1956 Ford Thunderbird with a Howard Hughes connection Sold on Bring a Trailer

• The Ford Thunderbird that supported the longest flight ever just sold on Bring a Trailer.
• The record attempt included daring ground support, and this T-Bird was part of the effort.
• It was also later linked to none other than aviation legend Howard Hughes.

On February 7, 1959, an extremely tired Cessna 172 landed at McCarran Airport, setting a record that still stands today. Incredibly, the plane stayed aloft for a whopping 64 days, 22 hours and just over 19 minutes, the current Guinness World Record for the longest flight ever. The stunt required 128 fuel passes at low altitude, an astonishing level of endurance for the two pilots. . . and a red 1956 Ford Thunderbird.

If you fly through Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, you can see Cessna hanging above the baggage claim, still painted in the Hacienda Hotel livery. It’s a fine piece of aviation history, and it’s also very fitting that this kind of publicity stunt was hatched in full force in Las Vegas and is still happening there.

But as for that Ford Thunderbird, it still exists. In fact, it was sold earlier in January on the auction site Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and driver, is part of Hearst Autos). Not only was this car linked to the record attempt, but it was also owned by John Seymore, who happened to be the personal pilot of one Howard Hughes. No T-Bird has ever had closer ties to winged adventure.

The record-breaking Cessna had a few modifications to spend such an enormous amount of time in the air, most notably a very large auxiliary fuel tank. The pilots, Robert Timm and the improbably named John Wayne Cook, were made of stern stuff, the former having spent the Second World War as a bomber pilot. Overall, though, things were pretty ordinary: The engine, a standard 145-cubic-inch six-cylinder, came straight off the Continental line. Apparently Continental’s sales manager asked his secretary to pick out one that she thought was her favorite. Very fifties.

To refuel the plane, the Cessna flew low over a section of highway while a tanker truck matched the pace below, and a fuel hose was pulled up. Needless to say, this was incredibly dangerous. The workers on the truck eventually put on helmets after being hit in the head more than once.

The pilots also had to eat, and this is where the ’56 Thunderbird seems to have intervened. Originally delivered in California, it had taken its place as McCarran Airport’s security vehicle. The practicality of a two-seat V-8 grand tourer as an emergency vehicle can be questioned, but it performed well on at least two fronts: It was red and looked great in publicity photos.

Those photos showed him scooting down the runway beneath the Cessna as one of the two men aboard the plane hoisted a bucket of some kind of supplies. The Hacienda Hotel, which financed the record attempt, prepared meals for the two pilots and sent them regularly.

Anyone doing the math at this point may realize that a four-seat, single-propeller Cessna 172 is not normally equipped with lavatory facilities. We can leave the dirtier details of this record-setting purposefully vague, but let’s just point out that a bomber pilot was at the controls and leave it at that.

The provenance of this 1956 Thunderbird has helped make it a winning bid of $91,000very strong money for the brand. Only the ultra-rare supercharged factory versions command more dollars.

The car passed into the ownership of the Howard Hughes Tool Company when it purchased the airport in the 1960s, and later into the hands of Hughes’ personal pilot. It has been renovated over the years and remains a sharp example of 1950s post-war optimism combined with a great backstory. You have to wonder why one of these mid-1950s Thunderbirds hasn’t hit the market yet Fallout streaming series.

As for this car, its endurance days are probably over. He can fold his wings, nestle in a collection and occasionally take a short flight to a car show. When it does, it will have one of the best stories.

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Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, BC, Canada. He grew up on British cars, came of age in the golden age of Japanese sports compact performance, and started writing about cars and people in 2008. His special interest is in the intersection between man and machine, whether it concerns the racing career of Walter Cronkite or the half-century-long obsession of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to constantly buy Hot Wheels.