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Wrap your fingers around the hidden door handle integrated in the chrome strip that sweeps front to rear, and even before you open the door the interior is in plain view when the top is retracted. The view is anything but plain, however, and the cabin open to the sky invites you to admire one of the more unique interiors of its time.
The Swing-a-way steering column is one of those period features that no one needs, but is a great conversation piece.
The interior flows gracefully from one area of the car to another in a pleasing symmetry.
Everywhere you look is art. The pressed tin console swoops forward from the ash tray lid down to the center-mounted window switches, up to the heater controls then further to the A/C, before sweeping to the right and left all the way around through the doors and rear seat panels.
The Thunderbird script is prominent throughout the cabin, as is the logo image, lest you or your passengers forget what you are driving. The only "Ford" logo is on the door sills.
The seats appear to be the very same vinyl that was installed on the car in June of 1963. My wife spent some time stitching up the only seam that had decided it was time to split.
The only thing I did besides fixing the original seat cover was to replace the window switches in the center console with switches I bought from larrystbird.com. It is a great source for the odd parts for these beautiful cars.
I replaced all of the window switches in the center console after discovering that one or two of them only worked intermittently. All of the windows go up and down swiftly and smoothly.
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