Car of the Week: 1957 Ford Thunderbird

[dodgechargerfan]

Ken Schermitzler had been a “Square ’Bird” guy for a long time. But he always wanted to be a “Baby ’Bird” guy.

The Green Bay, Wis., resident bought his first Thunderbird — a 1959 convertible — back in 1964 when he was barely old enough to drive. He loved the car and went on to buy another one years later, but he always had a special affinity for the early two-seat cars from 1955 to ’57.

“I had a ’59 for about 30 years, and I always wanted to get a two-seater,” he laughs. “I was 16 when I bought that ’59 convertible, and I got it for 300 bucks. That was in 1964… It belonged to an old lady and she had it sitting in her front yard under a tree, all full of leaves. I was always looking for one because my dad had one. She wanted to get rid of it and she said, ‘For 300 bucks, you can have it!’ All it needed was a new top. The top was ripped in the back and all the leaves were going in it.

Read more.

 

[68R/T]

Whether you like them or not, this was a very informative article.

 

[restoman]

I like those 'Birds. All that came after were just plain butt-ugly, but the first go-round was a hit, style-wise.

 

[TheIronSausage]

The first three years were very pretty, no question.. despite the length of the car, nobody above 6' can actually be comfortable in them, though.. cramped as shit in those cabins. My favorite T-bird has to be a black '64 convertible. The least fussy of the 64-66 years, and possibly one of the only convertibles made that looks better with the top up or down than its hardtop counterpart.

 

[69.5CUDA]

as pretyty as the first birds were...i have a soft spot for the 58/59 just for the quirk in them..and i LOVE the ass on em..tho i do wish ford would have use something more from the rest of the 58 line on the nose

the 64-66 were just so..plain and the 58/9 looked just as good with the top up or down too..course ford nailed that with ALL the retracta-top cars except the ones where they over stretched the ass

1 thing i will ALWAYS love about any year bird is that top of the dash to top of the rear deck console, they always had something cool and funky about em...i think 1 year had this floating wing type arm rest

 

[Dr.Jass]

The first T-bird that I found attractive was the '83. The last was the '86.

 

[restoman]

I found this one to be the most attractive...

 

[Dr.Jass]

I prefer the earlier model even more in NASCAR guise.

 

[restoman]

They're nice enough, but the 7 car was the rare, limited edition Underbird.
As much as I liked the 28 car, it was the much more common Thunderbird. The 9 car... who cares?

 

[71ChargerRT]

It's scary how many cars we have in common Doc, reaaaaaally scary. :shifty:

 

[Dr.Jass]

They're nice enough, but the 7 car was the rare, limited edition Underbird.
As much as I liked the 28 car, it was the much more common Thunderbird. The 9 car... who cares?

I don't care about any of 'em other than aesthetics; the history and numbers are meaningless. The T-bird got ugly in '87, and downright hideous in '89. Beyond that, I don't believe the words exist to describe its escalating level of repugnance.

 

[restoman]

Party Pooper... ;(

 

[Stretch]

I like the caved in right rear quarter on the feature car. I also like the repetitiveness of the article.

I never really liked the two seat birds although I like the engine turned dash in the '57s.