have a 62 thunderbird convertible
my trunk lid is not lined up properly, it needs to be adjusted ahead about 1/4 to 3/8 of a inch to get it positioned right. my book only tells how to square up a hardtop, which opens at the back of the, convertibles open the opposite way. any help would be appreciated.
bring it to a competent body shop~
you would not like my solution would involve prybars torches and hammers~
I agree with judge_roy. I had a 64 rag top. It doesn't take much to screw up the operation of the top. Yours seems to be a long way out. Take it to the pro's. and make sure they have done this before.
I absolutely love the old late 50's early 60's T-Birds that had the retractable soft top into the trunk design. Put the top down at a stoplight and watch an eye-popping crowd appear. My friend used to have a 59 like that. I did some bodywork on his car back in the late 90's. I loved driving that car around town. Anyway, Try to find someone locally who works on the 57-59 Ford retractable hardtops. It's basically the same procedures of the 60-66 Lincoln and T-Bird soft top convertibles. That trunklid has to be almost perfect for the top mechanism to operate correctly. Possibly ask around at your local Ford dealer or though probably too late this year but car shows are always a great place to start too. . Either place might just know a company or someone who works on them. You could also call a couple classic or antique car dealers in your general area. They also might know of someone who fixes those cars as they are quite popular. I'm in the Chicago area and we had a guy in New Lenox,IL.(Chicago suburb) that sold and restored 1955-57 T-Birds only but also worked on the folding roofs of the later 58-66 T-Birds and Lincolns. This guy was an expert and knew his stuff. These cars had over 200 feet of wire, no less than 9 to 11 different relays and 3+ different sets of hydraulic pumps to operate the folding roof into the trunk mechanism. When calibrated correctly, these worked tremendously well but when out of alignment they can be very troublesome. If you can't find any help locally thru the Ford dealer or car shows, try the T-bird Clubs list at http://tbird.org/clubs.htm They list a bunch of T-Bird clubs nationally and internationally and as well as by state where you are sure to find some help or even find someone in your state that repairs these cars. T-Bird groups or clubs are your best source for technical information. Good Luck, Kenny/MrBlueOval.
Call Jim in NC. He is a top expert on these cars. 336-784-9363
I know its been a year, did you get your answer? I can answer this as I have a 62 convertible and have just completed this.
