Arrival

Body & Paint

Finish

Compared to the 21st century, vehicular choice was severely limited during the early ’50s. There were sedans, coupes, station wagons, convertibles and even weird things like “sedan deliveries” back then, but essentially a Ford was a Ford and a Chevrolet was a Chevrolet — sedan, coupe, station wagon, convertible and sedan delivery were all straightforward variations on a common design. The domestic manufacturers didn’t make compacts or subcompacts, SUVs were unheard of, and they didn’t make sports cars until Chevrolet introduced the Corvette in 1953. And they didn’t make a “personal luxury car” until Ford introduced the 1955 Thunderbird.

If Chevrolet hadn’t introduced the 1953 Corvette it’s likely that Ford never would have felt compelled to develop the Thunderbird in response. But though the T-Bird was a response to it, Ford’s two-seater was a distinctly different machine from GM’s plastic-bodied sports car.

The 1957 Thunderbird was significantly restyled with a more chiseled body, a larger front bumper around a larger front grille, a redesigned trunk lid and more pronounced, sharper-edged tail fins. The new trunk lid allowed the spare tire to move back inside, but aftermarket firms still sold Continental Kits to those T-Bird owners who liked the appearance of the external spare. Inside, the instrument panel from the standard ’56 Ford was transplanted into the Thunderbird with an engine-turned-insert adding distinction.

Read more about Thunderbirds at: http://www.edmunds.com/ford/thunderbird/history.html