1966 Ford Thunderbird

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1958 Was WILD.

GM's cars for 1958 were pretty incredible - every one of them was bigger than the year before, and WAY more lavishly trimmed. Some upper-series Oldsmobiles and Buicks had 300 pounds of chromed trim on them! Ford was not far behind, with the Lincoln Continental Mark III, a unit-body design so huge that it flexed horribly - if you jacked up one corner of the car, the doors would not open.

My own favorite '58 was the Ford Sunliner retractable hardtop - for me, it was the best-looking of the three years the retractable was made. I had a toy one as a kid, which I wore out playing with - that toy in good shape goes for HUNDREDS of bucks today. It was battery-operated and its retractable hardtop actually went up and down as it drove in circles.

I'm also partial to other '58 Fords, like the Sunliner convertible, the 2-door hardtop and the wagon. They are not most collectors' favorites of the "tri-year" ('57/'58/'59) Fords, but they are mine.
 
Not "Just" Painted!

That's how you know it's a Town Hardtop instead of a Town Landau, with the Town Hardtop being the rarer car today.

Also, thank your lucky stars you don't have to replace a vinyl roof with the correct grain - that Levant grain is not unobtainium, but it's not cheap, either. And as I'm sure you know, using "any old thing" is not good for a car's value.

There's also the issue of what happens UNDER a vinyl top - they were considered beautiful back in the day, but they promoted roof rust like nobody's business.

So, you're way better off with the painted top, IMHO.
 

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