1957 Ford Thunderbird

Convertible

V8

Automatic

D7FH334663

Clear

Gasoline

57 THUNDERBIRD This 1957 Thunderbird was bought brand new here in sunny San Diego. This two-owner car was purchased about 25 years later by a local golf pro for his wife on their 25th wedding anniversary. They later moved to Las Vegas where the golf industry was booming. I found this T-Bird there in my search for a straight, rust-free, “Baby Bird”. I was in the hunt for an original car that I could drive to all of the local San Diego car events and be proud of. This Southwestern T-Bird has never had any rust! This is a numbers matching all original T-Bird. I took this T-Bird to local events for a couple of years, and then in the fall of 2005 I decided I would restore her. So the process began. A Thunderbird specialist in San Diego, Hilltop Classics, separated the body from the frame. They took the frame completely apart, and sent it out to be powder coated. While that was being done the motor was professionally rebuilt. They went through the motor and made sure everything was up to as new specifications. The body was sent to a local shop, highly recommended, for vintage T-Bird quality work. After the car was painted and the body reattached, I brought everything back to my shop where I was going to reassemble the car. After getting the T-Bird up on the lift, I decided I was not happy with the quality of the paint work. I looked at the car for almost two years and wondered what I should do, and after doing extensive research, I went up to Prestige Thunderbird in Los Angeles and talked to Rod, one of the owners there. I knew I had found the right place that could take this project to where I wanted to go with it. I only wanted a perfect, 100 percent original, car show winning, “T-Bird”. After inspecting their operation and talking to some of their personnel, as well as some of their customers, I decided to take the entire project up there and let them make this the perfect T-Bird I was looking for. They removed the body from the frame and completely stripped it and redid all of the paint. As collectors know, black is the most difficult color to make perfect, and they wanted to start from scratch. What has come out of this decision is one of the nicest, straightest, and most beautiful 57 T- Birds you will ever find. This was a money is no object decision and project, but the final product is nothing short of stunning. As this was a spare no expenses project, there is over $75,000 invested and countless hours in this car to make this T-Bird perfect. Prestige Thunderbird then completely reassembled everything on the T-Bird to totally original specifications. Everything is as it came from the factory or better. The owner told me when I came to pick it up, that it was one of the cleanest T-Birds he’d ever worked on in his forty years of working on “Baby Birds”. The only upgrades are a dual master brake cylinder for safety and a seven blade cooling fan for drivability. Everything else is all original and everything works perfectly including the original Town & Country Radio. This T-Bird is an Automatic, Power Steering, Power Brakes, Hardtop only, T-Bird. The Coker tires and wheels were all brand new at the time the restoration was complete about five years ago. This T-Bird has been driven less than 200 miles since the restoration was completed and has been stored, covered, in my climate controlled garage. This T-Bird has the 312 cu in, 245 hp Y-block, big V-8 with the 4bbl carburetor. This T-Bird runs even better than new! I’m a small time car collector and I’ve decided to sell some of the cars out of my collection. Over the past 3 years the first to go was my 67 Eldorado with 23,000 original miles and the second to go was my 58 Impala Tri-Power with 69,000 original miles. Now is the time to sell my pride and joy, the 57 T-Bird. I truly believe that there is no finer one to be found anywhere. This T-Bird comes with the original owner’s manual, dealer brochures and tons of documentation. There is no reserve on this T-Bird and it will sell to the highest bidder. The car is for sale locally and I reserve the right to end the auction early. If you have any questions, please contact me, Tom Rohner, at 619-807-8770.