This 1957 Ford Thunderbird came into the possession of its current owner by way of an estate. The seller has decided to move this Ford classic onto a new enthusiast. Located in Sherman, Texas, you will find it listed for sale here on eBay. Offered with a clear title bidding has reached $11,500 at the time of writing.
While it generally looks quite good, there are a few items that will require inspection and attention to return this Thunderbird to its former glory. There are a number of areas of the car where the finish has cracked as pictured above. There have also been some amateur rust repairs performed on the floor pans, but the trunk appears to be solid. The frame has been undercoated and painted at some stage. The seller has scraped some of this off to ascertain the condition of the metal beneath and it appears to be solid. The seller does provide some photos of the underside of the car but it is hard to ascertain the condition due to the heavy coating of paint that has been applied. The seller also states that the car comes with a hardtop only, and that there is no hardware present for a soft-top.
The interior is generally tidy but there are some tasks that need completing to bring it up to scratch. The driver’s side of the seat has a black mark on it that will hopefully clean off. The door trims have some marks that will need addressing. The dash looks to be complete and in good order, but the seller states that the carpet will need replacing. The driver’s side kick panel is also missing and will need to be replaced.
I love these machine-turned instrument clusters. This one appears to be in quite good condition although there is an issue with the edge trim where it curves over the steering column. I am concerned about where the needle on the temperature gauge is sitting. This indicates that either the gauge itself is faulty or there is an electrical fault with the car that will need investigating. I also noticed some cracking in the steering wheel where the spokes meet the center of the wheel.
Under the hood is the original 312ci Y-Block engine backed by the standard 2-speed automatic transmission. A new gas tank and carburetor have been fitted at some stage in the past. The car starts, runs and drives, but it is missing a fan belt (which personally I would have replaced). The family that previously owned the car stated that it was driveable when it went into storage. Encouragingly the car has anti-freeze in the cooling system which will minimise the chances of corrosion in the cooling system. The car is also fitted with air conditioning, but there is no word on whether this is operational or not.
This Thunderbird is a bit of an unknown quantity. Its listing has obviously sparked some interest on eBay as it was listed with an opening bid of $1,957 and 32 bids have pushed the price to its current $11,500. I would really like to get a close look at these amateur repairs to the floor pans and try to see what is underneath that heavy coating of undercoat and paint on the underside of the car. The car will almost certainly require a complete repaint and the new owner will be faced with the purchase of all of the hardware, etc. that will go with the fitment of a soft-top. Having said all that, the 1957 Thunderbird is currently fetching minimum prices of around $35,000 for a reasonable example. If the underside of this one is solid and the price doesn’t go too much higher then it may be a project that the new owner could undertake that makes economic sense.
These are suffering from lackluster interest, not sure why as I love ’em. If the A/C is working, this must be the coldest car on earth- combination of tiny cabin, giant compressor, white color, R-12 freon, little glass area, should make it an igloo.
Not sure why you’d need to restore this one, doesn’t look like it would take much to make it into a driver, at least for now.
With the cracking paint you would have to strip the whole car, and you will probably find sin underneath. Myself, as LAB3 says, clean it up, fix the mechanics and drive the heck out of it. Good car for someone!!!
Good luck, she’s a pretty bird!!
All 55 – 57 Thunderbirds have 3 speed automatics. They start in 2nd gear unless you use the low range on the shifter.
Not true.
Many baby birds had a three-speed manual. A highschool girlfriend had a ’57 with a clutch.
I meant all automatics were 3 speeds. I know they had both 3 speed and 3 speed maual with overdrives available.
Correct on the automatic Gord. Ford did actually make a 2 speed auto, but not until 1959. They used it on a lot of low end cars until about 1963.
The huge crazes in the paint and large chips worry me on this car, as well as the clearly separating door skin on the passenger side. Gaps a re a little off in places, like the vents and the drivers side headlight ring. Even the gas door doesn’t fit well. This car has probably been hit in the front and passenger side and somebody used a LOT of bondo to make it look acceptable. These T-birds have topped out, price-wise, as the older set who admired them in their youth have died off. (…my oldest car is a ’67.) That’s not to say there won’t be a revival at some point, but I’ve seen nice drivers for less than $20k. I’ll be very curious to see what this brings.
I’m a buyer if Susan Summers comes with it.Nice car though.
I guess it’s left to me to mention the obligatory Suzanne Somers remark. All kidding aside, my mom had a ’55 with a three speed manual. Dad usually drove the family truckster to work, so when Mom picked up my older brother and sister from school, I had to straddle the shifter and sometimes got to shift the gears. At 5 years old, I was certain I could drive by then.
1st thing I thought of. I’ll give Adam the benefit of the doubt, he may not know about the movie, but I’ve noticed a general lack of correspondence with cars from such influential movies,( like the 1st black Trans Am that made no mention of SATB, until Reynolds died, of course) that seem to be a natural to us that grew up with those movies. Guess we’re getting old, pal.
Having grown up with a 1956 Ford, your comment about the temperature gauge being faulty is inaccurate. For whatever the reason in the design, when you shut the car off, the temperature gauge would go over to ‘H’ while the fuel gauge would drop to ‘E’. Upon startup, both gauges would return to ‘C’ and whatever fuel level was in the tank at the time.
One of my top 3 all-time favorites. This one is now at $12,100. The seller’s ad is also one of my top 3 favorites because he seems to be very forthright in his description and pictures. And it’s a no-reserve sale.
If the Hoosier Lotto comes through tonight this one’s mine.
Ford had a way of building cheap and dumpy looking cars, but when they got the bat to the ball, they often hit it out of the park. The early T-birds are certainly one of those designs. They suffer from typical Ford engineering of the time, but their smaller size made them go, stop, and handle better than the larger “family size” cars they offered. I would love to find me a nice 57 in the right color, 312 and 3-speed manual, and drive the wheels off it.