When 27-year-old transmission builder Dan Wiechowski first spotted a faded green 1955 Ford Thunderbird sitting quietly in a Brunswick, Ohio driveway, it looked more like a forgotten dream than a future road-trip machine. The paint was rough and most passersby probably wouldn’t have given it a second glance. But it piqued Dan’s curiosity, as he got the kind of gut feeling only true car people understand.
“I happened to see a Facebook post from a local drag strip photographer about this T-Bird that randomly appeared in someone’s driveway,” he recalls. “It wasn’t even for sale. But I tracked down where it was, called up a buddy who lived nearby, and before I knew it, we were at the house looking at the car.”
That chance encounter turned into a life-changing decision. The Thunderbird, as Dan learned, had been tucked away in a warehouse since 1966. When a family member passed away, the car was finally pulled out of storage, unintentionally exposed to the world for the first time in nearly six decades. “It was just sitting there. After I saw it, I went home thinking about it all night. The next day, I called them back and said, ‘Can I come over again?’ I had to have it,” he explains.
He bought the car in February 2024, and within hours it was sitting in his garage, where the decades of dust and time were about to meet their match.
For most people, just finding a first-generation Thunderbird in restorable condition would be the end goal, but it was only the starting line in Dan’s case. “I’ve always liked the ’55s because they don’t have the porthole windows or side vents like the later ones. I didn’t even have a clear plan for the drivetrain yet, just knew it needed to be slick-shift,” he says.
Dan happened to have a 5.7-liter Hemi — circa 2018 — sitting in the shop that was originally meant for another project, and his curiosity got the better of him. “Me and a buddy set the engine in the car just to see what kind of room we had. It’s tight, but I made it work,” he explains.
The stock Gen III Hemi now rests snugly between the T-Bird’s framerails, fed by a stack-injection setup that Dan meticulously hand-tuned. “I spent a lot of time making it right,” he explains. “Tuning each blade closed, polishing throttle shaft bushings, anything to get that smooth operation.” It’s managed by a Holley Terminator X ECU tuned by Rick Trunkett of Hinckley, Ohio, with fuel supplied by a single Walbro 525 pump at 60 psi.
The rest of the Hemi remains stock inside, sporting the factory crank, rods, pistons, and aluminum heads. Dan swapped in a Flying Ryan Performance hydraulic roller cam with 228/238 duration and .611/.602 lift. A set of Hooker Blackheart manifolds route the exhaust gases to Flowmaster FX mufflers, exhaling through 2.5-inch pipes. A Hellcat oil pump and MDS delete ensure durability when the revs climb.
Power goes through a TREMEC TKX five-speed and a Ram Powergrip HD metallic clutch, spinning a Ford 9-inch rearend with 3.89 gears and Moser 31-spline axles. It’s not a track-only setup, but a true street car that he drives anywhere. “The car’s run a best of 11.60 at 119 mph,” he says. “That’s with a 1.90 sixty-foot because I didn’t want to axle-wrap the car with the stock suspension.”
If the story ended there it would already be impressive, but what truly makes this Thunderbird special is the life it’s lived since Dan brought it back from the dead.
In just four months, he turned the long-forgotten Ford into a road-worthy hot rod with modern running gear and drove it cross-country to California, racking up over 7,000 miles in the process. “It was stressful running down a deadline with a car that sat for almost 60 years,” he says with a laugh. “But we got it driving two days before leaving for the trip. That road trip is something I’ll never forget.”
That journey through the American West sealed the car’s place in his heart. “The Thunderbird will always have a big piece of me because of that trip,” he says. “Seeing out west in a classic car, stopping at old diners and drag strips are memories I’ll never part with. I’ll keep road-tripping it and making memories across the U.S.”
Dan’s passion for old cars is the product of a childhood of his curiosity for mechanical things and a few key influences who steered him toward the automotive-centered life he now lives.
“I grew up around my dad and his Corvair; he was into classic cars, and that kickstarted it all,” he explains. “When I was 12, my parents bought me a minibike from a neighbor named Randy Kravanis. I can thank him for making me dive headfirst into hot rodding. From that moment on, I was always at Randy’s house, learning and tinkering. He had a ’30 Model A styled like Milner’s car, and I learned so much from helping him work on it. I got my itch for drag racing the same as most do, by racing our vehicles in high school against one another. I just had a daily driver Dodge Ram with a V8 and then I bought my ’69 Dodge and drove that every nice day I could through high school.”
That mentorship turned into a lifelong friendship. “I’m still really close with Randy. We actually raced together at Rock ’n Race at Dragway 42 this year. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have gotten this far into racing and building hot rods,” Dan says.
That natural progression from mini-bikes to muscle cars was inevitable for a man driven by performance. “Racing started when the mini-bikes didn’t go fast enough,” Dan laughs. “Then I got my first car at 13, and it didn’t go fast enough, either. When I turned 16, I bought my ’69 Dodge Dart, drove it everywhere through high school, and it just wasn’t fast enough.” That led to a 600 horsepower 410 stroker and four-speed setup that finally scratched the itch for a while. “Eventually, that wasn’t fast enough either,” he adds.
Along with the Thunderbird, Dan’s stable includes everything from a 1929 Model A Cabriolet and a 1948 Fiat Topolino Fuel Altered that he’s currently restoring, to multiple vintage vans and hot rods. “I guess I’ve always liked things that are a little different,” he says. “And having a ’55 Thunderbird that’s turn-key reliable is awesome. I’ve always loved the idea of taking something old and making it perform and drive like a modern car, but still look and feel like it came from another time.”
Despite his youth, Dan has a mechanical resume that stretches far beyond most hobbyists. By day, he builds manual transmissions; by night, he’s fabricating, wrenching, and fine-tuning whatever’s in front of him, be it a Hemi-powered Thunderbird or a nitro-burning altered. “I’ve done engine rebuilds as big as a Cat 3600,” he says casually. “I’m always working on something, always trying to learn more.”
The Thunderbird perfectly embodies that relentless DIY philosophy, blending old- and new-school tech with the mindset that cars are meant to be driven. “People don’t expect a classic T-Bird to have a Hemi or a stick,” Dan admits. “That’s part of what makes it fun. It’s different. You could put a Hemi in just about anything and make it cool, but this one has its own attitude.”
Dan has made some recent changes, adding a six-point roll bar and building rear ladder bars to strengthen the chassis. The car will remain a driver first, a racecar second, and that’s just the way he likes it. “It’s always going to be a street car,” he says. “I just want it safe and strong enough to handle the wheelies it pulls now. I’m not going to add any more power to it.”
Dan will make his drag-and-drive debut at the upcoming Sick Smokies event, competing alongside some 70 Gassers as they trek through Alabama and Tennessee.
Dan’s Thunderbird is the furthest thing from a trailer queen, with a story told through every mile it’s covered since its revival. “That trip across the country,” Dan says, “that’s something I’ll always carry with me. It reminded me why I do this, why I build, why I race, why I love these cars. It’s the memories, the experiences, and the freedom that come with it. That’s what makes it all worth it.”
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