Ina Mae Overman's 1955 Ford

The Thunderbird as it looked before Ina Mae had it restyled. Photo from the GT350LADY Collection

The car as it looked after Ina Mae and Valley Custom Shop had restyled it. Photo from the GT350LADY Collection

Photo from the GT350LADY Collection

Ina Mae had her Thunderbird and Lincoln on display at the 1957 Norwalk Motorcade. Photo from The Bob Stephenson Photo Collection.

Ina Mae with the Thunderbird outside the "Thunderbird Hotel". Photo from the GT350LADY Collection

1955 Ford Thunderbird restyled by Valley Custom Shop for Ina Mae Overman. Valley Custom frenched the headlights on the car, and modified the front and rear valances to accomodate Ford Model A bumpers. The front bumper was bent in the center to follow the body contour. Ina Mae spent her weekends in the driveway shaving away emblems and filling holes using fiberglass. She learned the hard way that you don't fiberglass over seams. Ina Mae moved the gas filler into the trunk, bolted down the gas filler door, and fiberglassed over the seams. Vibrations made the fiberglass on the gas filler door crack up, and at one car show George Barris photographed the cracks in an attempt to put down the workmanship of Valley Custom. The car had been painted in the same gold color as her 1952 Lincoln, and instead of welding shut the door and repainting the car, she had Von Dutch camouflage the cracks with pinstriping.

Ina Mae sold the Thunderbird to a guy who taught his wife to drive, and the car was banged up a lot. It got to the point that the mismatched gold was so bad that it was repainted blue.