56 T Bird rear tire carrier Delete ?

[32phil]

Here's a question for the T bird guys...Did Ford ever make a rear tire carrier delete plate? At the car show in Upper Saddle River N.J. this weekend a gentleman had a 56 T bird for sale that had a chrome plated section of the rear bumper in place that bridged the gap between the two bumper ends. The carrier/ wheel/tire had been removed and the plate was installed in their place. When questioned he said it was a Ford authorized delete plate. Any one ever here of this ?

[blucar]

I would doubt very much that Ford made an "spare tire carrier delete" for the '56 Birds. I say this for two reasons:
Number one, Ford discovered in early '54, prior to the release of '55 Birds, that the car had a serious design fault.. As the speed of the vehicle increased, the loading on the rear wheels changed from being positive, about 1,500.lbs at curb weight, to over 1,500 lbs of lift at speeds over 105 mph.
Two '55 Birds actually came of of the test tract, doing end over end flips.. Engineering tried to stop the release of the '55 Birds, sales over-rode engineering because they felt the majority of the '55 Birds would never achieve speeds over 100 mph.
A very famous auto designer Alex Tremlus, who I knew personally, the designer of the Tucker and other vehicles worked in the Ford design department at the time, Alex was given the job of redesigning the small Birds to overcome the lift problem. Alex' quick band aid was the rear extention of the bumper and the external spare tire, this counter balanced the car..
Ford marketing touted the removal of the spare tire from the trunk area as a feature to offset consumers complaints about a lack of trunk space..
Alex then redesigned the entire rear portion of the Bird which produced the '57, with the altered "fins and reversed slope of the truck" which is actually an early form of an air damn/spoiler..
Alex was a member of a car club that I was a member of for many years, he talked about his years with Ford at many of our club meetings.
The second part of the external spare tire issue is a '56 Bird that I have owned for many years. I'm the second owner of the car, it was bought new for a family friend, for her 21st birthday, Patti did not like the spare tire hanging out over the rear end, she had it removed.
This required the relocation of the exhaust pipes and the use of a front bumper in lieu of the original '56 rear bumper.. Basically the car now looks like a '55, except it has vents in the front fenders, which a '55 does not have.

[paul2748]

Short answer is no. Any 56 you see with the spare deleted has been modified after it was made.

[32phil]

Thanks Guys.....The car in question was modified very neatly, the car in general was in poor condition($13,500 asking price). I like my 56 ...hate the rear mounted spare.

[paul2748]

I have a 56 and I like the rear mounted spare, although it is a pain if your on along trip and have to fill the tank 3 or 4 times a day.

[Wily Kyote]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Originally Posted by blucar

Ford discovered in early '54, prior to the release of '55 Birds, that the car had a serious design fault.. As the speed of the vehicle increased, the loading on the rear wheels changed ... Two '55 Birds actually came of of the test tract, doing end over end flips. Engineering tried to stop the release of the '55 Birds, sales over-rode engineering... .

This appears to be correct. Marketing must have wanted the car released so badly that they stepped back from calling it a 'sports car' and detuned it to keep top speed down, opting to label it a 'personal car', some even arguing for the preproduction 'Fairlane' stainless spear to stay on the Bird to further that charade.

But the Fairlane got the spear instead when Ford saw leaked photos of the BelAir. (Very early models of the Fairlane had trim like the Customline.) Ford added the fender-top spear for a two-tone to compete with that of the BelAir. (I lived in a small Texas town then, and one of the early Fairlanes was there. The local salesman felt they were 'forced' onto small town dealers by the factory so that they wouldn't be widely seen. It must have worked. I have never seen another that I know of.)