap-around rear seat, yet was
almost as big as a Continental. It has the traditional "fire bomb"
Ford trunk floor, which doubled as the top of the gas tank, as did all
Fords from 1961 way into the '70s. Power with the 390HP and cast iron
FMX transmission was very good, fuel economy was fair, with 17 being
about as good as it ever got. The A/C's vacuum controlled thermostat
was somewhat funny...go up a grade, the temp would go up in the car,
go downgrade, you'd freeze. Addition of a vacuum regulator set to
14"/Hg took care of that. Compared to the Harrison/Frigidaire
systems from GM, the Ford/York A/Cs in all '60s Ford was a pretty
crude affair.

Despite its high price and luxurious pretensions, the '64-'66 'Birds
couldn't help but looking more-or-less like a big Galaxie, probably
one reason they didn't sell very well. Most intriguing toy: the
sequential turn signals, controlled by a motor-driven sequencer! I
got mine working perfectly, and it always got comments wherever I
drove. After doing all that work, I found that 'Bird parts houses
offer a solid state replacement for fairly cheap.

Lee Iacocca would later recycle the moribund "Blunderturd" (as screwed
up by ex-Pontiac chief "Bunkie" Knudsen who only lasted one year as
president of Ford) by transforming its platform into the Lincoln Mark
III in '71, almost as big a smash hit (and money maker) has his fabled
"Falco-Mustang" of '64. The 8 track was available on the '65 'Stangs,
but didn't show up in the 'Birds until '66. Reliability of the Ford 8
tracks was pretty dismal, as I recall.

[Keith M]

Post by DeserTBoB
On Sun, 01 Jul 2007 06:39:40 -0700, midwaysearaider

Post by midwaysearaider
first year ever- back when the format was brand spankin' new- pulled
this system from a '66 T-bird, and got a pleasant surprise- the
original Ford 8-track systems had 4 speakers, 2 per channel in the
bottom of each door
now this is something that belongs in the 8-track museum <snip>

I had a '66 T-Bird Landau, but it came with the factory AM/FM Bendix
piece of crap. Bendix radios in the mid-'60s were garbage...bad front
ends, impossible to keep aligned and they wouldn't age well, due to
cheap capacitors and "caps-in-the-IF-bases" cost-saving design. I got
mine working pretty well (considering it was a Bendix) after many
hours of work and alignment, but it wasn't much, for sure. The AM and
AM/FM options used the front and rear speakers (no MPX stereo on the
latter, of course) and, due to the crappy little germanium power
stage, sounded like garbage. One would hope the 8 track sounded at
least somewhat passable.
I got that T-Bird running very well, redid the vinyl top and sold it.
Little did I know that, among "big Bird" enthusiasts, the '66 Landaus
are worth some serious coinage. Mine went for $6K and I thought I'd
made a good profit, but I later found out that, since it had factory
AM/FM and all the goodies including the 390HP engine option, it was
worth much more.
I don't think I've ever owned a more inefficient car, as far as
usefulness went; a Cadillac Coupe de Ville was far more useful as a
passenger car. The 'Bird seated four (five in a severe pinch) due to
the buckets and the "passion pit" wrap-around rear seat, yet was
almost as big as a Continental. It has the traditional "fire bomb"
Ford trunk floor, which doubled as the top of the gas tank, as did all
Fords from 1961 way into the '70s. Power with the 390HP and cast iron
FMX transmission was very good, fuel economy was fair, with 17 being
about as good as it ever got. The A/C's vacuum controlled thermostat
was somewhat funny...go up a grade, the temp would go up in the car,
go downgrade, you'd freeze. Addition of a vacuum regulator set to
14"/Hg took care of that. Compared to the Harrison/Frigidaire
systems from GM, the Ford/York A/Cs in all '60s Ford was a pretty
crude affair.
Despite its high price and luxurious pretensions, the '64-'66 'Birds
couldn't help but looking more-or-less like a big Galaxie, probably
one reason they didn't sell very well. Most intriguing toy: the
sequential turn signals, controlled by a motor-driven sequencer! I
got mine working perfectly, and it always got comments wherever I
drove. After doing all that work, I found that 'Bird parts houses
offer a solid state replacement for fairly cheap.
Lee Iacocca would later recycle the moribund "Blunderturd" (as screwed
up by ex-Pontiac chief "Bunkie" Knudsen who only lasted one year as
president of Ford) by transforming its platform into the Lincoln Mark
III in '71, almost as big a smash hit (and money maker) has his fabled
"Falco-Mustang" of '64. The 8 track was available on the '65 'Stangs,
but didn't show up in the 'Birds until '66. Reliability of the Ford 8
tracks was pretty dismal, as I recall.

The 64-66 T-Birds sold very well over 90,000 for 64 Best in "T-Bird
History" 75,000 in 65 and 70,000 in 66 despite growing competition
from Olds Toronado.
I don't think the T-Bird looks anything like a Galaxie

[DeserTBoB]

Post by Keith M
The 64-66 T-Birds sold very well over 90,000 for 64 Best in "T-Bird
History" 75,000 in 65 and 70,000 in 66 despite growing competition
from Olds Toronado.
I don't think the T-Bird looks anything like a Galaxie <snip>

I didn't think so, either, but I used to hear it all the time. If
anything, the grille on the '66 was inspired by the successful
Mustang. The rear styling of the '64-'66 'Birds was quite well done,
I thought. Funniest interior design touch: The "flight deck"
controls under the dash, with the warning lights up above the
windshield reveal molding! Duhhhhh.

Although it wasn't much of a car utility-wise, it was a blast to drive
and I thought it quite handsome, especially in its Landau roof line.
Mine was the light blue metallic with the gray vinyl roof, black
interior. Oodles of room in the front seats, but the buckets
themselves weren't very good. It used the same disk brakes as the
F-series trucks had starting in '68, so there was plenty of stopping
power...almost too much. The brakes were VERY touchy, due to a
mammoth vacuum booster.

The '67 restyle was pretty clumsy and Bunky Knudsen's "Pontiacization"
of the '70 'Bird was a complete disaster. Iacocca to the rescue in
'71 to make it into a Mark III, another example of how adept Iacocca
was at "recycling" existing platforms into new "product." He did a
lot of that at Chrysler, morphing the hoary but reliable K-car into
all kinds of different car lines. He also kept the M-body (RWD)
nearly the same in all three car lines for an unprecedented 10 years
before finally discontinuing it in '89. One tough car (if a bit
simple), that M-body, one reason why cops loved it so much.