A T-Bird owner in the pink, turning Dream Cruise heads

Royal Oak — Pat Wiegand calls it her “Barbie car,” and it’s the girliest car you’ve ever seen — pink as Pepto Bismol, in fact.

Twenty-four years ago, it was in pieces in El Salvador. Now it’s the pinkest T-Bird on Woodward.

A man owed her husband, the owner of Ray Wiegand Nursery, some money and offered to trade the mid-1950s two-seater to settle his debts.

The car was in terrible shape when her husband received it. He restored the vintage Ford over three years, painting it pink and giving it to her as an anniversary present.

The T-Bird’s paint job is “a color I love and so do lots of little girls,” she said.

Wiegand says the car often attracts young girls at the Dream Cruise with their fathers.

“They don’t see many cars they like as much as this one,” she said. “This is definitely a girly girl car.”

She keeps toys like her sock-puppet sheep Lamb Chop in the car. Lamb Chop rides shotgun, waving to passersby on Woodward.

Her husband recently rebuilt a Mercury Comet Caliente, which she painted red and named “Betty Boop.”

“I’m so spoiled, I’m starting to smell,” she said.