Ford Thunderbird 1963 Convertible

This 1963 Ford Thunderbird convertible represents the final year of the ‘Bullet Bird’ generation — and possibly the rare M-code 390 that only 55 buyers ordered that year, good for 340 horsepower from triple two-barrel carburetors. Read on to find out why almost nobody checked that option box.

Most 1963 Thunderbirds rolled off the line with the same 390 cubic-inch V8, but a tiny handful of buyers checked a box almost nobody else did, and that choice is what makes engines like the one under this convertible’s hood worth a second look. Ford’s standard 390 was rated at a solid 300 horsepower, plenty for a personal luxury convertible of the era, but a rare “M-code” version of that same 390 swapped in three two-barrel Holley carburetors and bumped output to 340 horsepower. So why did almost nobody actually order it, and how many of these triple-carb Thunderbirds are even left today?

The Engine Almost Nobody Ordered

The standard 1963 Thunderbird 390 produced 300 horsepower at 4,600 rpm and 428 lb-ft of torque, more than enough for a car built around comfort and style rather than outright speed. The optional M-code version, fitted with triple two-barrel Holley carburetors instead of the standard single four-barrel, pushed output up to 340 horsepower — yet Ford sold only 55 M-code Thunderbirds for the entire 1963 model year, making it one of the rarest factory engine options of the entire third-generation run.

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The Last of the Jet-Age Birds

1963 closed out the Thunderbird’s third generation, which had launched in 1961 with jet-age styling cues — a bullet-like front end and taillights borrowed straight from fighter jet design language that spoke directly to an upwardly mobile, suburban-bound America. Enthusiasts still refer to this generation as the “Bullet Bird” for exactly that reason, and 1963 marked the final model year before Ford moved on to an entirely new, more squared-off design for 1964.

A Unibody Ahead of Its Time

The Thunderbird had used unibody construction since the 1958 redesign, a genuinely advanced choice for the era when most American cars still relied on separate body-on-frame construction. That structural approach gave the 1963 convertible a stiffer platform to work with than a comparable body-on-frame competitor, helping minimize the cowl shake and flex that plagued many open-top cars of the period.

A Refresh That Sharpened the Details

The 1963 refresh brought a new vertical-bar grille and updated body sides and taillights, riding on a 113.2-inch wheelbase and stretching 205 inches long. It was a subtle evolution rather than a full redesign, aimed at keeping the Bullet Bird’s aggressive shape feeling current for one more year while Ford’s designers finished work on the next generation waiting in the wings for 1964.

A Presidential Connection

The Thunderbird’s jet-age styling made it a favorite for public spectacle beyond the showroom floor — most famously when Ford supplied a fleet of white Thunderbird convertibles for President Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural parade, a moment that cemented the car’s image as a genuinely aspirational American status symbol. That reputation followed the Bullet Bird generation right through its final 1963 model year, well after the parade itself had faded from headlines.

Pioneering a Segment Ford Basically Invented

The Thunderbird had already redefined itself once before 1963, shifting from a two-seat sports car in the 1950s to a four-seat “personal luxury car” starting with the 1958 Square Bird generation — a category Ford is widely credited with inventing outright. By 1963, that personal-luxury formula was fully dialed in: real style, real comfort, and just enough performance to back up the sporty image without asking owners to sacrifice anything on a daily basis.

Swing-Away and Other Small Luxuries

Ford also offered a genuinely clever feature on this generation of Thunderbird: the Swing-Away steering wheel, which slid several inches toward the passenger side when the transmission was placed in park, making it noticeably easier for drivers to get in and out of a low-slung personal luxury car in a dress or a suit. It was exactly the kind of small, thoughtful convenience feature that helped justify the Thunderbird’s premium price tag over a comparable Ford sedan, and it remained a signature Thunderbird touch for years after 1963.

The Rarest Body Style of the Year

Of the 63,313 Thunderbirds Ford sold that year at a base price of $5,563, only 5,913 were convertibles like this one — making a droptop ‘Bird a genuinely uncommon sight even when the model was brand new. Most buyers opted for the hardtop, often dressed up with the available landau vinyl roof treatment, leaving the open-air version as the rarer, more expensive choice for anyone willing to pay for it. Ford charged a meaningful premium over the comparable hardtop for the privilege of an open top, which only reinforced the convertible’s status as the noticeably more exclusive, more expensive, and ultimately far more collectible way to order a brand-new 1963 Thunderbird from any local Ford dealership.

What a Restoration Actually Involves

Restoring a 1963 Thunderbird convertible today typically means dealing with the complex power-operated top mechanism Ford engineered for the model — a system that folds the roof completely out of sight beneath a trunk-mounted lid, an impressive but failure-prone piece of 1960s engineering that intimidates plenty of otherwise-capable restorers. Finding a well-sorted example with that mechanism still functioning correctly is often worth more to serious buyers than nearly any other single factor on the car.

Between Rarity and Restraint

Between the rare M-code engine option and the low convertible production numbers, a well-preserved 1963 T-Bird ragtop represents one of the more overlooked chapters of Ford’s personal luxury story — genuinely rare on two separate fronts, yet never as loudly celebrated as the muscle cars that would dominate showrooms just a few years later. That relative quiet is part of the appeal for owners who would rather drive a genuinely uncommon car than compete for attention at a show dominated by big-block Mopars and Camaros — a rare M-code convertible tends to draw exactly the kind of knowledgeable, appreciative crowd that a car this specialized deserves, the sort of enthusiasts who know precisely how few of these left the factory, why that matters, and why the wait for a genuine example to come up for sale can stretch on for years at a time.

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