One-Owner Garage Find! 1957 Thunderbird

This is one of those posts where your intrepid Barn Finds writing staff has to “interpret” the advertisement. As best as we can tell, this 1957 Ford Thunderbird is a one (or two?) owner car and spent most of its life in Texas. It’s now located in Boise, Idaho (home of Barn Finds!) and is listed for sale here on Craigslist at an asking price of just $5,500. Thanks to frequent finder Curvette for alerting us to this dusty but interesting find!

By 1957, Ford was already moving the Thunderbird further away from “sports car” to “personal car”. Imagine advertising a two-seater with “new limousine luxury” now! The ’57 was the last iteration of the “baby bird” original platform; in 1958 the “Squarebird” 4-seater was introduced and was a great success, with 37,892 sales versus 21,380 for 1957. This increase was even more notable as the start of 1958 Thunderbird production was delayed for three months! Let’s look a little closer at this black 1957, though.

Yeah, it’s dusty! And I’m surprised it was stored with the top down–even though a soft top is included in the sale, I would count on some shrinkage, as we are told the car has been stored for 10 years. However, the ad states that the car has its original paint and interior. Or at least I *think* that’s what the seller is trying to tell us. With the layer of grime on the car and the poor pictures, it’s pretty hard to tell the condition of the body, paint, and chrome, although the seller states the car is 100% rust-free. I do like that the fender skirts are in the trunk, although one has to wonder why they were left off in the first place. And how about that plaid trunk lining? By the way, as best as I can tell, the Texas license plate is a style used between 1999 and 2008, so the car may have been off the road longer than the seller implies.

Again, the picture quality isn’t great, but the interior looks pretty decent, especially if it truly is original to the car. At least it hasn’t been baking in the sun, right? And black with red, while not rare, is a great color combination.

This picture intrigued me on several counts. First, it’s obviously outside in the sun, which has me wondering if the seller’s claim of “it will definitely start” is really true–did it drive out of the garage? Or perhaps this is an older picture–it was in a different format than the others in the ad. However, one doesn’t see a red-top Optima battery in many cars that aren’t cared about; hopefully this is an indicator that the car was loved, at least at one point. However, with a three-year value drop in Hagerty’s index of 33.8% and a low #4 condition figure of $7,833, there’s not much room to play with for a non-running project car at $5,500. What do you readers think? Is it worth taking a chance on this Thunderbird?