Published: September 05, 2008 12:00 am            

McBee's Mean Machine a mythic ride

Josh McBee bought his 1973 Ford Thunderbird in Poteau when he was 16 with money from cutting lawns. It was his first ride and the one he drove through high school. Over a decade later he still owns it.

Former Transcript Pop editor and May graduate of the University of Oklahoma's graduate journalism program, McBee is at a crossroads in his life. He's footloose and fancy free, considering employment anywhere from Krakatoa to Kansas City. McBee recently brought the Thunderbird to Norman from LeFlore County where it sat idle for years. Thoughts of selling it in the city faded as he hit 100 mph on Highway 9 just outside Stigler.

"It loves going down those hills, because it's like a heavy sled," he said. The car is a big, beautiful beast of a machine. Its 429 cubic inch V-8 engine was built for speed right before coming to a big stop sign called the Arab oil embargo. American automotive engineering changed forever a year later.

McBee is the car's third owner. He found it in the classifieds. The gentleman who sold her had been using the Thunderbird to lug farm equipment around. "I upgraded to an '86 Cadillac from my grandparents' estate. For several years the Thunderbird was parked various places including my parents' driveway," he said. McBee's proud Thunderbird was grounded under trees outside town the last couple of years.

When he retrieved the big white car in June, she needed a battery, tires, oil change and fluid checks. Miraculously, the Thunderbird spread her wings and started on the third crank. The 429 sounded rough. McBee also noticed the weird aroma of roasting nuts after a few miles driving to the shop.

"Rats had nested inside, storing acorns, which cooked on the engine block," he said with a chuckle. The dirty rodents also had gnawed a spark plug cable, giving Thunderbird her broken wing. A new wire restored the car to predator capability. Mostly abused and neglected the past few years, McBee's Thunderbird was ready to fly like an eagle.

The first 1955 Ford T-Bird was a very small car. It was about the same size as the arch nemesis Chevrolet Corvette that had been introduced in 1953. Henry Ford II and his designers based the first Thunderbird concept on sexy European models such as the Jaguar. Basically the idea was an open 2-seat car with a V-8 engine. Sales were over half again as many as the 10,000 projected. A legend was born. Through the years, model changes made newer Thunderbirds virtually unrecognizable from the original. Sheet metal in succeeding generations led to names including Square Birds, Bullet Birds, Flair Birds, Bubble Birds and Glamour Birds. Appropriate to his generation, McBee's Thunderbird is known as the Big Bird. Never really meant to be a true sports car, they were personal luxury cars.

Although big enough for six passengers, the Thunderbird was still a coupe. The right door is long enough you have to be careful not to wedge it in the turf when parked alongside a lawn. It's no exaggeration to say the 1973 is big. It shared the same frame and many components with the Lincoln Continental Mark IV, tipping in at 5,000 lbs. It's amazing that an even larger 460 cubic inch motor was optional. Opera windows were standard equipment and a new option that year was AM/FM radio with 8-track tape deck for $311.

McBee's interior has luxurious, soft-as-butter, white leather bench seats still in beautiful condition. "Does a gentleman really discuss such things?" he replied when asked if the Thunderbird had ever been a love mobile. "Let's just say the back seat is as big as a couch. When you're a teenager there are few places more private than the inside of your car," he said.

With only 54,000 actual miles, the Thunderbird has never had a major repair. Just an alternator replacement and radiator work. A rough calculation of the 200-mile trip from Poteau to Norman starting with a full 22-gallon tank (costing $71) and ending with a quarter tank left, indicates it gets around 12 mpg. "It could easily be converted to bio-diesel. That huge trunk could accommodate the unit necessary to do it. This Bird wants to live and soar," McBee maintained. ???

"I like my Thunderbird because it has a mean stance. There are dents, scratches, cuts and scrapes but the overall profile turns heads on the street," McBee said.

"It represented me in high school. Thunderbird is iconic. I like things with novel quality," he said. "I've loved classic cars since I was 10 and always wanted one from the '50s. I would daydream about restoring old junkers I'd see by the side of the road and envied guys who had garages where they could work on them."

I toiled three long years for McBee, writing music concert reviews and had no clue. He's always driven a very reliable 1999 Ford, uh, I don't know, Focus, maybe. It survived months of hard service, including when McBee lived in Mississippi helping out a sister paper whose editor quit in the midst of the storm.

We went for a ride in Brookhaven. It was impressive how fast McBee could power his Thunderbird around corners.

"I use the hood ornament as cross-hairs. As long as I keep that Bird just to the right of the curb, it's where it should be," he said. "In Poteau the streets are from the 1940s. They're extremely narrow. Riding around, my friends would freak out because the passenger rear view mirror and hood would go under mail boxes. That's how close I had to cut it to let other cars go by. People would holler things inappropriate for church out their windows."

A cassette tape deck with Pioneer speakers is the only addition McBee has made. His Thunderbird has a theme song. I thought I was the only one who'd had a car with its own tune. Mine was in high school too. A 1956 two-tone root beer and cream Chevrolet Bel Air. Her song was the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar."

The Thunderbird doesn't roll like that. "Its song is Sugar Ray's 'Mean Machine' from the 'Lemonade and Brownies' album," McBee said.

Have you seen a cool vehicle around town? Writer Doug Hill's always on the lookout for future Dig My Ride columns. E-mail him at Hillreviews@hotmail.com.?

        

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