Kimberly Wahl’s 1961 “Bullet Bird”
Our intrepid reporter and photographer Bill Ross found Kimberly and Adam Wahl’s beautiful car collection at the Hagley Museum this year. Adam and Kim are from Hockessin, Delaware, and in 2015, Adam flew down to Florida to attend the Mecum Auction in Kissimmee.
He had intended to add a muscle car to his collection, but this 1961 “Bullet Bird” caught his eye as it was about to go across the block, and his was the winning bid!
The 1961 Thunderbird had several firsts in the automotive market.
The most distinctive feature was the “Swing Away” steering column. Another innovation for this model was a ‘floating’ rearview mirror. It also came with power steering and brakes, a Cruise-O-Matic automatic transmission, bucket seats, and backup lights that were costly options on most other cars of that time. This one has the ‘62 Sports Roadster option package added to it, which really gives it that rocketship look.
In addition, the ‘61 Thunderbird was chosen to be the Indianapolis 500 Pace Car that year. It was also featured prominently in the Inaugural Parade of John F. Kennedy, whose presidency is most associated with the space program, and the T-Bird really looked the part.
Interestingly, that year Kennedy himself had his own Thunderbird convertible in Corinthian White.
Kim’s 1956 Lincoln Continental Mark II
David Wieland, Kim’s father, fell in love with the Continental Mark II after seeing a ‘56 model being delivered to the dealership as a kid in New Jersey. The Mark II was delivered to the dealerships in a wooden crate in a custom-made sheepskin-lined bag.
This Mark II was originally owned by a woman in Indianapolis.
The Mark II featured a new 368 cu. in. (6-liter) Lincoln V8 producing 285 horsepower. The car weighs over 5,000 pounds and is over 218 inches long. This car was really the genesis of the personal luxury car, with a long hood, short deck, small roofline, and creature comforts like power steering, power brakes, power windows, power seats, power vent windows, power power power.
It had a wrap-around windshield, and a swing-away left taillight that hid the gas filler. It even has a tach.
The Mark II was a huge departure from the styling cues of the mid-fifties with emphasis on fins, bullets, and endless strips of chrome everywhere.
You can see the influence of this car had on what came much later that carried the same personal luxury car theme: Riviera, Eldorado, Grand Prix, Monte Carlo.
Lots of famous people chose this tastefully designed car to be their own, including Elvis, Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Barry Goldwater, Nelson Rockefeller and then-President Eisenhower.
The future Mark cars carried on to be beautiful examples of their breed.