1957 thunderbird tv#

In the same way, I doubt there are many collectors of “Star Wars” memorabilia who were born before, say, 1960.

Along those lines, baby boomers, born shortly after World War II, are most likely to collect items from the 1950s. Buyers, values and the new marketĬollectors tend to collect things from their past. I hope that’s the case, but it could be something else entirely. Certainly, color and quality were a factor in this sale, so why did it fetch a below-par $193,900 just a decade later? It could be that one or both sales were anomalies, with unique factors driving the price to record highs or disappointing lows for no particular reason. RM Auctions sold this same F-bird in 2006 for a smashing $319,000 (ACC# 43542) - far more than any other F-code sale recorded, and more than the $280,500 the only remaining “Battlebird” racer achieved at auction in 2010 (ACC# 165772). Our very rare Flame Red example listed for $4,815.13 - big money when the average annual household income was around $5,000. The rest tended to be fully optioned street machines, which, like our feature F-code, represented the ultimate in ’50s two-seat personal luxury. Two of the supercharged cars were converted into full-fledged racers called “Battlebirds,” built to take on the competition at the 1957 Daytona Speed Weeks. The first few of the F-birds were converted D-code cars (known as Code-D/F cars), which causes the list of F-code cars built to vary from expert to expert. The same engine was installed in a handful of Fairlane 500 sedans in 1957, which Ford used to counter Chevrolet’s fuel-injected Black Widows in NASCAR. Then there is the legendary 300-hp supercharged F-code. Just before the Great Recession of ’08 prices for these cars averaged $26,000 to $45,000 today they average $29,200 to $142,500, including the performance models Ford added in 1957: the 245-hp D-code and 270-hp E-code. It’s one of those rare automobiles that seems to ignore the ebb and flow of the marketplace. That’s probably why the popularity of the 1955–57 Thunderbirds has never waned.

1957 thunderbird tv#

Yet from TV shows such as “Perry Mason” in the ’50s and “Vega$” in the ’80s, to movies like “American Graffiti” and “I Was a Teenage Werewolf,” to the Beach Boys’ hit song, all of which featured the car, it’s clear the original Thunderbird had substantial value in its status as a pop culture icon of the era. McNamara didn’t quite grasp the image-building power a halo car can bring to a manufacturer, instead choosing to focus on the hard numbers. For 1958, the classic two-seater was replaced with the much-maligned (but better selling) four-seater “Square Bird.” While sales were hardly disappointing, the original Thunderbird was never the profit center that Ford’s data-driven Harvard “Whiz-Kid” general manager, Robert McNamara, had expected. The two-seater ’Bird was never marketed as a world-beating performance car, either, with advertising instead calling it “a personal car of distinction.”

They weren’t terribly popular when new - just 16,155 were built in 1955, 15,631 in ’56, and 21,380 in its final year (which ran until December 1957). When the Beach Boys sang “She’ll have fun, fun, fun ’til her daddy takes the T-bird away…” what image came to mind? More than likely a beautiful young woman driving a ’50s two-seat Thunderbird.įew automobiles have ever been so ingrained in popular culture as the original Thunderbird. This car, Lot 386, sold for $193,900, including buyer’s premium, at Barrett-Jackson’s Palm Beach, FL, auction on April 9, 2016. Passenger’s side cowl below hood-latch mechanismġ957 Chevrolet Corvette fuel-injected, 1953 Cadillac Eldorado convertible, 1954 Kaiser-Darrin The majority of the F-code cars were white, with black being the second most popular color, making this Flame Red example unusual. In preparation for the AACA show circuit, the restoration of this Thunderbird was freshened up and has since done phenomenally well, earning an impressive collection of awards that continues to grow. Accordingly, the F-bird achieved an enviable show record-winning First Place Gold at every Classic Thunderbird Club International event it entered. This 1957 F-bird was fastidiously restored to be competitive on the concours field. The F-code engine elevated the performance of a standard Thunderbird from a reasonably quick cruiser to a dedicated quarter-mile contender. It also has a Holley 4-barrel carburetor, automatic transmission, power steering and power brakes. This is one of only 212 examples fitted with the supercharged F-code 312/300-hp V8 engine. The most rare and desirable of these are affectionately referred to as F-birds. In total, 21,380 Thunderbirds were produced in 1957.