My First Ford Thunderbird

I was 13 years old when the first Thunderbird was introduced in 1955. I was delivering papers in Kahala, Hawaii when I saw my first in white.

I told myself that I would have one someday. Many years passed. A marriage, a child, schooling and the Thunderbird became less affordable.

The thought of owning one dissipated. Now fast forward to 2009. I retired on January 1. The desire for a Thunderbird resurfaced.

It had to be a 1955--the one with the exhaust  thru the bumper. Oh so cool. I looked at many different T-Birds and did much research.

It wasn’t until 2011 that I located a beautiful black 1955 Bird. I communicated with the owner, for a couple months, who lived in Arkansas.

We exchanged emails, phone calls, many photos, etc. before I was comfortable that he was an honest seller with a Bird as described.

The car was transported from Arkansas to Petaluma in a covered transporter in March. The transporter went through several storms,

 but the Bird arrived in beautiful condition as described. I had my mechanic do a complete once over, a compression check, tune-up

and so forth. For 97,400 miles it was in wonderful condition.

Susan and I take “Wakiya” (Dakota Sioux Indian for “Thunderbird”) out on short trips for lunch or over to the coast…sometimes

with the top down. It is a fun car with so many memories for me when I was a teen ager.

Rod & Susan Ferreira