THE 1963 THUNDERBIRD ITALIEN


Chapter 2 - Dearborn Steel Tubing Co.

Copyright © Thomas Maruska 2008
All Rights Reserved


Carrozzeria DST was probably most noted for building the 100 1964 Thunderbolts for Ford.
The T-Bolt is a factory lightweight street legal race car
on which the front end body parts were crafted from fiberglass.

You can learn more about T-Bolts by clicking here
DST was a subcontractor for Ford who built all of Fords non-assembly line concept and special vehicles.
They also preparred Ford cars for the automotive literature we all cherish today.
While talking one day with Wayne Fietzer at DST he recalled painting the same car
as many as 5 times in a single day.
Rather than wait for cars of all colors to be manufactured,
Ford would use the same car over and over for the product literature
simply (right...) repainting them in the different colors available.
DST would paint the car, bring it out for a photo shoot dressed in say Ragoon Red,
then after the shoot rush it back into the shop, sand it down, mask it off, spray it say Diamond Blue
and then bring it ouot for another shoot.
They did this as long as daylight was available as many times as they could,
and then they would do it again to get ready for tomorrow.
He said they would work as many as 5000 hours a year!!
He chuckled as he recalled that the employees affectionately named DST
"Divorce Starts Tomorrow"
and "Do Shit Twice".

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