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We recently discovered a story concerning a Texas street rod builder and a very rare 1962 Ford Thunderbird with a swing-away steering column. With no company offering an off-the-shelf replacement, the car builder found help from ididit LLC.
Kevin Smith picked up this 1962 Ford Thunderbird as a project car for he and his son to work on together. They ran into a problem when they wanted to replace the worn, stock steering column, but wanted to keep the swing-away feature. No one makes that part, but ididit stepped in with a solution.
In the late ’50s and early ’60s, Ford Motor Company sought to provide their Thunderbird customers with options that no other car offered. Attempting to make the T-Bird an elite luxury car for the American car buyer, they needed a way to improve accessibility for the driver and rear seat passengers to enter and exit the car. The idea the designers came up with was slightly ahead of its time: the swing-away steering wheel.
The biggest challenges were getting all of them to fit and work collectively. -Marty Waterstraut, ididit Sales Mgr.
The factory design had the entire steering column moving, with a sliding metal plate on the right side of the instrument panel that would fill the gap when the column was in the normal driving position. An interior color-keyed vinyl panel filled the gap on the left side of the column when it had been moved aside for entrance or egress.
The car could be started with the steering wheel in either position, but for safety could not be shifted out of Park until the column was placed in the normal driving position. The steering column was then locked into place for driving, and could only be moved when the shifter was in Park. The safety mechanism alone made this column a complex component to work on.
About ididit
ididit has been in business as a steering column specialist since 1986. Though they produce steering columns for industrial applications, military simulators and golf carts, it is their award-winning columns for street rods, musclecars and classic trucks that brought them into the spotlight.
The Thunderbird, and its swing-away column was redesigned in 1964, which makes the first generation swing-away columns something that is rarely seen today.
Ford went on to make vertically adjustable steering columns and tilt steering wheels until the federal government enacted Motor Vehicle Safety Standards that mandated certain safety features. These safety regulations ensured that a swing-away steering wheel was a thing of the past.
Where The Story Gets Interesting
Kevin Smith, a car enthusiast from Manvel, Texas, picked up a vintage 1962 Thunderbird to restore with his son. “I purchased this thunderbird for my son’s 15th birthday, and we decided very quickly this would be a father and son project build that we wanted to be different,” explained Smith. Noting that they added some modern technology in the build, “We tore the car down and replaced the drivetrain with an LS engine, six-speed automatic transmission, custom TCI tubular stainless front suspension, a Ridetech four-link rear with Ridetech airbags all the way around.”
Some early 1960s Ford Thunderbirds adopted an unconventional Swing-away steering column, promoting easier vehicle entry and exit. Though internals of ididit’s replacement column were already congested, the unique mechanism was accommodated.
Despite the addition of modern components, Smith also wanted to keep some of the original charm that made these early 1960s Thunderbirds so iconic. One of those features was the swing-away steering column. “The motivation was building a project for my son, with my son, teaching him everything I could about this hobby. In the end, those are memories we will both cherish forever.”
Unable to find a rebuilt replacement or new swing-away steering column for their T-Bird, Smith was running out of options. “My son and I attend the NSRA Nationals every year and were looking for a vendor to implement the swing away functionality on a new steering column for a 1962 Thunderbird. None of the vendors at the nationals wanted to take on this task, and when we went to the ididit booth, they were up for the challange and got right to work on it,” he said.
ididit, who has built thousands of custom steering columns, stays true to their motto: “If you can dream it we can build it.”
ididit Steps In
“We run into things that we can’t do, no question about that,” said Marty Waterstraut, ididit sales manager. “But we very rarely say ‘no’ right off the bat. We like to take a look at it and see what we are getting into, and this looked like something we could easily handle.”
“This had never been done before,” added Smith. “They asked if I would send them the original column and some photos of how the column was mounted in the car, along with detailed measurements.” He said. “They had to remove the bracketry from the original column ensuring the placement of the brackets on the new column were precisely positioned for the swing-away functionality to work properly.”
The most immediate question people have when a company takes on a special project like this is, what is in it for them? Marty responded by saying, “We like to learn, and hopefully, if someone else brings one of these to us, we’ll be quicker the second time around. Basically, we like to help out a customer. It was a great opportunity to have a column in a vehicle without having to cut the dash up or cut it all apart, He stated. “It all comes down to wanting to help a customer and learn something new along the way.”
A few parts from the original column are reconditioned—Swing-away and floor mounting arrangements. Added are new automatic column-shifting, four-way flashers, self-cancelling turn signals, and 8-position steering tilt mechanism with new Ford-style knobs and levers.
As if re-engineering a steering column more than fifty years old wasn’t enough, Smith wanted a column-shift for an automatic transmission, four-way flashers, self-canceling turn signals – which were not originally available – and tilt wheel capability. Horn actuation, Ford-style knobs and levers and a sleeker look was also requested by Smith.
Wheels Get Turning In Michigan
The steering column arrived in Michigan, where it was dismantled and some of the original parts, including the position locks, floor mount, and particularly the swing-away apparatus were reconditioned and adapted for use in the new column.
The stock OE steering wheel was modified to suit the bolt-hole mounting pattern of a GM upper mounting layout. The ididit crew used a proprietary upper shaft finished with a GM spline in order to take advantage of the GM turn-signal arrangement.
“There were a great many parts and pieces concentrated in the column and, as you can imagine, one of the biggest challenges was getting all of them to fit and work collectively while still maintaining a sleek ididit look,” said Waterstraut.
Finishing The Column
When it came to the central focus of the build, the team was concerned about where exactly the swing-away mechanism needed to be welded onto the column, Waterstraut explained. “The positioning had to be exact, and all of the measurements were determined by studying the customer’s original photographs along with the stock column he had shipped to us.”
ididit offers solutions for a multitude of applications. If they don’t have it readily available, they are ready and willing to take a look at it and see what they can create for you.
The team was able to duplicate the exact fitment, along with other exact measurements like the location of the shifter and other components that could obstruct the column during installation. In the end, ididit reverse-engineered the assembly, replaced some components on the swing-away mechanism, and constructed a precise steering column assembly using an ididit column as the centerpiece. The entire build took slightly over a month to complete.
“The column has the latest technology and functions better than the original so my son and I are very satisfied with the end product and the people at ididit were the best to work with,” said Smith.
Here the new unit is being installed by owner Kevin Smith and son. The column slides perfectly into position, thanks to vivid photographs and accurate measurements.
We’re looking forward to seeing finished photos of Smith’s T-Bird and will probably attempt to feature the car, with its swing-away steering column, when the build is complete. Look for this Texas Thunderbird as one of our monthly features sometime in 2017.
