Yes, this really was my grandparents' Thunderbird. They bought it in 59 and it was the last car they ever owned. My grandmother drove it up into the late 80s, when she herself was in her late 80s. After she passed, my dad kept it and had a lot of mechanical work done about 10-15 years ago. It runs and drives fine, but my dad passed last January and the car hasn't been driven since 2022. If all goes well today, the car is going on a transporter back to my home in TN.
It's been a California car its whole life. D-code 312 engine with the Ford-o-Matic. Body is incredibly solid and the patina is real. The car needs very little, but I figured people might like seeing it and what comes next.
She's a beaut, Clark!
Very nice. I love the '57 birds.
Don't let people talk you into swapping the carburetor. They work just fine.
Ford-o-matics are different. Put it in neutral to start.
The transmission will start out in 2nd gear. It will downshift to first if you push the accelerator to the floor. If you manually select first gear, it will start out in first.
If you look carefully, you'll notice that the trim vents on the fenders are different on each side. The "swoosh" on the trim is on the top on one side, bottom on the other.
Y-block engines are solid-lifter engines. You'll learn to hate doing valve adjustments. The manifolds are right where your hands will want to be.
One of us. My 55 is my absolutely favorite car I have ever owned sand my single longest relationship other then my wife at 14 years. They are not worth restoring though in most cases. Get them running and use them with patina and you will fall in love. They and do a proper restoration and you will be upside down and have a car you are not comfortable actually using.
Beautiful cars.
There is always something special about cars like this that stay in the family.
Very cool family hierloom!!
Looks like you'll have fun, fun, fun!
I do have some familiarity with them already...https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/reader-rides/9579/
That's an awesome car your grandparents had. What a cool piece of history.
I think the coolest vehicle my grandmother rode was the CTA #62 Archer bus to the Chicago loop to work at Burney Brothers Bakery.
"What comes next" makes me nervous. Please do not "restore" it. Get it running and stopping, then drive it just like that. Clean it, sure, but the wear and tear is baller.
That's such a beautiful car, and it wears its patina well. Enjoy it!
The transporter picked the car up last night, so at least that's going right. Honestly, I had my doubts.
No one needs to worry about me over-restoring this car. It's keeping the patina and it will very much be a driver. Just waiting until it arrives home before I post more pics and get into details.
They look fantastic! Enjoy the memories and history when you're behind the wheel!
That thing has the perfect look right down to the hubcaps.
I could have been perfectly happy if they stopped designing new car bodies somewhere around 57-65.
Today I Learned they did come with a bench seat.
In reply to AxeHealey :
Thanks. The hubcaps are 68 Mustang that my dad had for some reason. I also have a mint set of 57 Thunderbird wheel covers and a nice but not perfect set of 57 passenger car wheel covers. I may use one of those options, or none. Undecided on that part.
Passenger car:
Thunderbird:
The shipper said the car should arrive sometime between tonight and Wednesday. Tonight seems unlikely, but I'll post pics when it gets here.
That's awesome!
Such a cool story, and I'm glad it's staying in the family.
Will, I think you need to post a picture of that car next to another, normal sized vehicle of the same era.
People don't realise how small the original Thunderbird really was.
It's impressive what you've managed to cram into your own T-Bird.
ShawnG said:Will, I think you need to post a picture of that car next to another, normal sized vehicle of the same era.
People don't realise how small the original Thunderbird really was.
It's impressive what you've managed to cram into your own T-Bird.
A friend of mine used to have a 57 Ranch Wagon. I'll have to look to see if I have any pics of the car together.
Speaking of which, there have been plenty of "phantom" hot rods made by putting an early Corvette front end on a Nomad, but to my knowledge no one has ever done that with a T-Bird & Ranch Wagon. Certainly not the plan for this car, but I'd love to see someone else do it.
Your T-bird appears to be a detail job away from being a "perfect" survivor.
So awesome!
Family reunion time.
This is the first time the cars have been under the same roof since 2005. More pics and info to follow, but for now it's enough that the car is here safe.
Looking good!
You know I had to zoom in, on the hope that the plates were sequential.
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