Have you ever wanted to own a genuine piece of automotive history? This amazing 1957 Ford sedan was purchased new by John North and immediately sent to a shop for customizing. Found here on eBay with a current bid over $15,000, the car is currently located somewhere in the midwest. It features a ton of custom work and still looks great! I’d love to own a piece of history like this car, how about you?
This car features almost every custom option that was popular in the 50’s including seven coats of paint and gold leaf scalloping with tuck and roll interior. The body has been nosed, decked and raked with dummy spotlights, Lakers, and wonderful sounding glass pack mufflers installed. Amazing pin striping and lettering accentuate the lines of the car and bring an elegance to it.
The car was featured in numerous publications from the 1950’s through 2006. You can see photos of John and his family with all the trophies they amassed over the years. This car has very classic styling and was clearly a hit as soon as it made its debut.
It’s pretty obvious the name “The White Pearl” probably comes from the primary paint color. The lettering and graphics are amazing and show the level of detail that went into this car. It’s no wonder the car won dozens of trophies. There is also the name “Moose” on the firewall. I don’t know if “Moose” was the customizer, engine builder or the nickname of Mr. North? I’m sure some further research would reveal their identity.
This is your chance to own a really cool piece of automotive history. A car like this can be replicated, but to own a documented original custom like this is rare. It will probably end up in a big collection or in a museum. I hope the new owner has as much fun with the car as Mr. North and the other owners appear to have had.
Nice!! I know youngun’s will vomit all over their iphones, but this was as cool as it got, the customized ’57 Ford. I built models of this very type of car. Remember, build it one of 3 ways.
https://www.saintstevensthingery.com/mybackpages/?p=53561
For an old fart, this the nicest car to come through here. And just think, for the same money, you could also have a basic Rambler owned by some politician ( sorry, that still grrinds my gears) What a find!!!
That link sent me down a rabbit hole Howard and I’m a bit peeved! I was building model cars 20 after that one and we didn’t get steerable wheels and opening doors! I almost want to buy an old kit now but it’d be a crime to build it.
That kit has been reissued many times since 1962. If you want to build one, go down to Hobby Lobby and you will probably find the latest issue.
But not with steerable wheels and opening doors!so envious.
A M t 3 way models. Many creative hours customizing even their kits.
Buy a junker, use like factory mock up for your ideas.
Worth every penny + a bunch more, IMO.
If you cruised or shown this auto it would draw attention, especially for those of my age who tried like heck to build better than stock that realy rocked.
Todays egg crate plastic with bling youths may not, or cannot , begin to appreciate, but who gives a Fly’n pig if they don’t.
Great period representative of outside the norm mindset of that era.
I can see possible 25 K to right person.
AMT 3 in 1 kits were great. I was always partial to the flames and eyes (Moon Equipped) decals. I would trick out my models with every custom detail that came with the kit. (Skirts, continental tires, little phones and record players, etc) The cars always ending up looking like this Ford, and I thought they looked cool.
The Rambler wasn’t just owned by anyone. It owned and kept by the former President of American Motors. His personal car. A car he helped design. He was also the Gov of the great state of Michigan. The car being important also spent time at the Chrysler Museum before it was closed by Fiat. Was on stage with and part of his sons Presidential campaign. Not some Rambler.
Still too early to tell. This great custom Ford will realize high numbers with the condition and history. Great find…..
I think there is an oil additive to help with those gears Howard!
The buy in seem very reasonable for such a car. These were beautiful cars in their stock form, but this car is exceptional. And to last for 61 years speaks volumes to the build quality and care that it received. As Howard said so eloquently I don’t know how well the younger crowd would receive it today. The car is a work of art and belongs in a museum for all to see I sure hope it gets there. Outstanding car.
Come on guys….barn find ?😎
Ken,,,really, don’t get so hung up on the name. We’ve simply run out of barns.
Barn is now more of a euphemism for Internet….the virtual Barn now brings us these treasures, rather than Grandpa’s dilapidated shed.
Thank you! You know, I guess the only thing that bothers me ( oh, here it comes) about the term “Barn Finds”, is it used to be synonymous with stumbling upon a forgotten relic through word of mouth, and getting a good deal out of the old barn,( “you really want that old hulk”, they’d say) a place where few had access to, until Mr. Internet came along. I can understand Ken’s frustration, one never found customized ’57 Ford’s in old man Smitty’s cow crap barn, but I think the days of finding anything in barns, is pretty much past. Don’t get me wrong, I love Mr. Internet, but it sure blew the old car hobby out of the water.
Uh oh. Blue dot tail lights. Yore gonna’ git bus’sed. Major no-no.
Could somebody older than me shed some light just as to why they were illegal?
When I bought the R-RT basket two decades ago, it had a blue dot lens. Still does.
I can’t remember where I saw this car as a kid. KC, Joplin, Chiago car shows? Glad she still exists.
When they light up they look purple.
I don’t think you will get stopped most places unless you are in California where even breathing is illegal.
Yup. But they were a just a dot. Lottsa’ 50’s Mercs had them in our little part of the world. Granted, their lights, like the R-80, were quite small so a purple dot could confuse the ‘blue hairs’ who were still driving at night.
So today there are bikes and trucks here with pulsating brake lights which could, at 7 cycles per second, trigger a seizure in some drivers. Turns signal colors (amber) even more problematic. Legal though.
Blue is an “official” color, and is not allowed on private vehicles, it’s the law, at least in Wisconsin.( a friend had blue lights on his truck sleeper, and got busted, had to remove them)
Thanks, H. There’s a tribe down here that puts ‘blue’ halogen and LED litez on the front. And the light bars on pickups. Better for poaching I guess.
Dick Johnson, I’ve been running blue dots in my ’23 T-Bucket for 17 years here in Wisconsin and have NEVER been pulled over for running them.
If y’all look closely, the car has an Illinois plate on the front.
Front?? I thought this was the back of the car. Forgive me, please!!!
We’re lucky that this was so well maintained, it’s older than me, and looks better!
Idk, even growing up during this era these type’s of customization just never did it for me. A little custom work is one thing but when it’s taken to this extreme it just looses me. Trust me, I understand all the work that went into it and talent, but it’s just not my cup of tea.
I smell a scam. The car is in “Midwest USA”? Where exactly IS that anyways? Makes it sort of hard to show up with a trailer and cash, don’t you think? Oh wait. Not to worry, send 10% by WIRE no less. I was born at night but it wasn’t LAST night. Another Nigerian prince no doubt. There is no car, just a scam.
Live in a house with only one corner do we? Paranoia overwhelms. Not everything is a scam but paranoids seem to abound. And you ripped off the name of a great man.
….said the accomplice…..
If they tell you where it is it makes it easy to show up with no cash and a trailer.
So you see nothing wrong with buying a car from an undisclosed location that may or may not be somewhere within an area comprising the entire middle section of the continent, not knowing where you are going to have to travel to in order to claim the prize that you just WIRED 10% of the purchase price to (despite the eBay warning to NEVER do that) ? WOW. PT Barnum was right. Happy bidding. Enjoy the scavenger hunt.
Carl, I would think the seller will tell the buyer where it is but doesn’t feel the need to tell anybody else.
Get your nose checked. I have seen the car personally, I know the owners and it is located in the suburban Chicago area. A little keyboard work on Google and you would have found the answer. But, it’s more fun to accuse people of fraud than it is to actually find the truth, isn’t it “Carl Sagan?”
take your car to auction.com
This car should be in the Smithsonian. A second day restoration on a really nice car. Call the Henry Ford museum I bet they want this car.
Amazing car!
It would be interesting to call the number and see what the person answering has to say, just to confirm Carl’s suspicions or otherwise.
I know from experience that a lot of ‘valuable’ cars’ locations are often not specific, due to perceived theft threats.
Like Howard A, I’m old enough to have built AMT/SMP 3-in-1 kits, and I’m sure that there was a ’57 Ford that replicated some of the features shown on the one above, e.g. the taillights.
Good looker. But remember they built more ’57 Fords then they did ’57 Chevys. Where are the rest of them?
doug, rusted away many years ago.
@Beatnik Bedouin, at the link to the AMT/SMP kit you’ll see that the decal set includes replicas of the gold paint accents on this car.
A lot of AMT/SMP 3-in-1 kits were inspired by popular contemporary race cars and customs. Peter on, Bud ‘The Cat’ Anderson was brought in as an adviser to AMT. He used to write a lot of articles in ‘Model Car Science’ and other magazines.
Them was the daze… :-D
Beautiful representation of a special time. Thanks for the memories!
Kid’s holding a Gullwing model.
The car is owned by Joe Bortz of the Bortz Auto Collection. It is in a suburb North of Chicago.
There is a half page ad for the car in Hemmings Motor News this month.
“Mr. Sagan, is it hard to walk with both
feet in your mouth???
It is not a scam, the car is located in Chicago, the seller has sold many, many, collectible vehicles on eBay!
Didn’t anyone notice the Illinois License Plate WHT PRL?
Why is such a great car parked on such a ratty street? I hope it at least was street cleaned…
the car is legit. the seller is just a broker who sells other peoples car. he doesnt want you to deal direct ,thats why its a secret where its located. personally, i wiant to know what town a car is in before i buy it as per the transportation costs. anyway., i think you can get a freight quote thru ebay and that tells. you. or get your cop buddy to run the vin or the license plates .you wont be stealing the car from this seller.
I just read the ad-since it was owned formerly by Gene Pitney, we know now where the car is located- Only 24 Hours From Tulsa!
hatofpork,I saw this car in Worcester Ma. at a car show there a few years back and it was owned by Gene Pitney. Some time later it was stuffed in the rear and didn’t look so good but its been fixed and looks like a good job from here…
This car is an icon. Should be captured and preserved as such. Any one got Lenos contact info?
Getting a little personal here fellas.
Read the rules.
“No profanity, politics, or personal attacks.”
Agree!
Yes quit the obcenities and catfights.
Acting like bubblegum Jr hi twits, oops me sexist bad, gotta be politicly correcct.
The best way to know if the seller is legit is to check their feedback profile. The seller has a 100-percent positive feedback rating, and has sold dozens of vehicles over the last several years.
If only I was as enlightened as you…
Agreed.
At least I don’t hide behind my keyboard and use someone else’s name but I bet you’ve heard that “billions and billions” of times before.
The split front bumper is not horizontal. The original gold paint on the door jams, firewall and inner fenders, and probably the trunk, should have been painted pearl white like the rest of the sheet metal. And a T.V. with a wood surround mounted in the dash? Too many distractions for me, just sayin’
The split front bumper is not horizontal. The original gold paint on the door jams, firewall and inner fenders, and probably the trunk, should have been painted pearl white like the rest of the sheet metal. And a T.V. with a wood surround mounted in the dash? Too many distractions for me, just sayin’
Neat piece! Looks like a Larry Watson car but he was on the west coast making waves and had just graduated high school. opening his own custom shop in Downey and making a blue fortune doing this type of work. His work was seen in the ‘little pages’ custom books and readers all over the world took note.
Greg is right about the jambs and under[anels but it was easier to mask out the scallops in a tasty stock color, paint the custom color in total and pull the tape in time for the pinstriper to arrive!
Curious… with this listing and numerous others getting it wrong, I have to ask… is there some official ban on using the word HARDTOP in the automotive media today?
I agree. This is not a sedan. It is, in fact, a hardtop. Not such a widely known fact, these days. Everybody seems to like “coupe.” A coupe used to be a car with a smaller back seat area. Many did not have a rear seat. They were know as “business coupes.”
Anyone know what those offset chrome nipples are for on the top of the front seat backs?
Chrome nipples??….ahhh… attaches the tonneau cover.. description mentions it..
Thanks skibum2, I missed it, take care, Mike.
OK, nice car…but please say it was freshened up for the sale.. everyone who was there in that time knows that this car is just too pretty for its age.. and it is very nice…I did notice that in one of the older pictures of the show car it looks like it might have had a louvered hood.. or is it just my age showing thru.. and also the lake pipes.. little things that grab your attention..They did an interesting detailing on the “hardtop”…I do remember riding home from the dealer in one also…Hahahaha.. was told to sit there and do not touch ANYTHING… ahhh, thanks Dad…
Ended: Aug 31, 2018 , 9:00PM
Current bid:US $30,100.00
Reserve not met
[ 38 bids ]
doug. I am 71 yrs now and saw and owned 57 Fords. I’m a Ford man at heart but they had a terrible rust problem. Especially here in Canada. The ones that survived in the dry States probably had to share their lot with all the 57’s in the rusty States and Canada so not many would be salvageable enough to spend good money on. That is my theory anyway and this would be the same for many other models.