Projects new project car. 57 Babybird

It followed me home; can I keep it? I recently aquired a 1957 T-Bird. Body's rough, chassis's real good. No running gear. I have a nice 302 with a 3 speed Maverick trans. A temporary rearend from a 54 Ford.. Hoping to find a good 9 " like the one it had. Not going to cut anything but make a good "Driver" out of it. Resto-rod I guess. Doing the sheet metal work now. Have always liked these cars since they were new. Never thought I could afford one but this one was in reach price wise and with already having my running gear, why not! Originally from Conn, was driven until 1969 and hasn't been since. Have all the paper work for it. Still has the 1969 license plate on it. Some interesting grease stickers on the door jamb. Has manual steering and windows. I like that. It's been stored behind a garage, covered and on a car trailer for last 20 years and only a half mile from my place. Think I've been 'nagotiating' for it maybe 4 years. Will update later.

 

A little Polish & it will Look like Brand New.!
why Not put a 460/C6 trans. in it
Back in the Day I put a 427 Ford engine /4 speed in a 55 T-Bird
for a Customer.

Just my 3.5 cents

Live Learn & Die a Fool

 

Make good mild Customs

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That's a lot of rust, at least the patch panels are available. I'm with you always liked the 55 - 57 T-Birds but not the prices.

 

Looks like a good start, but that lower rust...

 

Yes Sir you have a lot of rust repair to keep you busy but you already have the drivetrain so cost will be a lot of time. Good luck and please post updates.

 

Might want to price out all of the replacement parts before diggin in.

Could get expensive.

Oldmics

 

It certainly deserves to be saved.

 

Always wanted one too! Id be curious to see if you get anything back after taking it to get bead blasted though

 

if he's been negotiating it for four years, he's had plenty of time to research the cost of replacement panels, eh?

Congrats, it's neat to finally get something you've wanted for a long time.

They're fun cars

 

Thanks for the replys guys. I have checked replacement sheet metal prices before I got it. It's very do-able and I really like to bring them back to life ! Hey ! It's a Bird ! The guy I bought it from has a 56 and a 57.The 56 was far worse than this one. The 57 is a Cal car. His 56 is awaiting paint. A 460 would be very cool but I already have this mild built 302 and the trans. And a 351w. Rust is what we deal with around unless you have the BIG bucks.Will update.

 

Lucky to find it!Will you paint it white again?

 

Love it! I been lusting after them myself for a while now! I'll have to love vicariously through you. Best of luck!

 

Nice ! I see these from time to time and go back to the ad again and again. I have a friend who got one that was pretty beat up- now it's got a hot Y block with dual quads and a four speed. Good luck with it.


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Can't blame you on the fact that it is the 'Bird as a reason unto itself. See profile of credentials on agreeing with you

 

I had a 57 Bird in similar shape eons ago. The rust was so bad that I ended up just giving up and selling it at a loss. I hope you have more rust experience under your belt than I did back then because these are one of the best looking cars ever made, just too expensive to buy parts for.

 

What rust?

 

Funny photoshop!

 

I'm just saying that since it is not original and you have to do a bunch of surgery on it why not have some fun afterwards

 

white would be nice...

 

Black isn't bad either, baby bird's are a lot of fun. Stay on it.

 

Wow. That took me back to 1982, when I found a forlorn ‘56 resting beneath a locust tree next to, not in, a barn. I was 26 and willing to undertake a huge project. There was a man named Warren Lang who set up as a vendor at Carlisle, selling replacement floor panels he fabricated back home in upstate NY. He told me I was the first person who bought a full set! We kept the transmission tunnel and changed out everything from rocker to rocker. Add in the section of the quarter panel over the rear wheel wells and I had a “new” T-bird body.
The good thing about these cars is that every part is available, the bad thing is that none of them are cheap. Good luck!

 

Congratulations on finally scoring her. She'll keep you busy. Don't have to worry about air con there should be plenty of air circulating from the existing entries around the bottom sills etc.

 

Congrats! Hey, sometimes you gotta buy em rough to stay within your price range - no problem with that.

 

I think the 55-57 Bird was one of the best styled cars ever.. They look so cool hot rodded..

My first dream car came in the AMT version..

 

Great car, well worth the work. I used to work at a Thunderbird-only body shop and we welded quite a few of them together that looked like that one or worse. It's all fixable.

However, I was under the impression that all of the little 'birds had a Dana 44 style rearend. I could be wrong about that, but that is what I remember.

 

The Birds the Word....pa pa pa mow mow..pa pa mow