CEDAR FALLS - When it comes to Dennis Christensen's passion for his Ford Thunderbird, he doesn't just mail it in.

Not yet anyway.

The Cedar Falls man so loves his car he had pictures of it made into postage stamps. They're real stamps, but he hasn't had the heart to actually put one on an envelope yet.

Christensen's pride and joy is a 2002 convertible.

Since he bought it in October 2002 he's put 23,000 miles on it. He and his wife, Judy, have been to Las Vegas and Alabama for gatherings of T-Bird lovers.

He's got a couple of favorite photos of his car. One is in Carefree, Arizona, a picture that looks like it belongs in a new car ad with the car parked outside a pretty desert home and cacti in the background.

The second is a shot of the car outside the Behrens-Rapp station near downtown Cedar Falls. That one holds an emotional tie, as he filled up with gas at the station from the time he was 14 - he's now 68 - until the station closed for the construction of Highway 58.

He made both into stamps after he saw an advertisement to do so on the Internet

"I thought, 'what the heck, I'll try it and put my car on there,'" Christensen said.

The stamps cost about double the cost of a normal stamp, and worth every penny to Christensen.

He owned a 1958 Thunderbird, but sold it three years later when the family grew too large to keep it. For the next 40 years, Christensen dreamed of getting another.

"He said that's probably the only one I'll ever have," Judy said of her husband's fond memories of the 1958 Thunderbird.

When the new classic designs came out for the 2002 models, he got serious about getting one. Christensen eventually ordered the new car from Dick Witham Ford. Once it arrived, he slapped a custom license plate reading "B4IDIE" on it.

He's been active on an Internet message board dedicated to Thunderbirds since then. He's driven it on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway track and he's been to Detroit to see the line where the cars are made.

He has replica T-birds adorning his walls and a photo album filled with pictures of his car and the fan club gatherings.

Dennis and Judy both have turquoise watches, the same color as the car, bearing the Thunderbird logo.

"We're Thunderbird crazy," Judy said.

As far as the stamps, Christensen had good timing. He got in during a test marketing program by photostamps.com. The business can't sell the stamps now, but is trying to get it set up on a permanent basis.

Will he ever actually mail the stamps? Well, he's got a plan to send at least one out, to John Rapp for all those years at the gas station.

Jon Ericson can be reached at (319) 291-1402 or at jonathan.ericson@wcfcourier.com.