Regardless, you might be sitting on something of serious collector value or at the least, a valuable replica of a 430 V-8 Thunderbird. However, also remember that of the seven Thunderbirds that started the 1959 Daytona 500, two of them were NOT Holman Moody built Thunderbirds, meaning others in the racing game were building 430 V-8-powered Thunderbirds for NASCAR racing. Since a dozen 1959 race ready Thunderbirds came from the Holman Moody stables in Charlotte, North Carolina, yours could be one of them. (Or at least, that’s what history indicates.)įord’s corporate backing found Holman Moody building what Lee Holman remembers as a “dozen or so” 1959 Thunderbirds, all having the capacity of removing the top to compete in the convertible races and called “zipper tops.” Thus, there were more than eight 430 V-8 T-Birds built.

Back then, I remember seeing ads for those Holman Moody race ready 1959 Thunderbirds, of which Holman Moody built as Ford did not build them on their assembly line.

92 t bird