thunderbolt registry

Had a friend (now dead) who lived in Hemet Calif. named Ed Klatty. He was a minister, had two T-Bolts, both in very bad condition. In the late 1970's Ed was into illegal things, and he got these two as partial settlement to a deal gone wrong. Each car was sort of in shreds. One sideswiped and the other a head on. Both were played with on the local street. When I last saw them, one had an engine, but it was sort of here and there. It came out of the car which had been front ended, placed into the other, got sideswiped, and then taken apart and set into the garage for numerous more years.

Ed went to Atlanta to learn how to become a minister, then came home to Hemet and essentially wanted to liquidate everything he had. When he sold the two T-Bolts, he had lotsa dollars in hand and bought some illegal substances. Within two years he was no more.

Would be interesting to know where these two went. Larry Minor, a former Ford P-U truck performance guy lived nearby, but do not think the two T-Bolts when to him.

Wm.

T-Bolts are NOT just some old cars. They are a piece of Ford RacingHistory and a look at sale prices will tell you that 6 figure prices are the norm. Too protect Vin's etc would be wise since I'm sure someone would clone one.

you can always tell a clone by looking at the front of the vehicle. i will not tell you what to look for you will have to figure that one out for your self! my dad was goin to make a mold for this fiberglass piece before he sold his t-bolt and sell them. after thinking this over he chose not to. my father also sold the extra alumium front bumper he had as well with the car. if i told you what he got for it you would have a cow!!!!!!!![img]/forums/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

they raised the bumpa to get more air in the headlight

Just confirmed this morning, I'm going to go visit a few of these Ladies on Tuesday.

I'll get some pics!

very good my friend. very good.[img]/forums/images/smiles/icon_bow.gif[/img]

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Lucky on 12/27/06 7:05am ]</font>

i have a bunch of pics.


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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: 64TBOLT2 on 12/27/06 7:54am ]</font>

This car IS NOT a clone. This is Phil Bonner's hardtop '64 427 Fairlane. It was built when Phil's original Thunderbolt was crashed. It was built from a Holman &amp; Moody body that was being tested for the possibility of using intermediates in NASCAR. They were done with it so Phil had it converted into a drag car. I have a photo of it in 1964 in Phil's shop.

Some people consider this a Thunderbolt and some don't. It shouldn't be considered as part of the 100 DST built cars. It is unique to it's self.

Phil had three Thunderbolts if you count this car. He received one of the first 11 vintage burgandy cars and a later white automatic car. Gene Wilson drove the later car most of the time. It was called the "Prodigal". It still survives somewhere in GA. It was converted to a 4 speed fairly soon after he received the car.

The hardtop pictured here is now owned by Don Snyder. Don does not own clones!!! Several other cars pictured in this thread are also owned by Mr. Snyder.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: troublemaker427 on 12/22/06 8:18pm ]</font>