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Born in 1955, the “baby bird” being restored by high school students will be more than ready to leave the nest by the July 21 raffle drawing.
In this case, the “nest” is the two-bay Spartan Garage right inside East Syracuse Minoa Central High School. This is the 14th car the upstate New York automotive technology students have built or restored and then raffled to fund the following year’s project.
The nickname “baby bird” represents the first generation Ford Thunderbirds that were built as two-seaters. Students are restoring a 1955 Thunderbird, the first-year for the model. It has a 292 cubic-inch V8 automatic engine. Painted an original color called “Thunderbird Blue” the car will also have a removable white hardtop and sport wide whitewalls with aluminum spoke wheels.
“We just happen to work on cars because they’re cool and they fit in the garage. But the skills and abilities students develop in here can transfer to numerous trades. Cars, boats, trains or planes—it doesn’t matter—it’s all a similar process,” explained automotive technology teacher Ryan Beckley.
The raffle car previously belonged to Stan Neu, a former Manlius, NY resident. His wife, Diane, loves the first generation Thunderbirds.
“It was a great project for my son and I. We did a lot of work on it over 20 years, but life got in the way,” Mr. Neu explained. Preparing a move to Florida, Mr. Neu donated the Thunderbird to the Spartan Garage program so students could finish what he started.
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