Lust after those 55-57's!! Several up in this neck of the woods,, including my pal's '57. Wish that I could find one in need of some love. Restored ones are way outta my budget.
If Ford had stayed with the original plan of basing the Thunderbirds on the family sedans of the same year, then maybe by 1963 they would look like this...
How did I miss this thread????? Especially created by "The Boss"! Jeez, the 1st car that I remember getting into as a performance car was a 1955 T--Bird. My dad dated/married my stepmother who came with a cool set of houses in Hollywood Hills over looking the SFV and a Raven Black 55 w/a 292 198HP Ford-o-matic which has a extremely low 1st gear and a very cool lift off hard top. Mind you this was about 1967 and I was about 3 and change. Well we drove this car to all of the drive-in restaurants because my pops did not want 3 kids terrorizing a walk in . It was always "Daddy, can we drive with the top off?" He obliged as he wanted to profile long before it was called that. That car was pretty damn special. I remember it going to Gil/Al Ayala's on Olympic Bl. in East L.A. because someone tapped the right front fender and it warranted repair. At 4 yrs old I had no idea who Gil was, but I remember I was looking at a Bortzoil Thinner can at the shop and I asked him his name, he saw that I was fix aided on the thinner can so he replied that his name was "Leo The Lion". It wasn't till I was an adult that I found out that "Leo"was Gil Ayala and he also had owned a baby bird. His was totally customized! At 4 yrs old I claimed that car as mine, my stepmother laughed but said it was mine. I thought that it would be my 1st driver, not to be as I ended up with a contemporary vehicle that had minor curb appeal (at least to me ). My Mom went in for tests in 1985 and never returned home ever, she past away in 1994. That part sucked!!!!!!! but in 1985 @ about 21 yrs. of age I ended up as the owner of that very same 55, although I always kept up operational as long as I could remember, starting it, warming it up to keep fluids circulating and would do a short trip along Mulholland Dr. (Me in 1985 @ our house in Alhambra). She was the original owner, as a family we were CTCI members, I'd always go through the little bi-monthly mag that they sent out and would hunt down parts as necessary. It was a big deal then, a little easier now, but way more expensive..... I've owned this car for 30 yrs in my possession and it's just put away for now, It was "my personal cruise night car" @ the All American Burger in Westwood, and I've met many great people by making conversation in it. (This was 1989 with my Chopped 30 Closed Cab in South Pasadena, my cousin has the closed cab) In June of 1990, a childhood pal who lived on the same block as I visited me and attended my wedding to my San Gabriel High School sweetheart gal. Below is a picture that he took while in town with my 2nd 34 3W Coupe) in that same block-we still have the home 29 years after this pic, we bought it 1964. (I was digging the optional wheel covers and skirts) In 2002 I had the paint freshened up and put on totally polished 16" A.R.E. "Salt Flat Specials with the KO's on Gum Dipped Firestone bias plies that I actually bought through our local Firestone Store. Way B4 a Y-Block was considered "cool", I 'd talk to Doane and Fred which had nearly identical 55's both with Kidneys. I'd bend their ears and they'd shoot out the info, only wish that I'd taped all of the replies..... Drive a 55 Mainline,Fairlane or a 53-62 Vette lastly a 55-57 Chevrolet especially on Mulholland Dr.-Hwy. You'll see why that Bird is so small. Most people think that the T-Bird was a reply to the 53 Corvette intro, not really so, In the early 50's G.I. 's were returning from Europe with the appetite for "Sports Jobs" FoMoCo actually bought a Jag and did the long hood-short deck styling to do a design study(Fibre Glass Proto-Type) and with a V8 and a production all metal one piece body and a lightweight "Lift Off fiberglass top" as well as the optional stow away soft top with a swing bar. the roll up windows were made to appeal to more buyers than what the Corvette appealed to. The 55 was the only year with the crossed flags, Blame McNamarra and Crusoe for the "personal car" title as they weren't car guys. The were business men and the 55 sold more than 16,000 units during it's 1 yr. The Vette's intro yr. was 300. The businessmen killed the 2 seat sports car deal out of the box and each year placed a little more comfort into that platform as they had their stylists work on a unitized constructed 4 place "58-60 square bird" which when introduced out sold the 2 place car by 4 to 1. Yes, FoMoCo reaped the financial rewards and guys like Watson got a whole new Kustom Kanvas to work with. I'was photo posting illiterate back when this was posted, but figured it all out. "That's my story and I'm sticking to it".
A short video of a friend leaving after delivering some T-Bird parts to me. Sure beats my old Econoline as a shop truck!...
UOTE="1934coupe, post: 10434960, member: 29084"]Heard from a guy at Rhinebeck this month that the car was at the Charlotte GG as a street rod, anyone else know about it. Thanks, Pat[/QUOTE] It's been awhile have not heard a thing, still hopeful. Pat
I've had a 56 bird back in 58 or 59. I had a 55 vette & the LB pricks wouldn't leave me alone so I sold it & bought the 56 bird. They wouldn't even look my way while I had that. Then in 97 I bought a 57 & restored it and drove it on America Cruise to Lincoln & then back to pa. That was 2000 . While in Pa I saw that the street rod nationals were on so we drove to Louisville where I bought a 32 roadster so Peggy(wife) had to drive the bird back to Oregon . We went thru Branson & had two car cruise back .Lots of fun & a good trip. I had it painted 97 Lincoln Continental opalescent pearl, which the artist wife picked out & it was stunning. I bought the last set of Roadster wires before Boyd took them over. We drove that all over & had a blast doing it. I finally sold it last year. The interior was pretty different as it was two tone green. The car was loaded & even had the memory seat that worked as did the radio,ps,pw,at, after market ac & pb & 312 dress up kit. I think we put around 40,000 miles on it. Won some cash & trophies also.
I don't care if the Boss Man likes em or not - I like ours just fine. But I will say, when I bought it for my wife, before she saw it she said "Not one of those Suzanne Summers cars?". I said "Don't worry, it will be a Hot Rod, not a secretary car". She loves it now! And I'm not sure about all the complaints about being too big for one - I'm 6'1" 225 and have no trouble fitting and driving comfortably, once put in a reasonable sized steering wheel in place of the Bus one they came with
As the 12th one off the line in '55, this was one of the earliest Birds around. You'd have to really not like them to let one go for $800 today.
Friend of mine just bought this 57. 312 / auto. Has an Isky cam, headers and Cragar mags. Nice, clean rust-free Bird. Pretty cool.
Here's a photo of Knot Farrington's Chrysler powered Thunderbird today as it sits in a museum. After the write up on Karol Miller I went looking for a photo I took last year in his garage with he and I in front of his current 56 Victoria which is a tribute to his Bonneville Ford complete with SCTA timing tags on the dash, but I cant find it. We are in touch at least once a month and he is doing well currently living in Texas.
Bugger the skinny Halibrands.. go jellybean fronts, 15x 10's out back, fire red & and blown big block- like that old HOT ROD cover car! -All moot for this 6'2"er..
Here's ours. I bought it for the wife for our 10th anniversary 15 years ago. 312 manual 3 speed with od
Bookends. I had to have a match for my 1st Year bird, so I ended up with the 2k2. I seem to gravitate to the 55. I haven't really touched the 2k2 in a few years. Both cars need to come out again. There's a story further up the thread regarding the 55 & I.
Production numbers 1955 T bird 16,155 Corvette 700 1956 T bird 15,631 Corvette 3467 1957 T bird 21,380 Corvette 6339 no year of C1 corvette production beat that of the 57 Bird. From personal experence they will accept a 426 hemi but requires a oil filter relocation.
What happens when you stuff a massive, 427 SOHC Ford into the confines of a classic ’57 Ford Thunderbird? You get Bill Coon’s Plymouth, MI based ’57’Bird. Coon’s A/Modified Sports terror was many times class winner and a consistent threat in 60’s Street Eliminator racing.
Early last year I attended and shot the Copperstate 1000, a rally which crisscrosses through all of the exotic scenery and iconic locations that Arizona has to offer, 1000 miles in all. The rally participants assemble and leave from Tempe Diablo Stadium, the training field of the LA Angels in Phoenix. I noticed this car and thought, "Interesting homage to the Doane Spencer 'Bird!". Then I read the signage to learn that is indeed the same car. I just now verified that claim with the following piece from Hemmings. There are actually two, both legitimate...as near as I can decipher from reading the article, I think this one is actually the original one. I shot the cars leaving and then drove out in front of them to shoot them driving through the scenery, but I didn't catch the bird in flight. https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2013/...h-doane-spencer-thunderbirds-head-to-auction/
Pics of my 1960s road race inspired '55 T Bird (the "Battle Bird"). Powered by an IROC 305 Chevy V8 and a turbo 350 trans. A really fun machine.
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