Vintage Thunderbird Club International

Whoever bought the car had better have a title matching the serial number stamped on the frame. The bodies that came from Budd did not have serial numbers stamped on them. The data plates were added at the factory and the serial number on that plate should match the one on the frame. In that case I ...

The 1957 frame is definitely different than the 1955-56 frame. The main difference is that it is longer in the back to account for the extra length of the body of the 57 compared to the 1955-56. It would have to be shortened to work on one of the earlier cars.
Lew Bachman
1957 Colonial White

The 1956 speedometer that is referenced here is from the 1956 full-size Ford (Mainline, Customline, Fairlane). The 57 Thunderbird dash is basically a modified version of the 1956 full-size Ford. As for the accuracy of the of the speedometer, all of the mid-fifties Ford speedometers were over optimis...

The 1956 Ford passenger car speedometer does look the same as the one in the 57 Thunderbird except for one thing. It only registers up to 120 MPH, not the 140 MPH that the 57 T-Bird has.
Lew Bachman
1957 Colonial White

According to the owners handbook there is 3” of movement fore and aft for the steering wheel. If your legs are the issue you should pull the steering wheel closer to you. I have long legs and that is what I do when I drive my 57. If you do that and lower the seat all the way you should have enough s...

I am posting the following article I wrote for our local club newsletter: It is common knowledge that there were some trim deviations on T-Birds built after October 1, 1957 through the end of production on December 13, 1957. For reference see pages 230-231 of the Thunderbird Restorations Details and...

My car was built on June 26, 1957. I have a friend who sold his Azure Blue 1957. The data plate showed LL6XL. That breaks down as follows: LL - Azure Blue Color, both body and top 6 - Late production designation as a porthole top car(7 for a non-porthole top) XL - Two tone blue interior His car was ...

The data plate does give pertinent information regarding to top. On my 1957 the data plate shows EE meaning it is Colonial White with a Colonial White hardtop. On my first 1957 it showed a single E, meaning it was a soft top only car. It the car had both a hard and soft top the only way to tell woul...

Some of the best patch panels for early T-Birds were produced by Custom Autocrafters. The company was a father and son operation. When the son died the father chose to sell the jigs used to make the panels and close the business. The buyer was CASCO. I would think that CASCO has the same quality pan...

Just for the record, the 55-57 T-Birds did not have VIN tag or VIN number. The tag on the firewall is called either a data plate or patent plate, which has the car's serial number. That number is stamped on the frame in 3 places. VIN numbers were required by law starting in 1981. Lew Bachman 1957 Th...

A number of years ago at Hershey I saw a 56 that had a Colonial White body with a Fiesta Red top and red and white interior. If I remember correctly the other hardtop colors that would match the corresponding interior would be Raven Black, Thunderbird Green, and Buckskin Tan. Lew Bachman 1957 Coloni...

When I replaced my brake lines I unscrewed at least one of the body bolts (the more I think about it I probably removed two or three) and removed the shims between the frame and body. After that I was able to get the brake line over the axle. Just be sure to then put the shims back the way that you ...

For me personally, I have been a member of CTCI since 1995 and also a member of the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA). Based on my experience I would definitely recommend CTCI as the first port-of-call for the new early T-Bird owner. It is the oldest club (established 1962) and has many reso...

When you remove the rocker covers then run the engine at idle. You should see oil coming out the ends and oil on the valve train. If it all looks dry then you have got a problem. The Y-Block engines had an overhead oiling problem because of the ash content in the oils available in the 1950s and 1960...

I ran a 4160 on my car for many years with no problem. There should be no reason to fabricate a different connect throttle connecting rod to make it work. The bell crank bracket does not connect to the manifold as it does on my car. The primary throttle shaft assembly does not look like the original...