The tractor that became a Thunderbird

Photo: Jonathan Burton

THIRTY-ONE years ago, when civil engineer Percy Shaw set out to a farm auction in Pinetown to buy a green John Deere for his business, he did not expect to return with a cherry red 1980 Ford Thunderbird.

But his nod got the bid on R18 000 and the 5,53-metre long V8 has since been a fixture on the successive Lions River farms where two generations of Shaw family have been milking cows.

Shaw recalls the Ford had been imported new from Texas and the previous owner, also in the civil engineering trade, needed cash at the time, which was how the car had ended up in a farm auction.

Sales of the Thunderbirds had started to peter out in 1979 and Ford hoped to stem the tide with a smaller, boxy design for the 1980 model that harked backed to the T-birds of the 1960s. Up front, vacuum-operated headlamps opens up —a trademark of the 1980 and 1982 Thunderbirds.

But the 4,2-litre, 104 kW Windsor V8 engine in 1980 model was too sluggish and outside Texas drivers did not take kindly to the car’s Dallas-styling, leaving this model to become a slow seller.

Today this means a 1980 Thunderbird is a relatively rare find and one in reasonable nick, like Shaw’s T-bird, gets listed for $7 600 (R80 444) on classic car sites. The 1980 Thunderbird was among the first cars to offer a keyless entry keypad and a mint condition model with this option can fetch $10 000 (R105 874).

Shaw said classic wheels are not for sale, however. He has had a fair amount of work done on the V8 over the years “mostly because I parked the car too long” and now he tries to drive it at least once a week from his farm near the Trading Post in Lions River.

The main problem with the car? Keeping his two teenage sons from driving it, he recalls. Wafting over the rough farm roads on the softly sprung suspension, the old car’s well-worn seats envelop one like a favourite leather jacket.

The eight-track burbles music of the period while the tiny buttons send the windows up or down and lock the doors.

The only nod to 80s design inside are the digital read-outs on the eight-track playing.

Three decades ago, this was cutting edge, now it is pure nostalgia.  

First published in The Witness.