Number of babybirds for sale

[seany-boy]

For a long time I have been surprised at the number of our models that are for sale on ebay at any time.
Currently about 30 1955 plus 18 1956 and 40 1957 and the numbers seem to always be pretty high. It is interesting when compared to mustangs for instance with the very popular 1969 model having about 70 for sale at the moment , 1970 about 60.

Where I find it amazing is that we only had circa 55,000 cars produced 55-57 peaking at ~21,000 in 1957.
Compare that to approx 300,000 69 Mustangs!

Leads me to think that people recognised very early the babybird was a collector item.They did not crash very many so a lot survived. But why are so many always for sale, is it due to the average age of owners compared to Mustangs owners?

Just a thing which has interested me for a while!

[paul2748]

I think you are correct in your assumption. But I find lots of interest in 55-57's on the early bird Face Book pages.

Leads me to think that people recognised very early the babybird was a collector item.They did not crash very many so a lot survived. But why are so many always for sale, is it due to the average age of owners compared to Mustangs owners?

Just a thing which has interested me for a while!

[Florida_Phil]

Early Thunderbirds were always expensive cars coveted by their owners. Back in the day, it was rare to see a young person own one as they cost too much. Most of the people who owned these cars early on are gone now. I have owned dozens of classic Fords in my life. Most were hot rods. I never found a 55-57 TBird sitting outside behind a barn like a 55 sedan.

Today's younger people don't have the same attraction. That said, whenever and where ever I drive my 55 TBird I get a lot of interest from young and old alike. Everyone loves little TBirds. Unfortunately, they don't want to work on them like I do. If you own a 60+ year old car, this comes with the territory.

I never considered an early Thunderbird because I couldn't fit in the car. I was 6 foot tall most of my life. At 72, I'm about 5' 10" now. I drive my Tbird, but it's not all that comfortable. This car does everything my other Fords did and more. It's a 50s hot rod with a manual transmission and a hot rod YBlock. It's a classic. It a convertible. It's not a Mustang. It has an antique engine that few know how or want to work on.

I think early Tbirds are great cars. I love mine. Today's owners don't want to work on their cars, They want a car that looks like a classic and drives like a new Challenger. That is the reality. It's the old supply and demand thing.

[PaulUK1955]

Might be of interest that Here in the UK they are very rare. We have a government website which lists the cars "on the road" that is the cars taxed and so presumably being driven. Our road tax is free for these cars (any car older than pre 1974 is free)

So here are the numbers on the UK roads (so thats England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland.)

1955 Tbird - 23
1956 Tbird 19
1957 Tbirb 22.

So you have more for sale than we have in existence here. Very few for sale, and even fewer perfect ones.

I agree with the thought that its a certain era of person who would buy one. For me and my (38 year old ) son we wanted some Americana, but things like the big caddys are just too big for the UK roads, the Baby Birds are just right. Very cool cars.

[ICON 1956]

Wow! very low numbers indeed. So If you were to sale, would you get a pretty pound for the car?

[Florida_Phil]

In 2008 I put a Mustang Shelby clone on EBay. Bidding went along and two bidders started fighting for the car. I received two phone calls asking me to end the auction early. Both bidders were from Germany. I don't know what the exchange rate was at the time, but I got top dollar for that car. The guy wired the money and didn't contact me for six months. I thought I was going to keep the car and the money. Eventually, he shipped the car to Denmark and drove it to Germany to avoid the import duty. The car had a built small block and got about 10 miles to the high test gallon. I always wondered what it cost him to drive across Europe? I'm sure he got a lot of looks along the way.

[PaulUK1955]

Would be interesting to know what the UK sale prices would be, recently - due to BREXIT shambles - everything has gone down in value in the classic car market here. A couple of years ago an EXCELLENT 55 would sell for around £35-50k, ($50-70k) but now probably 20-25% less until the brexit uncertainty goes away - which still could be years!

But we are keeping ours for now. Beautiful car, ours has every factory options plus air and kelsey hayes wheels etc.

Its a very selective market here, and gas guzzlers are considered very NON politically correct unfortunately.

[Florida_Phil]

I'm not sure anyone will want a 50s car in the future. Most kids don't know the difference between a timing light and a torque wrench. Will you even be able to buy gasoline? I don't worry about the value of my car. It's worth the money to me just to see it in my garage. I am surprised when a younger person takes an interest. It happens at car shows. They don't know what it is, but they seem to like it.

[seany-boy]

yes it is probably the case. Downunder we are just heading into summer and the car show season. I attended a local one up in the hills Wednesday night, probably about 800 chrome bumper cars. It was great to see a lot of younger kids and even families wandering around looking at the vehicles, but I think you are correct in that they like looking at them but probably find working on them too daunting. But then, we do this for ourselves more than for others I know.

[mike3121]

I noticed 10 pages of just 1957 birds for sale at Hemmings. I've been a T-Bird 'wanna be" owner for many years and recently took the plunge. Part of my "lurking" was checking out all of the usual online haunts for a good bargain. I've never seen so many for sale. Usually you see a surge of cars like these for sale around summertime.

[57Dave]

This is a great time to buy!

[ICON 1956]

Agree ! there are some bargains out there. You just have to know what your budget can handle.