56 Hard Top

[Rich's 56]

Good Morning! I have been looking to see of my 56 has the correct top, I see some have the porthole and others do not.. was this an option at the time. mine has a badge non porthole? Thanks

[Joe Johnston]

56 & 57's could be ordered with or without. Ray Miller's book Thunderbird! has good descriptions and pictures of all the small differences in the tops over the 3 models (should be still available on ePay or through our Thunderbird vendors). Without any further investigation I would guess you have a 55 top with the badge, 56's were plain, 57's had a round emblem. Post several picture of the side, latches, trim, number of seams in the headliner and I'm sure someone here will tell what you have. All of these items can be changed from one shell to another as well as the vehicle's latching hardware and made correct for the car.

Picture posting info is in the "How To" section at the bottom of the page.

[Rich's 56]

Thanks for the quick reply. I suspected it was from a 55.. I found a fella with a 56 porthole who is looking for a 55(mine) and will look into a trade. Thanks again.

[55Greg&Amy]

Here is my knowledge of the hardtops:
1955 no port holes and a small ford crest emblem on each side. Many returned to the dealer in 56 to have port holes installed.
1956 port hole top standard with a no port hole top as a no charge option. No emblems
1957 port hole top standard with a no port hole top as a no charge option. Large bird emblem on each side.

[Joe Johnston]

Thanks for the quick reply. I suspected it was from a 55.. I found a fella with a 56 porthole who is looking for a 55(mine) and will look into a trade. Thanks again.

If you trade, be sure to make the latching hardware correct for both cars if possible. Several hardware changes were made and the "correct" hardware is based upon the car's build date within the model years. I am not that familiar anymore with all the changes, so if this is important to either of you, the info is in Miller's book.

[Rich's 56]

Just checked @ Larry's T-Bird web site the latching hardware looks 99.9% identical. unfortunately his needs paint and a head liner.. It does have the latching hardware

[Foxfire]

I bought my 1957 in October of 1964. It had a non porthole top. I did a lot of research which was difficult with no internet availability. This is what I found.

1. 1955 had no porthole available
2. 1956 had no porthole available until mid 56. At that time it became an available option. It was so popular most 56's after mid year were delivered with t he porthole top.
3. Because of it's popularity in 1956 it now became the standard top and the non porthole became optional.

I don't recall which book I found this in. I use to carry it with me and when ever I got challenged by someone telling me I didn't have the correct top I whipped out the book and proved them wrong. My top has the round emblem with the T-Bird. At 73 my memory could be better but I'm thinking the 55 tops did not have an emblem. The early 56 non porthole had a round emblem with the Ford Crest. So recapping the sequence:

1955 no porthole no emblem
1956 Non porthole had emblem with Ford Crest. Porthole option became available mid year.
1957 Porthole was standard and non porthole was option. Non porthole had T-Bird emblem

Based on my research at the time this is what I've considered is the story of the tops. If my research is incorrect I would like to know what others have found.

Barbara Jo Birt

[Foxfire]

Whenever I mention to people I have a 57 Bird the first comment is usually "OH, they have the porthole." In reality, of the 3 years they were produced about half did not have the porthole and half did, yet that's the thing that stands out to the general public. With the reproduction of the porthole kits those percentages have changed dramatically but I'm still keeping mine as the original 1957 optional non porthole.

[ward 57]

I know this is from and old post but I think ALL '57s came with the porthole. I'm sure I could do more research but why I'm wondering, is the shop I use is selling 2 '55 birds. I want to give them as much information as I can to pass on to the new owners.
At the time of ordering, was one or the other tops standard? I know you could order one or the other or even both. But were either standard equipment when it was not specified in the order?

[ICON 1956]

According to the 57 sales brochure the "Port"window is the standard window for all 57 Thunderbirds. Or for those who prefer
the hard top is available without "port" windows. This is taken from the original 1957 Thunderbird brochure.

[ward 57]

My question was, was a top standard? If so, was the hard top standard issue and the soft top optional in place of or in addition?

[ICON 1956]

Ward , I looked at my invoice, The invoice read in lieu of the hard top, The soft top was a extra add on for $58.50.

[Alan H. Tast]

While not addressing the question of which top was 'standard' for each year, it's generally understood that the least-expensive top was the 'standard' top for each model year, in this case the non-porthole tops for '55, '56 and '57. I need to dig into pricing information I have in my research files as to whether the porthole top was an added-cost option at the beginning of its availability in 1956, but IIRC by 1957 it was eventually made a no-cost change to switch between either the porthole or non-porthole top; the convertible top was always an added-cost option.

I need to compile a list of options and pricing to confirm which hardtop was standard for '56 and when the porthole top was added as either an option or in lieu of the non-porthole version, along with adding such a list to VTCI's 1955-1957 Original Factory Specifications (OFS) manual. For now, though, as an isolated example, here's a listing of what suggested retail pricing was for Omaha-area dealers in mid-April 1957:

T-bird Option Pricing for Omaha Sales District Apr 12 1957 (from booklet 'Ford Passenger Cars Cash Delivered Prices, Dealers' Aids Company, Kansas City, Missouri, 4-12-57)

Note that the convertible top pricing was "in lieu of" or "in addition to" the Hardtop. No distinction was made as to whether the porthole top was standard or optional in this list, giving credence that if a buyer had a preference for a non-porthole top that they could ask for one at, theoretically, no additional charge (this was, after all, in the days before 'window stickers' were made mandatory).

To add to the discussion, and for help in identifying which top/variation was used and when, see excerpts below from VTCI's 1955-1957 Original Factory Specifications (OFS) manual for hardtops/emblems.

Hardtops and Soft Tops - Factory- and Dealer-Availability

Hard/Soft Tops - Factory vs Dealer Availability (from VTCI's 1955-1957 OFS, p F6-2)

Hardtops and emblems:

Hardtop & emblem usage (from VTCI's 1955-57 OFS p F2-4)

Hardtop interior specifications (from VTCI's 1955-1957 OFS, p F1-5)

Hardtop emblem usage (from VTCI's 1955-57 OFS p F2-8)

Hardtop emblem usage (from VTCI's 1955-57 OFS p F2-8)

and, for good measure, Convertible tops:

Convertible top usage (from VTCI's 1955-57 OFS p F2-4)

Convertible top interior specifications (from VTCI's 1955-1957 OFS, p F1-4)

Top Latch basic information:

Top Latch specifications (from VTCI's 1955-1957 OFS, p F1-5)

More-detailed information is in the OFS in the Exterior section for factory-offered colors/combinations, weather-stripping and hardware. Admittedly, we need to take some time to update the 55-57 OFS with some better-quality photos than what I had to work with 20+ years ago. We are also actively seeking people to help review, research and update the OFS to fill in blanks we have- please contact me if interested in assisting.

[Rusty57]

Don't you hate it when someone jumps into a discussion with data!

Thank you Alan!

I was going to post a suggestion that the real answer would be in the pricing and ordering literature sent to the dealers.

[ward 57]

Well that pretty much sums it up. The hardtop was the default but the soft top was an option in different forms. I guess that's why there is no notation on the data plate other than if the hard top was ordered in a different color than the body.