Two cars that are mainstays at any classic car show or auction are Ford’s Thunderbird and Mustang. If you are at a North American car event that doesn’t have at least one of those, you may have entered the Twilight Zone. At auction week in Scottsdale, Arizona in January, I was reassured by the presence of many of Dearborn’s finest. Today I will show some T-birds that I saw, and in the coming days I will have two articles on Mustangs.
I happen to be a big fan of both models, but I realize that some folks consider them too common or even to be a classic car cliche of sorts due to their ubiquity. While immune from those feelings myself, I can understand them. After this, I have only two more Scottsdale articles I’m planning, which those with an interest in the less common should enjoy more. So, feel free to skim or skip this article but stay tuned. In the meantime, Blue Oval lovers can click through for some tasty T-birds.
I’d originally planned on just doing one article, but there were so many nice cars, I decided to expand the article and split it into three parts. Even so, this is still a pretty small sampling. There were cars I photographed that aren’t here and many others I didn’t take photos of. So, if you’re up for it, buckle in for a full dose of cool cars. As with my other auction articles, I’ll highlight what I think is neat about the cars I’ve highlighted, while throwing in a little history on the Thunderbird. Click on the embedded links below to go to the auction house page on each car.
First generation two seaters are the most popular Thunderbirds with collectors, not surprisingly. Barrett-Jackson had 26 ’55-’57 T-birds, while only having a handful of later generations.
This 1955, which is also in the top photo, was sold at Barrett-Jackson for $42,900. I think it has a great stance. I don’t believe the gold trim was available from the factory, nor was its leather upholstery or wire wheels.
Chevrolet’s Corvette spurred Ford to come up with their own two seater, but they took a much different path. Chevy made a sports car to compete with Europe’s austere but expensive two seaters, and within a few years matching them in performance and handling, and doing it with an American flair. Ford decided to make their two seater more of a “personal” car, with comfort and luxury as much a consideration as performance. It was a wise decision, because it met Ford’s sales targets and outsold the struggling Corvette many times over.
This 1955 with full wheel covers went for only $33,000. The hubcaps, which were shared with the regular Ford, were optional with dog dishes being standard. Simulated wire wheel covers were also available. Thunderbirds came standard with a fiberglass hardtop. For a small amount, buyers could substitute a convertible top for the hardtop, or for more get both tops.
For the Thunderbird’s inaugural season, the only engine available was the 292cid Y-block V8, making 193hp with standard transmission or 198hp with automatic.
Dashboard styling was similar to the regular Ford’s. Unlike the early Corvette which didn’t even have glass side windows its first few years, Thunderbirds had most of the regular Ford’s options available including power seat, power windows, power brakes and power steering.
Some owners prefer the open rear fender look and leave the fender skirts off. I don’t mind the look, my issue is that having been designed for skirts, the rear opening doesn’t have same lip that the front has. Also, there are little tabs (unless the owner cuts them off) that stick down to hold the skirts in place that are visible when the skirts aren’t there.
While T-birds were not originally available with Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels, there’s no denying they make this black 1955 look real sharp. It sold for $40,700 at Barrett-Jackson.
The Silver auction had a nice 1956 model. The most obvious change for ’56 was the standard continental spare tire. To get in the trunk or access the center fuel door, one pulled a lever to release a spring-loaded hinge which moved the wheel out about a foot. To improve visibility with the available hardtop, a porthole was optional, but pretty universally seen on ’56 and ’57’s. It also gained swing-out ventilation doors in the front fender and glass wind deflectors on the A pillar (both also continued with the ’57). A 312cid engine was now available, with either single or dual 4-barrel carburetors.
At Barrett-Jackson, the next-to-top-selling two seater was a pink (Sunset Coral) 1956 that sold for $82,500.
The 1957 model got a facelift (well, mostly a taillift), for a one year only look. Fortunately for Thunderbird lovers, it was a long year with production extended to December and the most built of the two seater era. This is my favorite first generation model. They put the spare back inside the newly elongated trunk, put attractive tailfins on, and gave it a nice looking new dashboard. The continental spare was actually still available as a seldom ordered option.
Early T-birds always look great in red, so this 1957 selling at B-J for $41,800 would look real good in my garage.
The new-for-1957 dashboard, taillights and fins again reflected that year’s standard Ford’s.
Silver had two 1957 Thunderbirds, both of which made their top ten sales list (the only results I’ve been able to find on the Silver auction). Unlike the majority of Silver vehicles, these were really high quality cars and sold for more than most of the Barrett-Jackson T-birds. This fetching white ‘Bird sold for either $56,160 or $59,400, I’m not sure which, but I’d guess the lower one since it has non-stock regular Ford hubcaps, rather than the correct turbine wheel covers.
As a point of interest, if you fantasize about owning a two seat Thunderbird, values cover a very wide range. You can buy a really nice car for 30 or 40k, but prices can reach nose bleed territory for the most perfect and rare examples. The top selling Thunderbird at B-J this year, by about 100k, was a pink (Dusk Rose) 1957 that sold for $183,700. A Gunmetal Gray 1957 sold in 2014 for $330,000 (then sold again two years later for $286,000), which seems to be about the upper limit.
At $68,200, this 1957 was one of the more expensive ‘Birds at Barrett-Jackson. The color is yellow, but they call it Sun Gold. This car has the E-code 312cid V8, which has dual 4-barrel carburetors.
The yellow in this picture is a more accurate image of the color. Engine choices grew for 1957, with two low production hot engines available. Buyers could get a dual four barrel 312 (E code, 270 or 285hp) or a supercharged, carbureted 312 (F code, 300hp). Early Thunderbirds had possibly the most attractive valve covers ever put on an engine. On ’57’s I’ve seen both plain black valve covers with a “Thunderbird Special” decal and these gorgeous chromed ribbed ones that are the only ones I’ve seen on ’55 and ’56’s. I haven’t found any documentation on that. Anybody know about this?
Also unlike the early Corvette with its mandatory Powerglide, buyers had a choice of 3 speed manual (with overdrive optional) or 3 speed automatic.
As you no doubt know, 1957 was the last year for the two seater. Ford made the coldly business-like, but very smart, decision to make the new Thunderbird a four seater in 1958. The ’57 ‘Bird was well loved even at the time and sold the most of the first generation, 21k. The ’58 model, which has never generated the affection enjoyed by the two seaters, nevertheless sold 37k in its first shortened (recession) year and sales grew to 92k by 1960. The car was more expensive, too, so it was obviously a big win for Ford even if it was a big loss to fans of the early T-birds.
I saw no 1958-’60 four seater “squarebirds” in Scottsdale, though B-J had a 1959 I apparently missed. Barrett-Jackson did have a few “bulletbirds”, the affectionate nickname for the 1961-’63 models. This was the nicest one, and the only one I photographed (poorly). It’s a 1962 convertible that sold for $55,000.
To make up for my terrible photo, here are a couple of owner-supplied photos from B-J’s website. It was a really impressive car, having been treated to a high quality restoration and winning multiple first place awards.
For 1962, Ford introduced a new model called the Sports Roadster. It had a removable fiberglass tonneau cover over the rear seats, to give it the look of a two seater, and Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels. It seems that almost all bulletbird convertibles that are seen these days at auctions or car shows have the tonneau cover and wire wheels even though only 1,427 were originally sold (out of 8,417 convertibles and 78,011 total T-birds in 1962, plus another 455 for 1963). The owner didn’t state if this was originally a Sport Roadster, as many regular convertibles are retrofitted. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of the tonneau. It makes the rear deck look absurdly long and it’s obviously not a true two seat car, plus it says to your friends, “you can admire my car, but I have this pretentious cover over the back seat, so you can’t come along”.
I absolutely love ’60’s Thunderbird interiors, which I think are a high point for Detroit interior styling. Beyond that, I’ll let the picture speak for itself. Yowza!
At the time I was strolling past this car, the owner was holding forth to a few bidders about the car and all the work he put into restoring it. He also demonstrated the working of the convertible top, which is a pretty dramatic operation if you’ve ever seen one in action.
The next styling cycle for the T-bird was 1964-’66 (a.k.a. “flairbird”). Barrett-Jackson had five and Russo and Steele had this one, a 1966 convertible. I’d say it’s my favorite Thunderbird that I saw in Scottsdale. It has been restored and it sold for a relatively affordable $34,500.
The owner states that this car was built on the last day of 1966 production, making it “possibly” the last Thunderbird convertible produced (until 2002). It also has the new optional 428cid 345hp engine.
Interiors continued to be lookers. Ford had dropped the smooth flow of the dashboard into the door panels, but it’s still a striking design. I have always thought it is super cool the way the rear seats wrap around.
’64-’66 is probably my favorite generation of Thunderbird. I love the early two seaters, but these mid ’60’s cruisers are the ultimate in my book. Rear fender skirts were optional, and my personal ideal would look something like this 1966 convertible with open rear fenders at last year’s auction. Ford made 5,049 convertible T-birds for 1966 then sadly dropped the softtop ‘Bird for the new 1967 model, offering a four door sedan instead. They still had a sweet looking interior, though. At least for the first year.
If you like hardtops, this 1966 is a really nice example. I am not a fan of the Town hardtop and Landau models, which deleted the rear quarter window. Those outsold the regular metal-roofed hardtops like this one by 4 to 1. Surprisingly, the $30,800 it sold for at Barrett-Jackson is almost as much as the restored blue convertible above at Russo and Steele. It had the base 390cid 315hp engine and was billed as a 39,000 mile “very original” car, though exactly how original was not specified.
Gratuitous inside photo, because I can’t ever get too much of that swoopy Space Age interior, in that most ’60’s color of turquoise.
1966 was the last of the “collectible” Thunderbirds. Values and interest drop off significantly after that, as evidenced by the lack of any 1967-1997 models at any of the auctions save for one exception. That would be this 1976 Thunderbird on the back lot at Russo and Steele.
Here’s the rear, in all its full-bumpered glory. This car was not at all pristine, but was presentable and sold for only $3750. True curbside classic money.
By this time, the Thunderbird was completely given over to the Brougham theme it was flirting with in 1966 with the Landau models. It is basically the same car as the Lincoln Mark IV, except with a more restrained grille and square opera windows in place of the Mark’s oval ones.
Space Age flavor was long gone, replaced by the 1970’s Ford corporate dash and steering wheel. This owner-supplied interior photo strategically doesn’t show the upper dash pad, because it had a Grand Canyon sized crack, which is not uncommon on Arizona cars. Otherwise the interior was pretty decent, and of course the body was totally rust-free.
I think an interesting post script on the Thunderbird is that it has been said that it saved the Corvette. Early Corvette sales in 1954 and 1955 were underwhelming and many in GM were advocating terminating the Vette after 1955. The business case for that would have been very logical, but many speculate that GM’s pride kicked in when the Thunderbird vastly outsold the Corvette in 1955 and they didn’t want to be seen as fleeing a market after being beaten by Ford. So, Harley Earl and other champions of the Corvette prevailed and got to release a much improved 1956 model, which was a basis for continuous improvement and increasing sales while still emphasizing sportiness and performance. Of course, in 1958 the T-bird went in a completely different direction. Its character evolved several times and eventually lost a relevant place in the market, while the Corvette has stayed basically true to its original mission and is still with us. If you want to take a walk through Corvette history, check out my Corvette auction article if you missed it before.
Thanks for reading, please share your thoughts and opinions on these Thunderbirds below and look for more Flashy Fords in part 2 on Mustangs!
Other articles in my 2018 Scottsdale auction series:
Cadillacs-part 1 restored cars
Cadillacs-part 2 unrestored cars
It has been interesting to watch these over the last 40 years. The 2 seaters were among the most collectible of 50s cars in the 70s but these prices now make these look like some of the most affordable 50s convertibles you can get.
I always wondered how effective the air conditioning was in the 61-63 BulletBirds. All the air came through that one great big central vent piece on the dash with none going out anywhere else (like close to the windows where much of the heat come in on sunny days).
It is also funny how the 1967+ models have remained frozen in time: they had no collecor appeal in the 70s and still don’t. Those might now be the most collector car you can get for the money.
A/C worked pretty well I’m told. ’61-’63 Lincolns had the same setup.
Dad had a black ’63 Lincoln with A/C in the 1960s with the center vent. I recall being too warm in the back seat on long trips even with the A/C set to maximum. Dad said it just didn’t cool the car enough. I’m sure the black paint didn’t help. The A/C on the followup ’68 Mercury Marquis was far better.
Thunderbirds- a piece of my childhood that’ll never be forgotten. Mom had a Light Blue/White ’57, a Tan/White ’59 Convertible, and a Honey Beige ’61 with matching interior (her favorite). She was supposed to get a ’66, but dad totalled his Mercedes that year and we wound up with a ’66 New Yorker, which mom took over in ’67 when we picked up the 250SE in Germany that year.
I owned a ’66 Landau, a ’83 Heritage, and a ’91 5.0 LX. Loved them all.
I got to drive a 76 Thunderbird for a few minutes way back in the late 70s….it was pretty underwhelming. Basically, it felt like a concurrent Ford LTD with A LOT more sound deadening added, sound deadening that must have added several hundred pounds to the car. The car felt heavy on its “feet” though the steering feel made it seem as though the front end was made of paper. And while the car itself seemed well built, it just exuded a whole…built like a tank, including slits for windows, that made it seem like you were piloting a largish mobile bunker.
As far as the whole 1967-2002 run of Thunderbird cars, I could almost see myself owning a 67 or 70 lightly loaded 2 door and maybe a nice V8 powered 84-85.
BTW, I predict that the Turbo coupes and Supercharger equipped cars will be minor classics in the next 5-10 years, with good ones selling at auction for low 5 figure prices.
Thanks for the nice survey with recent auction prices. I’ve been a fan since forever, and the internet has allowed me to learn all the infinite details of options and year-to-year revisions I didn’t pick up as a kid.
Prices for the 55-56-57 models seem to be a sort of bellwether for the hobby. Plenty of boomers seem to have been ready to open their wallets for these, including the big-$$$ restorations, and I wonder where the market (not likely to include me personally) is going.
Ford was happy to play up the common design elements and such with the full-size car, it seems:
Yes there is a nickname for the 64-66 cars and it is Flair Bird, the 61-63 is the Bullet Bird.
Guess I had that mixed up. I was thinking the 61-63 was called Flair Bird. It makes more sense being the nickname for the 64-66.
I have always loved Thunderbirds. My favorites are the 58~60 Square-birds, 61~63 Bullet-birds, 64~66 Flair-Birds, and the 67 4-door model. I even like the Retro-birds. I was always surprised that the 58~70 Thunderbirds did not become more collectable with their interesting body/interior designs and attention to detail.
I can understand how Thunderbirds in the 70’s became unloved collector cars as they became shared platform cars and grew in size.
I recently purchased a 1979 Thunderbird with 13,300 original miles. No, I don’t love it as a collector car, but it sure makes a cheap and reliable daily driver. It has a proven V8 302 engine, FMX transmission, disc brakes, front/rear sway bars, and greaseable suspension. All this while being so easy to work on. Since they had high volume sales of this platform, quality parts are available and at a low cost.
I will be driving this car 520 miles a week on the Detroit freeway system all year round! Yes! I will need snow tires for that 2.50 one-legger rear end. With the factory emission controls in place the car would only get 14 mpg on my 80% freeway commute. But now with some de-smogging mods I have it up to 18 mpg. Not bad for its size and weight. Oohh, and I do want the size and weight for some level of safety. With my low purchase price, low parts costs, easy self-maintenance, and low cost insurance costs I think I have a winning combination.
I have added a few items to extend the Thunderbird life and improve mileage. I have added a transmission cooler, power steering cooler, rear end vent filter, custom scavenging non-CAT exhaust, driver controlled hot air/cold intake, clutch fan, transmission drain pan plug, EGR block, re-route vacuum lines, fully electric choke, and play with the timing/carburetor.
I have already put 4,000 miles on the Thunderbird the past few months. So far, so good! I will need to do a long-term write-up here to reflect on how well the Thunderbird did on the pot-holed and heavily salted Detroit freeway system while using modern lubricants. (Mobil-1 engine oil, transmission fluid, and rear end fluid)
That’s a sharp looking ’79! I much prefer the 77-79’s over their immediate predecessors. I admire your determination to daily drive it, but I’ll be the one to say what some of us are probably thinking: it seems a bit wrong to me to subject a super clean, 13k mi, nearly 40 year old survivor car to a Michigan winter commute. It wouldn’t bother me if it were rusty, so please tell me it’s a rust bucket underneath to make me feel better. I just hate the thought of all that Detroit salt coating the underside of a pristine creampuff.
The 1979 Thunderbird is pretty much rust free. Unfortunately, the 77~79 Thunderbirds and Cougars do not have much value because they were made in very high volumes and they are unloved as collector cars. There are many nice low mileage examples available in the market place. The higher priced cream puffs sit on the market for years until the owner accepts a lowball offer. They don’t even sell well on “Bring a Trailer”!
So, I might as well enjoy driving the Thunderbird until it meets its demise. Then rinse and repeat.
BTW, I do plan to add some Rhino Liner to the lower edge of the car and have it Ziebarted.
Thunderbird’s brougham flirtation actually started with the 1962 bullet-bird. The same roofline as the standard coupe but with a vinyl roof and those big grotesque landau bars. Some of the interior brushed stainless trim was replaced with wood grain. My college roommate had a 64 Landau. The roof material was more like textured rubber than vinyl, it had survived 11 Buffalo NY winters with no wear or damage. The interior had woodgrain in place of the brushed stainless covering the console an inserts on the doors. All in all a pretty handsome package for a college student beater.
1966 is when the landau styling really came in to its own with the blind quarter roofline that really set it apart from the standard flair-bird coupe.
Of the somewhat odd looking 1967 through 1971 models, Laurence Jones posted the best of this series.
Conversation overheard in the early 1970’s. “Let’s take the T-Bird, we’ll score for certain tonight!”
That guy on the right is hoping to borrow junqueboi’s Skybird
Great pictures, those Thunderbirds look lovely, especially the flair birds, they epitomise 60s American glamour for me but I wouldn’t bother with anything later. Love the space age interior,
I still have some old National Geographic magazines with the ads for the flair bird.
Along with cup holders, wire wheels or wire hubcaps on large cars seems to be another American fetish, too old fashioned for a rocket ship, give me nice alloys or the standard hubcaps any day
What’s interesting was these cars were used for transporting families (as well as other 2- door coupes and pony cars.) I rode around in a ’66 Bird from time to time as my Aunt Janet had one. Me, my sister, and my three cousins. I loved the wraparound rear seat and the ribbon speedometer. I remember asking why doesn’t everyone make cars this cool. Our ’62 Monterey seemed kinda dumpy by compare, despite all the chrome on the dashboard.
I wouldn’t mind a ’61-’66.
First of all, Jon7190, thank you for these articles! I don’t care whether you cover what you consider ‘ordinary’ vehicles or oddball ones, you always write in an informative, interesting manner.
Second, one of the first moderately difficult model kits I ever assembled was a ’57 Thunderbird. I THINK it was the first one I could afford to spend 69 cents on to get the can of Pactra candy purple that I used to paint it.
Third, over the last few years, bullet and flairbirds have really grown on me. I’m not sure why it’s taken until now for me to appreciate them, but I do.
Thanks!
I’m pretty sure that black 1962 Sports Roadster is a conversion as it appears to be missing the passenger grab bar on the dash and the front fender medallion below the Thunderbird script, features that were unique to the Roadsters.
My Dad bought this lightly used 1965 in the summer of 1967. You are so right about the Flairbirds’ attractive interiors. The one in our base model with the high quality vinyl seats was amazing. The overall design with the deeply coved dash, the aircraft type controls and ribbon speedo, as well as the “cocktail lounge” wraparound rear seat made for a unique space. The comprehensive lighting throughout interior and abundance of chrome created a spectacular entry at night. Everyone who rode with us commented on the interior as special.
Wow, that sounds like a great car. You were a lucky boy!
Everytime I see a 55-57 T-bird I just marvel at what a perfect design it was. Fast forward almost 50 years, and Ford decides to bake old Grammy Ford’s two seat Thunderbird cake again. This recipe has been passed down in the Ford family for generations and everyone who samples it is in awe over how good it is. Trouble is is that the new generation has the family recipe, but they don’t know the difference between sugar and salt.
Flairbird for me. They did a great job on these (and the Bullets) with the rear wheel covers, so I’ll take that option too. Please.
Bullets for me. To me, they’re the most iconic generation with the first series coming in second. The others are nice enough but don’t wow me.
Back when I was a wee lad of 15 or so, a local business owner would pass our house several times a day in his brand new 1961 Bird convertible. Unless it rained, the top was ALWAYS down. What struck me was the color, yellow with a RED leather interior. Had to be a special order, I’ve never seen a color combo like that since.