On a warm sunny day, car collecting connoisseur Chuck Copeland gave us our vintage car fix!
You may recognize some of the vehicles as they are often driven in various community parades. His 1965 Lincoln in particular, is a fan favorite.
“It was the ultimate car of the time,” Chuck said. The 4-door convertible was also the most complicated car of the time because its top automatically retracted into the car’s body. Previous models required the top to be manually retracted. This car model was often used to transport people of very high importance – including President John F. Kennedy.
Chuck’s collection also includes a 1964 Ford Mustang, which was originally his mother’s car.
“Most of my cars have been family cars,” Chuck explained. “We just never got rid of them.”
His 1959 Thunderbird has a similar back story. He received it as a high school graduation gift. The convertible was unique in that it was designed with a unitized body, meaning its frame and body were one unit. This vehicle is very long, low, and wide, which was very popular at the time. It only has about six inches of ground clearance! It was one of the fastest cars of its time that could be purchased at a dealership, too. At the very first Daytona 500 on February 1, 1959, a trackside audience of over 41,000 watched as Johnny Beauchamp’s Thunderbird only lost by about a foot to Lee Petty’s Oldsmobile. The average speed of the race that day was 135 mph.
At this point, you may be wondering what the secret is to keeping cars so long. According to Chuck, it’s a combination of having some mechanical skills and purchasing a car that requires very little electric work.
“I like to work on cars, and most of these I can fix myself since there’s no complicated electric work,” Chuck said.
Most cars today run entirely on an electrical system, making them more difficult to maintenance. There are plenty of perks with today’s cars, though, when comparing them to cars of the past.
“Today’s cars get much better gas mileage,” Chuck mentioned. “The 1959 Thunderbird actually requires fuel that isn’t made today. Another difference is that in today’s cars, you really only need to use one finger to operate the steering wheel. And today’s cars offer much more protection for passengers.”
Regardless of the many benefits of today’s cars, there’s just something about a vintage car that gets our hearts racing.
