Renovated classic car ready to cruise
By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com

DADDY DON'T TAKE THE T-BIRD AWAY- Diane Johnson and her husband, Phil, pose with Diane's 1957 Thunderbird. Diane received the vintage car on her 16th birthday and kept through all these years. Just recently, she dusted it off and gave it an extensive refurbishing.

Diane Johnson was 5 years old when her sun-gold 1957 Ford Thunderbird rolled off the assembly line in Dearborn, Mich.

Eleven years later Johnson's father surprised her by giving her the classic automobile on her 16th birthday. The late model car- with white interior, V-8 engine and four-barrel carburetor that generated 245 horsepower- put Johnson into shock.

"I cried when I saw my gift, but they weren't tears of joy," Johnson said. "I was crying because I thought it was the ugliest car I had ever seen."

Nevertheless, Johnson learned to love the car so much that on her 50th birthday she decided to have it completely restored.

The road to renewal was a long and winding one.

Years earlier the Thunderbird had been painted a fiery red, and Johnson's love affair began.

"I learned to drive a stick and also learned how to avoid all the hills in Sunland-Tujunga," Johnson said.

She also learned to appreciate the car's "Dial-O-Matic" power seat, but when the motor burned and the seat was forever stuck in the same position, Johnson didn't mind.

"I even drove the T-bird with the seat in that position through all three of my pregnancies," Johnson said. But her 6-foot, 2-inch husband, George Hees, had trouble squeezing into the car with its seat pushed close to the wheel. Hees, a teacher at Lupin Hill Elementary School for 24 years, died from melanoma in 1988. The school's auditorium, Hees Hall, was named after him.

Johnson, 55, is the assistant to the superintendent, Donald Zimring at the Las Virgenes Unified School District. She shared memories of her car with friends and colleagues at her T-bird's 50th birthday party.

One of Johnson's favorite memories was when she was challenged by her friend, Lyn Lacy, to find out exactly how fast the car could actually go by racing the car down Foothill Boulevard.

"I pushed the pedal to the metal and began passing cars," Johnson said, but not for long. A police officer driving in the opposite direction whipped around and pulled Johnson over. "The officer told me I was going 90 mph in a 45-mph zone," Johnson said. At just five miles more per hour, Johnson was told, she would have been hauled off to jail.

Johnson was given a choice- either receive a ticket or let the officer swing over to her father's service station to sound the alarm that his daughter was a speedster. "I knew my Dad would find out anyway, so I chose the latter," Johnson said.

Although Johnson slowed down in her T-bird, she acquired a few fender benders through the years. One of the most memorable happened at her father's gas station. While filling up, Johnson left the car in neutral without setting the parking brake. When an employee asked her where her car was parked, she discovered the T-bird had rolled down the hill and crashed into her Uncle Herbie's car, hitting it so hard that it flew over the retaining wall.

"I drove the Tbird every day until I had Conrad," Johnson said. With three children and a tall husband, the car was soon far too small for the family to drive regularly. But they kept the old car as a spare.

Decades later the car fell into dreaded disrepair, but Johnson couldn't scrap the car that provided so many rich memories.

The plan to renovate the car hatched after Johnson married Phil Johnson five years ago. The couple saved for the T-bird's "extreme makeover" and eventually shelled out $80,000 for the renovation.

The T-bird stood in line for its makeover, but after a nine-month wait, the car was stripped down to bare metal. It would take another nine months to restore the car back to its glory days with the same sungold color, power seating and roaring engine.

A few modern amenities like power steering, electric windows and a CD player were added during its rehab, but for the most part the car looks like it just rolled off a 1957 showroom floor, Johnson said.

Johnson and her family now enjoy joy riding in the car about once a week, and they only play 1950s' music on the new CD player, she said.

Johnson may have been astounded at how much it cost to renovate her treasured T-bird, but the investment was well worth it, and not just for the monetary gain.

Now valued at $95,000, Johnson plans on keeping the Tbird in the family.

"My '57 T-bird has been a big part of my life for almost four decades," Johnson said. "With its extreme makeover we hope it will continue to bring our family enjoyment for generations to come."