The late Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys created the mystique of sunny Southern California in his brilliant music and even gave the Ford Thunderbird tons of free advertising. In the group’s 1964 hit, “Fun, Fun, Fun”, the upbeat song follows the adventures of a high-spirited girl who borrows her dad’s T-Bird to presumable go to the library, but actually drives to a hamburger stand – radio blasting – to hang out and have fun with her friends. The song’s chorus predicts the young lady’s upcoming punishment (“And she’ll have fun, fun, fun ’till her daddy takes the T-Bird away.”) Here’s a highly-original, beautiful 1957 Thunderbird that the seller says “has been lovingly cared for by two Southern California owners since purchase new in Beverly Hills, California in November of 1957 and has only been driven 71k pampered miles.” The seller continues by saying 99% of its life was spent in either Palm Desert, Ca. for the winters or Pasadena, Ca. for the summers, and that it was always kept in an air conditioned and secure garage. Wow, what a looker for a Baby Bird lover like me.

Having a long career in commercial art and advertising, I obsess about colors at times, especially car paint colors and their creative, descriptive names. For 1957, the final year of the two-seater Thunderbird, the color palette increased to 15 color options and the gorgeous Starmist Blue was one of the new colors offered that year. I’ll need to call out the seller because the car is being described as “original” and an “unrestored original,” but then the seller shares that the T-Bird was given “a high quality (very expensive) full body-off code correct stunning Starmist Blue paint job in 2009.” So, maybe “highly original” is more accurate a description. The photos tell the story, however, as the paint and exterior look great, panels are straight, there’s no rust or body damage in sight, and all of the chrome, trim, glass, and lenses look top notch. The ‘Bird also comes with two tops: the white porthole-windowed removable fiberglass top seen in the photos (along with a hardtop rolling stand) and a dark blue convertible top which isn’t photographed. I also love the period-correct new whitewall tires and those beautiful “Turbine” wheel covers that were also new for ’57.

The T-Birds interior looks great as well with a smart-looking black and white color scheme that looks well preserved. The seller lists a few features including a Ford-O-Matic 3-Speed automatic transmission, positive action wipers (working), and power steering. There’s also an aftermarket AC unit under the dash that I assume works. And speaking of the dash, the black padded dash looks to be in terrific shape as well as the redesigned-for-1957 instrument panel.

The standard engine for the ’57 Thunderbird was a 292 Y-Block V-8, but this one left the factory with the optional 312-cubic-inch V8 that generated 245 horsepower when new. It has the engine dress up kit (a $25 option), the engine bay looks clean, and the seller claims the 312 has only been driven 71,000 pampered miles. This beautiful blue ‘Bird is currently nesting in Bothell, Washington and is for sale here on craigslist for $37,750. A big thank you to Curvette for spotting this ‘Bird and sending it our way. I’m being Captain Obvious here, but being a two-owner, pampered California ’57 T-Bird in this kind of highly-original condition should help in the selling of this 50s icon. I really envy the next owner.