“Don’t tell me you’re going to sell our car!”
He was 30 years old, maybe. He emerged from the mill with the shift change, clearly dismayed to find us loading his employer’s prize showpiece--an all-stainless 1960 Ford Thunderbird--into a closed trailer. We reassured him that we were merely borrowing the ’Bird for a temporary museum exhibit. He relaxed visibly, hearing that his car would be coming back.
“Stainless” is a steel containing more than 10 percent chromium. Auto pioneer Elwood Haynes developed and patented the corrosion-resistant material in 1915-19 (sources vary), although similar alloys appeared in Europe a few years earlier. Allegheny Steel of Pittsburgh promoted the new metal, and by 1930, it was supplying bright stainless trim for the Ford Model A. In 1931, Ford built three Model A sedans with all-stainless sheetmetal, one of which was delivered to Allegheny and used in the steelmaker’s advertising.
Allegheny then approached Ford in fall 1935 with an order for six all-stainless two-door sedans. Assembled as 1936 models, they were used into the 1940s by Allegheny executives in the New York, Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis, Philadelphia and Detroit district offices. At least four of the cars survive.
Twice more, Allegheny (which became Allegheny Ludlum in 1938 after merging with Ludlum Steel of Watervliet, N.Y.) teamed with Dearborn to produce stainless steel cars. Two Thunderbirds rolled off the Wixom assembly line on July 11, 1960, with bodywork formed from T302 stainless. (The Budd Co., Ford’s regular supplier for T-Bird bodies, did the stamping.) Bumpers and grilles also were stainless, and underneath, these cars pioneered T409 stainless mufflers and T304 exhaust pipes. Both retain their original exhaust systems today, after 50 years and more than 100,000 miles each.
The final collaboration came in 1966, on three all-stainless Lincoln Continental convertibles. Two later got 1967 grilles.
Our test drive in one of the Thunderbirds was brief, given its seven-digit appraisal, but long enough to determine that it drives pretty much as any other from the 1958-60 flock. And that’s not bad. The “Squarebird” was no sports car, but neither was it as detached from the driving experience as T-Birds would become in the 1960s. The first four-seaters blended big-car power and smoothness with the handy responsiveness of a compact.
Today, ATI Allegheny Ludlum owns one stainless ’36 Ford, this Thunderbird and two of the Continentals. The T-Bird and one of the Lincolns can be seen at the Antique Automobile Museum in Hershey, Pa., through September.
He was 30 years old, maybe. He emerged from the mill with the shift change, clearly dismayed to find us loading his employer’s prize showpiece--an all-stainless 1960 Ford Thunderbird--into a closed trailer. We reassured him that we were merely borrowing the ’Bird for a temporary museum exhibit. He relaxed visibly, hearing that his car would be coming back.
“Stainless” is a steel containing more than 10 percent chromium. Auto pioneer Elwood Haynes developed and patented the corrosion-resistant material in 1915-19 (sources vary), although similar alloys appeared in Europe a few years earlier. Allegheny Steel of Pittsburgh promoted the new metal, and by 1930, it was supplying bright stainless trim for the Ford Model A. In 1931, Ford built three Model A sedans with all-stainless sheetmetal, one of which was delivered to Allegheny and used in the steelmaker’s advertising.
Allegheny then approached Ford in fall 1935 with an order for six all-stainless two-door sedans. Assembled as 1936 models, they were used into the 1940s by Allegheny executives in the New York, Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis, Philadelphia and Detroit district offices. At least four of the cars survive.
Twice more, Allegheny (which became Allegheny Ludlum in 1938 after merging with Ludlum Steel of Watervliet, N.Y.) teamed with Dearborn to produce stainless steel cars. Two Thunderbirds rolled off the Wixom assembly line on July 11, 1960, with bodywork formed from T302 stainless. (The Budd Co., Ford’s regular supplier for T-Bird bodies, did the stamping.) Bumpers and grilles also were stainless, and underneath, these cars pioneered T409 stainless mufflers and T304 exhaust pipes. Both retain their original exhaust systems today, after 50 years and more than 100,000 miles each.
The final collaboration came in 1966, on three all-stainless Lincoln Continental convertibles. Two later got 1967 grilles.
Our test drive in one of the Thunderbirds was brief, given its seven-digit appraisal, but long enough to determine that it drives pretty much as any other from the 1958-60 flock. And that’s not bad. The “Squarebird” was no sports car, but neither was it as detached from the driving experience as T-Birds would become in the 1960s. The first four-seaters blended big-car power and smoothness with the handy responsiveness of a compact.
Today, ATI Allegheny Ludlum owns one stainless ’36 Ford, this Thunderbird and two of the Continentals. The T-Bird and one of the Lincolns can be seen at the Antique Automobile Museum in Hershey, Pa., through September.
