4Y85Z160769 - Thunderbird Registry Number 15209
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15209
4Y85Z160769
1964
76A - P - 89 - 09C - 74 - 1 - 4
Todd Duhnke says: This Prairie Bronze 1964 Thunderbird was built at Ford's Wixom, Michigan assembly plant on March 9th, 1964. It could very well be the lowest mileage 1964 Thunderbird Convertible in existence. - - - - -
Bess Hoffman of Seattle, Washington ordered it new on January 29th, 1964 from William O. McKay Ford in downtown Seattle, then the oldest Ford dealer in the state. She accepted delivery of this specially ordered Thunderbird on the 3rd of April, trading in her 1960 Pontiac convertible. This Thunderbird sold for $5,465.10, less $2,106.00 for the Pontiac. Ms. Hoffman, who never married, owned a small dress shop in downtown Seattle, a mile from her nine story condominium. The car was used only to go to the shop, and her synagogue. She always kept it in her garage, which was in the basement of her condominium. And, reportedly, she never put the top down once. ---Upon Ms. Hoffman's passing in 1983 her sister, Ruth, took over the car and kept it in that same condominium. The car was not driven again until 1988. Both the Hoffman women lived on the top floor of this condominium, which was on the first hill north of downtown; a very toney district.------A family friend from Kent, Washington offered to buy the car from the then 85 year old Ruth for $5,000. At that time the car had 8,600 miles on it. He owned the car until the spring of 2003 when storage became an issue. A Ford dealer in Saskatchewan, Canada who collected older Ford products with extremely low miles bought the car in Seattle and stored it. He later decided to sell his collection at the 2004 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction, which is where I purchased the car. It had 11,248 miles at that time.---- The car is all-original except for a few parts which needed replacing such as the original Rotunda fuel filter, thermostat, power steering filter, water pump and shocks. The leather interior, exhaust system, chrome, Burtex trunk linings, spare tire and convertible top are all original and in superb condition. Ms. Hoffman had scraped one one quarter panel on the car, along with the opposite side door, so some of the body panels have their original paint, and some have been repainted. - - - - - - I have all the original paperwork that goes with the car which documents the mileage including the original sales contracts, two copies of the original Wixom build sheet, original factory invoice to the dealer (gate release), Owner's Manual, Owner's Warranty Card, every year's State of Washington registration of which some list mileage, original 1963 license plates (AXG-031), original dealer license plate frames and most all maintenance records. - - - - - - - She will be with me in Wichita for a long time to come hopefully. She looks and drive like a well maintaned one-year old car. - - - - - - - - - - - - -February, 2004: Arthur Ash III reports that this Thunderbird Convertible was sold at the Barrett-Jackson Auction in Arizona in 2004.
Todd Duhnke
3/8/2005
390 V-8
Intact
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