Sometimes I wonder how many waiting-to-be-awakened-and-restored two seater Thunderbirds are out there. Still squirreled away in a garage or a barn and gathering dust and cobwebs like this 1957 Baby ‘Bird. The seller, Kevin, gives us very little information or history about the car or why it’s been gathering dust for so many years. “Awesome project car! Body is straight and complete. Motor turns, lots of potential, very little rust, floors are solid.” This is the extent of the ad description, so a lot of questions still remain. Located in a garage in Bellingham, Washington, this ’57 T-Bird project is listed for sale here on Facebook Marketplace for $12,000.
Photos are limited and rather dark from being taken inside a garage, so it’s hard to play photo detective on this one. Even under a layer of dust, the Raven Black paint still appears to be shiny and reflective. There’s a three-inch dent on the driver’s front fender near the headlamp but that’s the only bumps and bruises I see from the photos. The seller doesn’t say where the “very little rust” is located. The dusty chrome bumpers look decent as does the glass and the trim all seems to be there. The car’s optional soft top is not currently in the car and it has a non-porthole window white fiberglass removable hardtop. (I read that porthole and non-porthole windows were available for ’57. Non-porthole tops had a small round badge on the side like this car does.) I wonder when that was last removed? Nothing is mentioned about the T-Bird’s turbine wheel covers.
Photos of the ‘Bird’s interior are poor and out of focus, but the dark photos shows an interior with potential. Other than the black padded dash being wavy in spots, the black and white vinyl seats and door panels appear to be in good shape and might just need a good cleaning. The T-Bird’s cool instrument panel and black steering wheel also appear to be in good shape. You can’t tell the condition of the carpet or removable top headliner and nothing is mentioned about the lights and gauges working.
Although not identified by the seller (other than the engine turns), the ‘Bird most likely has the Code D 312-cubic-inch, 4-barrel carb V8. I’ve read where it had 0-60 mph times in the 10-second range and had a top speed of about 115 mph. It could be paired with a 3-speed/overdrive manual, or a Ford-O-Matic automatic transmission which this car appears to have. Thanks to Father Time and the ever-evolving collector car market, the number of people lusting after these classic T-Birds isn’t what it used to be. Still, this appears to be a solid project car, not a rust bucket, and all it takes is one person to want to take on this project and get this ’57 T-Bird back on the road again. How about you?
She’ll have fun fun fun until her daddy takes her T bird away….,
This will look great in black and back on the streets.
I have always thought this car was under valued compared to pricing of other classic cars in its class.
GLWS!
Nice I just got a light blue one. At the same price. Just started to get it running, this car as well as my car will need lots of parts and time. Not worth the money however for me, being that it was the car that my friend and second father had, it’s worth it for me. Underwater will be an understatement but it’s right!!! I was 15 when I met my friend who gave me a ride in it, that was 1975.
Yeah, when I see these cars, they’re not for huge money, even though they seem kind of iconic in my mind, especially after the American graffiti movie.
I have a model of one of these cars and there’s a version that is hot rodded with drag slicks. I wonder if that was a common thing to do with these back in the day? They certainly are elegant looking cars.
I don’t know if this is a good price for this car and would be nice to have better pictures and underside pictures but you can’t really get a whole lot for $12,000 in decent shape nowadays for an old car especially one that was made almost 70 years ago and still looks pretty cool. Looks like a fun project.
sold it!
Glad to see that this one got scooped up fairly quickly. My wife and I enjoy our 1956 Baby Bird. The ask seems pretty fair, at least from what the pics suggest. We bought ours about 5 years ago for about three times this ask but ours had been treated to a body off restoration some years ago and still is a 2-5 “footer”. We’ve also added power steering, aluminum dual fan radiator, and (living in East Central Louisiana) we added A/C. Great little cars. It appears to be well bought and at the right time of year if it doesn’t take much to get it roadworthy. I hope that the new owner(s) enjoy(s) this Black Beauty as much as we enjoy our red one!
Hard to say whether it’s a great deal without actually seeing more of the car. Asking $12k but probably will take less. These 55-57 birds are the more popular ones. I haven’t kept up with the current values but I remember restored examples being pretty pricey. The birds that came after don’t bring in the big bucks that these ones do.
By ’57 were the factory hardtops all the porthole style? If so this one has an earlier top that thankfully nobody has modified yet.