THE 1963 THUNDERBIRD ITALIEN


Chapter 5 - To Be SCRAPPED!

Copyright © Thomas Maruska 2008
All Rights Reserved


Ford, unlike other car manufacturers of the day, had a corporate 'crushem' eddict.
When they determined that a concept car had served it's purpose
they sent it to the crusher to be scrapped.

They didn't want the concept cars to get into the hands of the public for fear
one of their competitors would get their hands on it and copy the idea
and likely make a fortune off it.
So they crushed them.

Below you can see several documents obtained from Dennis Kolodziej.
He found them in the files of Jacque Passino, head of Fords Special Vehicles
Department back in 1964 while searching out information on Ford Thunderbolts.

Dennis was kind enough to send me copies of the documents that had reference of The Italien.
Dennis removed the VIN's of all of the other vehicles on the documents and just left
the VIN of the Italien.  Herein, I have removed that VIN to protect the identity of The Italien.

You will see as you peruse these documents that The Italien was slated to be scrapped after it's
usefulness had run out.  This was very likely after it's appearance at the New York Worlds Fair in 1964.
You will see on the last document  a line drawn through the words "to be scrapped"
with a hand written notation "9-22-64 Sold to DST".
On another sheet you will see noted "Sold 5,000"
It was being stored at Holman & Moody's facility at the time.



      

      


  


A Thunderbird enthusiast who spoke personally to Ak Miller a few years back told me
That Ford paid DST $11,000.00 to build the Italien.
That was in addition to the cost of the donor vehicle.
Later DST purchased the Italien from Ford for $5,000.00 as you saw above.
Although there is no documentation to support it,
This enthusiast told me that Actor Dale Robertson...



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