The very concept of a “garage find” is that someone in the distant past put a car up in a garage and forgot about it. Only years later does someone else stumble upon said car, drag it out, and dust if off, then recommission it to its former usefulness, or glory. The 1955 Ford Thunderbird available here on ebay is billed as a “garage find,” but from the looks of it, it was never lost. Anyway, if you are the next person to own this car, you’ll outbid a currently low $12,100 number and go to Greer, South Carolina with trailer in tow.
The early Thunderbirds are a bit like Corvairs (wait—don’t shoot that arrow at me yet) in that they’ve been at the same value threshold for years. The Corvair sells under ten grand all day long. The T-birds (of this vintage) go for around $30K. Let’s see if that happens with this car, but nonetheless, this is worth keeping an eye on. Aside from a total resto in 1990 and the fact that a “high-end auction house” was the last seller (a point that the current seller takes as a stamp approving the condition), the car presents from every angle as clean.
Mechanically, the presumed-original 292-CID V8 runs great, with the prior owner adding only a few miles to its original 63,000. You’ll want to renew the soft parts, like the brake hoses and so forth, but from the looks of things, and the claims made, the major systems and functions are intact. Helping the value are power steering and air conditioning, rare options. You’ll undoubtedly have to spend some bucks getting the AC up to modern standards, or not—you’ve got the option of taking the hard top off and soaking up the sun if you fancy that. Just don’t plan to go anywhere at mid-day if the suns beats down.
As if to make the point that this is a garage find, the car has not been dusted off. Convinced yet? The presence of at least one other collectible in the same garage would suggest less that the car was abandoned and more that someone just lost interest, or perhaps had some health problems come up. The story goes that the owner took the T-Bird to one show, won a trophy, and then parked it, never to drive it again. There is a healthy butt print in the driver’s seat cushion, so someone has enjoyed some time there, but if an early Thunderbird is your jam, this could be the nearly turn-key car for you.
Don’t know what its going to take to buy it but the ’55s are the ones I’d buy if in the market.
It looks like a beautiful T Bird. Its bid up to $15,600 as of 9 am this morning. It looks like someone is going to get a nice one if bought right. Doesn’t look like it’ll take much to get it up to snuff.
What air conditioning? I see ordinary non-AC heater controls. Ford did funny things with cold air vents, the right side was operated from the control panel (‘right air’) and the left side by a pull knob under the dashboard on the left of the steering column.
Out there, near a rural road, cars like this are lurking. It takes serendipity to stumble on these. Husbands croak, and wives have nothing to do with these. Out of sight, out of mind. They’re out there. Get lucky.
Looking at the tail-lights and the “porthole” hardtop: is this a ’56? — sure looks it to ME…
they are 56 tailights and the portholes were a upgrade early on to satisfy customer complaints of the blind spot. They were standard in 56 and 57 and offered in a kit to dealers of the first model year so these could be dealer installed. The 56 tailight lenses would not bolt to the 55 buckets.
Looking at the tail-lights and the “porthole” hardtop: is this a ’56? — sure looks it to ME…
I would love to have this so I could have “fun fun fun”! RIP Brian Wilson, you were one of the greats.
The 56 models had school bus vents at the rear of the front fenders, otherwise except for the exhaust not running thru the bumper the cars were the same
The 1956 version also had the continental kit as standard equipment. No way to not get one if you were buying a new 1956 Thunderbird.
I don’t know. It sat around too long and so still needs some TLC: bumpers appear pitted in spots, door liners need replacing, tires most likely have dry rot, fuel lines need to be flushed (tank replaced also?) and what’s that dark patch on the passenger seat? If the bidding breaks $20K I would be surprised.
Sold on 9/15/2025 for a high bid of $18,800, there was a total of 38 bids.
Steve R