Stainless Steals the Show
At this year's SAE show, Allegheny wowed attendees by displaying on the rare stainless steel bodied 1960 Thunderbirds it built in cooperation with Ford. The car, which is owned by Allegheny, is a "driver" with over 100,000 miles on it. And with the exception of a few dings and dents, it looks pretty much the way it did when it rolled off the line on July 11, 1960.

As shown in the photo, Allegheny actually built three different stainless bodied vehicles with Ford over the years. In 1936, it hand built six two-door Ford sedans. Then in 1960, it built a few Thunderbirds using modified production dies and tooling. Later in 1967, Ford tried the experiement one more time, building three Continental convertibles, two of which belonged to Allegheny, while the third went to Lincoln-Mercury. -Gerry Kobe

Webmaster's Notes: While the article above says that the 1960 Thunderbird was at the 2000 SAE show, it does not say that any of the other cars were. I would be very excited to hear that the Lincoln pictured still exists. It says that three were built and that Allegheny owned two of them and Lincoln-Mercury the third. Do any of these cars still exist? I think they do. Anyone with any information about these cars please send me e-mail.

---

Update, 07 July 2000: Mitch Carr sent me an e-mail regarding these cars. Here's what he had to say:

"With regards to the Stainless Steel (SS) Convertibles, I am trying to find a back-issue of Special Interest Autos with an article about those cars. I remember a b&w picture of the three '67 bodies in their body jigs. "Do Not Paint" signs were hanging from different parts of the bodies. The SS panel stampings were just about the last thing run through the '67 convertible dies, so that's why they were made at the end of the '67 model year. SS is a lot tougher than rolled steel. It does a number on the dies, so that's why they were made at the end of the model year."

He goes on to say that, "The 1960 SS T-Birds were also likely done at the end of the '58-'60 "Square-Bird" run. A person in the article mentions seeing the '60 SS T-Birds "come down the line". If that happened, I find it hard to believe. Production people didn't have the time or knowledge to do SS welding and seam finishing. If those cars did go down the line, they spent a large amount of time in a finishing shop. I think those '60 T-Birds must have been jobbed out to other shops. It was the early sixties, and the guy in the article had just discovered drugs."

Webmaster Comments: Thanks for this information, Mitch. While I have not seen this article, I suspect that the special run at the end of the model year of SS cars may have come down the line, probably followed by every engineer involved in the special project. However, the normal line workers may not have performed any of the tasks requiring special skills for the handling the SS body panels. It makes sense that interiors and other items that did not change were installed conventionally. Thank you so much for your input. Let me know if you find that article! If anyone else has this article and can send a copy of it to me, please do so. Everyone interested in these cars will greatly appreciate it!

---

Update: 23 August 2000: Two very important updates regarding this topic. The first comes from our treasurer, Al Gorosh, who was so kind to GIVE me a copy of the December 1978 issue of Car Classics, which, by sheer coincidence, had an article on a company called Creative Industries based in Detroit. So what, you ask? Here's what: According to the article, Creative was responsible for the stainless steel body of the 1960 T-Bird for Allegheny Ludlum Steel. What does this mean? Don't know yet, but we will continue to update regarding this subject. As a bonus, here is the picture of the stainless steel T-Brid body on a jig before any chassis or trim parts were installed.

The caption under the pic reads: "Stainless Steel 1960 T-Bird. This car was done up for Allengheny Ludlum Steel to demonstrate the possibilities of use of stainless steel in car bodies. Mr. Margolis recalls that the last T-Bird down the line carried this unique body by Creative. In addition to plastics, stainless is another Creative speciality."

So there you have it. The car did go down the line. I believe, since Creative apparently made the body for A.L., that it went down the line only for trim and the interior, stuff that wasn't likely to be different. Mr. Carr was right: the body was jobbed out to another shop. Creative built it!

What does this have to do with the stainless Lincoln? A lot! Now we have a better idea what Ford went through to produce that car. But that's not all. Remember the Woodward Dream Cruise of 2000? Mr. Carr saw the stainless Lincoln convertible pictured above!! It was marked with a plaque so the owners know what they have. Unfortunately (actually, fortunately) it was being driven so he was unable to speak with the driver. However, he did manage to snap a picture of it and get a few seconds of it on video! Those pics will be here soon. Watch for them!

---

Update: 02 September 2000: I just got the picture from Mr. Carr and I would like to show it before adding my two cents.

There it is. Spotted on August 19 on Woodward Avenue. The logo on the side is for Federal Mogul, an automotive supplier for original and aftermarket parts. It just so happens that their headquarters is right here in Southfield, Michigan. I plan on contacting them to determine the status of this incredible automobile.

Another member, Al Gorosh reports that he has seen other stainless Lincoln convertibles at some of the larger car shows in the south. Does this one ever make an appearance there? Unknown, but I plan on finding out.

Update: 18 September 2000: My stainless friend, Mr. Carr, has sent yet another picture for our archives. It shows people working on one of the stainless uni-bodies before any trim or chassis parts were installed. Note the "Do not paint" sign hanging from the header.

This picture appeared in the book "Lincoln, 1958-1969" by James W. Howell, published by Motorbooks International on page 132. Mr. Carr goes on to comment, "There is no mention of the shop this was taken in. You can see two of the three cars being worked on. I am going to guess that the third is also under construction, but out of view of the camera. Note the body jig coming out of the back seat area and going up to the windsheild. There are no holes for the compass emblem on the front fender. I wonder if all 66's had those holes drilled after the body was put together."

Thanks, Mitch, for all of your work. We will continue to follow this as more infomation is discovered.