MODERNIZED, YES BUT STILL CLEARLY A ’55 THUNDERBIRD
Thanks to a lot of hard restoration work, 60-year-old dream finally becomes reality
In the late-1950s, when he was just a young man, Wayne Hiebert began searching for a 1955 Ford Thunderbird.
When he was a teenager, Hiebert says he “fooled around” with a 1953 Meteor. He customized the car, which was his daily driver, and displayed it at shows in Calgary and Lethbridge. After that, cars came and went, and although he didn’t acquire a Thunderbird, he bought a Ford Model A and built a hot rod.
That Model A was finished in 1967, and it’s still in the family. Other cars he built and kept include a 1966 Mustang and a 1940 Ford Deluxe convertible.
A Thunderbird finally flew into Hiebert’s life in 2014.
“My son, Todd, had a friend who worked at Bumper to Bumper,” he says. “Because I was always talking about a 1955 Thunderbird, everyone knew I was looking.
“One day at the parts counter, a customer mentioned he wanted to sell a ’55 T-bird parts car. That’s when I got the call, and we went to look.”
The seller had pulled several parts to help piece together his own stock Thunderbird. What Hiebert bought were the remains, and the project landed in his garage.
Hiebert planned to build the car the way he wanted, meaning it would be modernized and cleaned up, but unmistakably a 1955 Thunderbird.
Produced from 1955 to 1957, the first-generation Ford Thunderbird was a two-seat convertible that came with a fibreglass hardtop.
Build cost was kept down as parts were shared from other Fords, including the instrument cluster, headlights, tail lights and Mercury V8 engine.
First-generation T-birds proved popular, and have gone on to become one of the most easily recognized American vehicles. They play a large role in pop culture, too, appearing in important movies, including American Graffiti.
Hiebert says it was obvious his Thunderbird, as purchased, had been rolled, but the only real damage was to the windshield frame and the top left side of the rear fender. But after he stripped the car down, placed the body on a rotisserie and sandblasted the sheet metal, Hiebert discovered it had been in two previous collisions.
“It had been hit heavily in the right-hand front corner, repaired and sort of patched up,” he says.
Getting to work, Hiebert removed the radiator support, straightened up all the sheet metal, and welded it back together. Areas of rust, including the driver and passenger floor pans, door bottoms and quarter panels, were cut out and new metal welded in. While doing that,
Hiebert welded shut the exterior trim holes.
“I did all of the sheet metal repair,” he says, but gives credit to his friend Kerry Hansen for doing all of the finish bodywork. To underpin all of the sheet metal fabrication, Hiebert bought a custom chassis package from Fat Man Fabrications in North Carolina. Included was everything he needed, such as a nine-inch Ford rear end stabilized by four-bar links and coilovers, Wilwood disc brakes, sway bars and power steering components.
“They welded in the engine mounts for the Ford Performance 535-horsepower crate motor that I’d bought for the project,” Hiebert adds. “It’s a small block, bored and stroked to 427 cubic inches and it’s backed up by a Tremec Magnum sixspeed transmission.”
Inside, Hiebert customized the dash by grafting in the instrument panel from a 1956 Ford F-100 pickup truck and installing a Dakota Digital cluster that has a tachometer.
He modified the bench seat to make it look like a pair of buckets and entrusted the upholstery to Cascade Vans & Interiors in Calgary. Using original bows for the convertible top, they also stitched up a black top using red thread — an important detail throughout all of the upholstery that was specified by Hiebert.
Rolling on Budnik wheels, Hiebert’s ’55 Thunderbird made its debut at the 2020 Calgary World of Wheels, where it took first in the Mild Sports class as well as Outstanding Custom Interior.
“I’ve had the car running, but I’m just waiting for some nice weather to get it out and see what it will do.”