About T-Bird Sanctuary

History of T-Bird Sanctuary

T-Bird Sanctuary is the oldest T-Bird parts vendor in the industry. The Company was founded in 1966 by John Baum in California. In the beginning the Company supplied parts for only model years 1955 to 1960. The Company moved to Tualatin in the early 70's and added model years 61-66 at about the same time. In the 80’s model years 67 through 1971 were added and 55-57 were dropped. In 1987 the Company was sold to Ken Luckman who moved it from Tualatin to Sherwood. Effective May 1, 1990, CAF Enterprises, Inc. was organized by Bob and Fran Peters for the purpose of acquiring T-Bird Sanctuary.

The first order of business for the Peters' was moving. The lease in Sherwood was expiring and the 1000 sq.ft. of space there was woefully inadequate. On June 1, 1990 we opened for business in spacious new quarters in Beaverton. With 2500 sq.ft., we thought we would have enough space for many years. This was not to be, however. Sales growth caused inventory needs to exceed the space available; so when the Beaverton lease expired in 1993, we were on the road again. This time we settled back in Tualatin in a 5700 sq.ft. facility. In 1997 we added 3600 more sq.ft. in a neighboring building. Over the years we also had outdoor storage for about 350 parts cars at a wrecking yard in Sherwood. In 1993 when we moved from Beaverton to Tualatin we had the space to begin dismantling parts cars indoors and began the process of moving all of the inventory to dry, indoor storage. In 1998 this process was completed. All the parts cars had been stripped of everything of value and the hulks were scrapped. Over the years we have dismantled and stored the parts from almost 500 T-Birds. Our most recent (and hopefully, final) move was in 2001 to our present location at 11685 SW Waldo Way in Sherwood. This is a 20,000 sq.ft. building with space for about 30 parts cars out back. This gives us room to stage new parts car purchases while we dismantle and stock the parts inside where it is always warm and dry.

With all the emphasis on used parts and parts cars, one might get the impression that all we sell is used parts. This is far from the truth. About 80% of our sales come from brand new merchandise. We buy from over 100 suppliers to handle our customer’s needs for new and reproduction items. Rubber weatherstrips, interior & upholstery items, chrome goodies, steering & suspension parts, brake parts, book & literature, engine & transmission parts - the list goes on and on.

In 1990 we expanded the product line to cover model years 1972 through 1976. In 1993 we added the 1977 through 1979 cars. In 2008 we will be adding the 55-57 birds back to the repertoire. Over the years, the primary interest and emphasis has been on model years 58-66. The fastest growing segment, however, is the 67-71 model series. As these cars, age they continue to grow in popularity.