Vintage Thunderbird Club International

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...

The decal is placed on the lid of the air cleaner. It is supposed to face the batter side.
Picture attached of correct installation.
Lew Bachman
1957 Colonial White

There were two blue colors for 1957, originally Starmist Blue and then Azure Blue for cars produced after September 1957. I personally like the styling of the 1955 the best, but have a 1957 and am pleased that I got it. The 57 has a few advantages including extra air vents (the interior can get quit...

I got a chance to read the Popular Science article on Google Books. It was a good test. The car tested was a pre-production prototype that obviously was constructed by Ford Engineering and not on the assembly line. As such it has no direct relationship to the manufacture of P5FH100004. One point of ...

I do have a copy of the Automobile Quarterly from 1970 (thanks to EBay) along with other period magazines such as the Sports Illustrated article, Mechanix Illustrated from January 1955, and Motor Life from January 1955. My purpose in writing my article is to collect information and take a fresh look...

Thanks for the information. I have written an article attempting to trace what happened to the first 5 T-Birds that came off the assembly line. I have taken information and pictures from articles, both written at the time or later to speculate on their disposition. I have come to at least one conclu...

ICON 1956,
I am curious about the article in Popular Science. Is the article an actual road test of the car or more of a description of the car? I will explain why I am asking after your response.
Thanks,
Lew Bachman
1957 Colonial White

I believe that the following people owned 1956 T-Birds:
Walt Disney
Humphrey Bogart
Walter Pidgeon
Frank Sinatra
Bing Crosby
Naomi Judd

IMHO, who owned the car before you makes little difference in its value now.
Lew Bachman
1957 Colonial White

The one thing it has going for it is being a California car it probably does not have the rust that your typical east coast car does. The top is not a problem since some of the 57’s came with the non porthole hardtop. I agree that this car is a $30K to $40K proposition. Also would be nice if there w...

I am no expert on the wire wheels but I have seen any number of early T-Birds with the wire wheels and fender skirts. Hopefully someone with more experience can give a more definitive answer.
1957 Colonial White

The change to the skirts for 57 is not visible when they are installed. They fit exactly the same as the earlier skirts. The difference is that the 57 skirts have longer locking levers and these levers are modified to give the wider tires the clearance they require. The lip of the skirt is also modi...

The 57 Fender skirts were changed to allow for the difference in tire width between the 6.70x15 and the 7.50x14 tires standard on the 1957 Thunderbird. The 57 style skirts will work perfectly well on the 55-56 T-Bird.
Lew Bachman
1957 Colonial White

I just read Gil 's entry on this question and he seems to indicate this Phillips head variation is for the 1955 models. Of course, I guess in 1957 they could have switched on the assembly line if the flat top screws weren't available for some reason. As long as yours work okay I wouldn't worry about...

My car was scheduled for production on June 26,1957. I do not believe it is an early or late car difference. The flat-topped screw seems to fit the purpose better than a smaller diameter, rounded Phillips head screw. As for why your car would have that, lots of things have happened to these cars ove...