TOPIC: 58 or 59 Thunderbird Navaho

I received an interesting gift today: a boat. There's no title for this thing and it was assumed it was a mid 1960s model. However, after searching the interwebs I came up with either a 1958 or 1959 Thunderbird Navaho. I don't really know how to tell. Of course, it needs a whole lotta work, but I really like its style.

I was hoping that someone could tell me how I could identify the year and most importantly, help me locate some photos of what is supposed to look like. For instance, it seems that it has the wrong windshield. I would have expected something curved to follow the lines of the boat. I'd like to see a picture of one with the top up so that I could determine how to fabricate the hardware. Lastly, there is a big open space between the pilot's seat and the motor. Surely, there was seating there at one time.

I do have a few more pictures at my Flickr page:

All Pictures

Welcome aboard Manicsquirrel, and congrats on your "new" Thunderbird! There is some great history and factory images of that line in the Glassic Library here;
www.fiberglassics.com/library/Thunderbird

That is going to be a perfect little cruiser. Since it already has the Kiekhaefer wheel, maybe consider something along these lines to push the old girl!!

MMMMM maybe two of them.

..M.S.: WELCOME,, What part of TENN are you located.. We are S.E. south of DAYTON.. Have Glasspars here & our SEDAN is along those lines..59 - 67 was the style of the wood enclosed bulkhead for this 17 1/2 ft SeaFair.. The 16 ft del-Mar 1956-62 had the open bulkhead , like your pics & easier to entry & cooler for summer heat.. Here is a PIC of our upper windshield , sort of similar..Unlesss the prior owner used a Aluminum sliding window from a house .!

Here is a pic of our MOVE-ABLE rear Jump Seats.. Our hull is a 67 year ..Most of the members are making a more user friendly cruise storage for rear usage..! We have a fabric Bimini top that is usefull , & a camper canvass with side screens/ plastic tint windows, but not fabed yet for the al suppports.. AGAIN CONGRTAS....Nice Special MERCURY Steering Wheel.
................

Your boat is very pretty! I live in East Tennessee, in Maryville, south of Knoxville. Most likely, when this boat is restored it will spend most of its time on Ft Loudon Lake.

There a few other Thunderbird Navaho owners here, you might try searching the forum for old posts.

Since the Bow has DMV numbers showing a simple request there for ownersip history should give you lots of information for a few dollars.

Awesome! Congrats on your unique gift!

These old Thunderbirds are pretty scarce. I recently found one and recieved it as a Mother's Day gift this year, (funny gift, huh?)...provided I was willing to sell my '64 Glasspar Avalon. Which I just did this month.

My husband and I raced out in the morning from Los Angeles area to Phoenix to pick her up--and arrived back home before midnight the same day.

You are right--there isn't really that much info or photos of original Thunderbird (Formula!) boats from the 50's anywhere! I have spent many hours scouring the depths of the net searching for clues. In fact, I found your thread coincidental to another google search just to see if anything "new" popped up about the Thunderbird Navajo!

Yours looks just like mine as far as hull shape and v-berth/cockpit area. I have seen a few other Thunderbirds from the 50's online. There DID used to be seats facing backwards also, but they are missing fom mine as well. But I saw in a pic online of another model with large seats in each corner below those same storage compartment holes. I thought I saved that pic but I can't find it anywhere!! I'll keep looking and when I find it, I'll post it.

I don't think the windshield on yours is original to the boat. Mine's a 1958 with original registration papers. The sellers had bought it in 2008 in Ft Lauderdale, FL. not far from where she was "born". They hauled her all the way to Phoenix when they moved to AZ. She HAD her original curved windshield intact until last winter when rainwater pooled on the boat's cover and weighed down until the windshield broke. I have it, but it is in pieces. By the way, like the windows, the windshield was made of plexiglass. From what I understand, Thunderbird claims to have manufactured the world's 1st ALL plastic boat (sans hardware)...No wood, and the transom is said to be PURE fiberlgass resin. I know mine is super solid....I bet it's true.

You are VERY fortunate to have the metal "thunderbird" emblems!!! How much do I have to bribe you to short term loan it to Larry of Vintage Boatworks so he can make a copy?? LOL
Interestingly, Larry also found one just like ours in Phoenix last year. Just last week he was at our place looking at my Thunderbird and comparing notes with me. Indeed, these boats are dang scarce. Hang on to it!!

Your dash looks original, simple. Without original pix to compare--there's no way to know for sure, but yours DOES look original. Mine was "updated" with tons of new lido guages,lights near the floor, stereo, VHF marine radioand antenna, a stainless steering wheel (on the left side and nice seats bolted onto the molded lastic seats. I'm not too terribly hung up on staying absolutely original, since we will be USING her for stuff, like pulliing skiiers and going in the ocean and such. It's nice to have niceties.

I have a pic of my boat ini a shop in florida where the sellers had a ton of work done to her. You can see some of the original windsheild in the pic with a fan on her bow--the pic shows her original FL vessel reg numbers. I found another set of pix that were on the web, I think the exact same boat, but different owners. In that pic, it's the same trailer, and PVC side bunk/guides, and it has a steering wheel that looks like twisted rope. I have no idea what's original.

The back area on your boat is identical top mine--all the same colors too. I read that red and white with a turquoise interior was original. Wow, huh?

I am gonna post some pix of the day I picked her up in AZ...also the seller sent me some pix of her interior befopre I bought her...will post them too, so you can compare.

Again Congrats on your gift!



Note: I tried to put up pix, but they are way too big. Rather than resize everything, I'll create an album and then post a link to them, if that's OK.

i don't see that anyone else has mentioned this (unless i missed it), so i will point it out. make sure you can get paperwork on the boat before you put too much time/money into it. nothing worse than pouring yourself and your wallet into a project only to find that you won't be able to use it due to MIA paperwork.

-Chris

I do plan on casting each of the badges/emblems/logos in the coming months. When complete, maybe I can arrange to send you a resin copy of each that you can have cast into metal.

Wow, thanks...let me know what I can do to help facilitate the casting when you are ready....

As far as registering her, I see from your pix that she HAS reg numbers on her---here in California, a buyer is responsible for paying up any overdue registration fees. I don't know what the rules are in TN, but you may want to call your dept. of motor vehicles anonymously and simply state you are interested in buying a vessel with ______ numbers on it, and inquire about it's registration status.
That way, you'll know...like riceman said, you want to make sure where you stand before you dump a bunch of money into her.

That said, I know that in a case like that, somewhere online I read where a poster suggested a person might sand down a total restore project that had been long forgotten and start from scratch with an application for new title. Surely fraudulent and illegal of course.

I made a photo album of my Thunderbird on Photobucket...but couldn't figure out how to share it..what a dunce. I'll have to wait until my son is home to show me.

Awesome cruiser. I've been looking for one of those for a while. I like the molded seats compared to the pedestal ones you usually see in a small cruiser. Not much wood in those either I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong)so it should be an easy restore.

I tried to post re-sized pix, according to the size requirements, but for some reason, they still would not upload. So, I made an album of my 58 Thunderbird Navajo on my FB page. Hopefully it's not against the rules to post links to albums hosted by other sites.
Here is a link to see all of them.
You do not have to be a member to view this album-just click
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3648368800252.2133228.1005399035&type=3&l=190095cc8e

I swear I've seen that online somewhere while it was for sale. The only other one I've found is here: 1959 Thunderbird Navaho

According to the 1958 brochure, this boat came with a privy. I see a modern portable toilet in yours. I can't help but think that's not where it was originally. The opening where the two berths come together may have held it at one time. I really don't know. I'm really, really curious. What I wouldn't give for a picture of the interior from 1958. Well...I really would give anything, but I'd certainly like to see it.

manicsquirrel wrote:

I swear I've seen that online somewhere while it was for sale. The only other one I've found is here: 1959 Thunderbird Navaho

According to the 1958 brochure, this boat came with a privy. I see a modern portable toilet in yours. I can't help but think that's not where it was originally. The opening where the two berths come together may have held it at one time. I really don't know. I'm really, really curious. What I wouldn't give for a picture of the interior from 1958. Well...I really would give anything, but I'd certainly like to see it.

Yep, that is the same boat. I found those pix online right after I bought my boat. Then I asked the seller if he had any other pix of the T-bird... If you notice in the album I posted, one of the pix I got from the old owner shows my T-bird in a shop with a fan on her bow. The boat has the SAME Florida reg. numbers as the one in the link you posted above. So I knew then that those pix were of MY boat. Cool, huh? The wonders of the mighty internet

Those pix were from the sale pix from 2008, when the ppl from Phoenix bought it..then I bought it. I have never seen a brochure for the Thunderbird Navajo, didn't know a privy came with it. I was thinking that the small square compartment up at the front of the V-berth was a rode locker. I wouldn't wanna sleep with my face just above a privvy though! Did they have porta-pottis back in the late 50's?
If you have or know where a brochure is for the Navajo, it'd be great to put in the library on the site!

Somewhere from the time those pix from the classicboathouse were taken, and the time the people I bought my boat from, her blue paint was sanded down. Unfortunately, whomever did it sanded too much. The original red gelcoat was burned through down so much that the fiberglass matting weave shows. It will be a real PITA to fix that......

The brochure is in the library already. It's for the 1959 model lineup.

It lists two births, toilet, hatch, windshield, molded seats, and sound baffle.

Looking at pictures of other cuddy cabins online, they may have a cassette toilet in that opening in the v-berth or a toilet just like yours is pictured. Mine doesn't have one, but I found one that I will be putting in it: Thetford Porta Potti Curve

Ok, yes, I have seen the 59s...It looks exactly like mine, which is a 58. I bet they were very close to the same for 58 and 59.


Interestingly, in most of the pix for the various models in the 59 brochure pix, there are no rear-facing seats! But on the "Scout" model, you can see something white under each storage access hole---maybe flip-up seats? I know somewhere while scouring online for thunderbird pix I have seen a pic that shows some white rear-facing seats!

You mentioned you swear you saw my boat somewhere--You may have seen my T-bird on ebay.....the seller advertised on ebay for it for a long time. I kept watching it and dreaming wistful thoughts and scheming. I loved the chop top look, the slanted "fast" but hearty hull lines.
But the seller wanted I think $4500 for it at 1st. After dropping the price at each relisting, I started to get excited. Still, no bids--then finally, after like a month or longer on ebay, he listed it for a buy it now for $1500, and with an extreme adrenalin rush, I hit the buy-it-now button, then we picked her up May 5.

I figured that even though the market is bad, I really liked it a LOT---and with that 140 HP Suzuki and real nice galvanized trailer--I couldn't go wrong. Plus the seller gave a a big envelope of reciepts--can't believe what they spent to get her running and comfy..sheesh.

At least yours was a gift--so you're way ahead in the cash dept. and she looks fairly un-molested except for the windshield.

That curve porta potti looks like a really nice one! The one in the pix that came with my t-bird is slated to be removed and put in another boat (1986) we have for sale. It's got a little accordian push thingee to flush. I would like to have a nicer one for my T-bird--but measurements will have to be checked 1st. It could be that FIT could be an issue if I want it out of the way.

I'm really glad to make your aquaintence. I know Larry of VintageBoatWorks in Bakersfield, CA also has a Thunderbird Navajo, and will be chiming in soon. He was excited when I sent him the link to your thread when I 1st saw it. I think it's great we have forums like these that people from all over can connect and discuss.

I have a nice curved glass windshield off a 61 citation, but it won't fit-the sides at the base flare out a bit too much. Larry was talking about getting together at some point to get my broken original plexiglass windshield copied at a shop he knows that makes them. I have the aluminum struts for it too. He also works with a foundry that makes reproduction emblems for him out of brass. At least that's what my Glasspar ones are made of. Maybe we can get a package deal if three ppl want the same windshield made!

Hi all - I'm looking at picking one of these up locally, and I am full of questions!
It's reported to be a 1956, but I think the year has to be wrong based on my research, earliest was 1958?
Any big drawbacks with these (other than being tough to find info on)?
I am intrigued by the "all fiberglass design" and the sealed air pockets between the floor and hull, I was skeptical that it would have wood stringers, but looks like i am wrong, the internet says all fiberglass?
The one I am looking at has a fairly soft floor -is this normal or should it be cause for concern? I know newer boats use a fairly thick floor, this one seems thin and a bit weak, maybe just age?
It also has a cracked upper windshield which i am looking at getting a copy made of locally (company called "Middy" in Redmond Wa), will post estimate when I get it tomorrow, anyone else have luck on a replacement?
Original motors? Library says it would take up to 160hp? this seems nuts on a 16 ft boat, but a red pair of vintage 500 Mercs would be, well, nice. 750's - even better!

Welcome aboard Stang. We are all here to learn together. There are some great people here to help.

I live in Cincinnati Ohio and I ALSO HAVE A 1959 thunderbird Navaho it is pretty far down the list I just finished a 1957 Sabre and a 1959 Herters and getting ready to start on a 1959 Howie craft.

Haynesfiberglass

Got a rough quote today from Middy Plastics to copy the upper windscreen ~$500. They are soon to go out of business though. These guys are old pros, sad to see a good business go away.
Still debating picking up the Navajo near me, but if I do Middy will have a template to make more than 1 window (as long as they are still open)