There is now one more reason to visit the National Science Museum of Canada: Randy Bachman's T-Bird. Bachman, iconic member of two hit Canadian rock bands - Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive - has been a leader in the Canadian music scene for more than 40 years and specializes in flashy lead rock guitar.
Bachman bought the 1965 Thunderbird from his co-star in Guess Who, Burton Cummings, who had been driving it in Los Angeles for a number of years. Bachman loved the car and repeatedly offered to buy it from his friend. Year after year, Cummings turned down Bachman's offers until finally, in 2003, he relented.
The car is a fourth generation Thunderbird - the first generation to be equipped with then cutting edge disc brakes on its front wheels. It is still in mint condition, having been restored to this condition multiple times by its doting owners. In one such restoration session, in 2004, a Guess Who demo tape was found discarded in the trunk of the car. It featured ten original, ancient Guess Who songs that had been assumed lost many years ago. This demo tape gained national fame and eventually became an album of its own dubbed the Thunderbird Trax.
Randy Bachman is a regular donor to museums and learned of the National Science Museum's interest in his car while donating his archives of music to another Canadian library archive. Officials there told him that another museum with the theme of science and technology were putting out feelers for the 'ultimate Canadian rock 'n' roll car.' Bachman's Thunderbird immediately came to mind. He made the offer and the car was soon on the fast track toward being displayed prominently in the museum. Randy Bachman had rarely been using the car these days, most of his time being spent on the road playing at rock festivals and other exclusive gigs. Added to this, Bachman's various homes are in as far away locations as Santa Monica, California, and London, England. When he travels, Bachman usually has no time to drive to his destination, much less in the Thunderbird.
The car is currently located in an Ottawa museum warehouse where it will receive a minor restoration and an extensive cleaning before making its debut on the museum scene. Organizers from the National Science Museum are carefully planning a well-publicized Grand Opening of their new exhibit featuring the 1965 Thunderbird. Bachman will attend as the guest of honor and give a brief and thorough show-and-tell of the vehicle to boost interest.
Other cars personally owned by Randy Bachman include a 1961 Thunderbird, which, according to him, was too low to the ground and could not take the harsh Canadian winters. He also owned a 1954 Rolls Royce but wasn't able to take it anywhere due to the large amount of vandalism in the city where he was living at the time. The 1965 Thunderbird soon to be on display in the National Science Museum has always been his favorite car.
One of those 1965's Thunderbirds must not be an expensive vehicle to insurance especially with our high Canadian auto insurance rates. Fortunately, it's just gonna be sitting in a museum.
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