For Joe Tegtmeier, being a car guy involved going to hot rod shows with his father, Jim, and washing the family cars every weekend when weather allowed. The pair also built Joe’s first car, a 1971 VW. It was a classic father-son bonding.

Fast-forward to 2023. Joe wanted to have a classic American ride that looked and felt vintage but rode and drove like a new car. He, his wife Janet, and son Colt settled on a 1957 Ford Thunderbird—with a twist.

“We wanted to build something that combined the flowing exterior lines of the original 1950s ‘Baby Birds’ and sweeping interior of the 1961-63 ‘Bullet Birds’,” Joe explained. “We also wanted modern suspension, four-wheel disc brakes, fuel injection, and other modern upgrades, something we could just jump into and go.”

To make this vision a reality, Joe needed two things: a car and someone to build it. He found the ’57 in Florida (“A pig with lipstick—looked nice but lots of mystery under that paint!” Joe said). Then, Joe got Cool Hand Customs in Middleton, Wisconsin to build it.

Having assembled cars like a 1978 Pinto Cruising Wagon with a drivetrain from a late-model V6 Mustang to a 1960 Simca Châtelaine mated to a shortened 2007 Cadillac STS chassis, EJ and Amy Fitzgerald are no strangers to custom fabrication. As you’ll see, they fulfilled Joe’s vision and then some.

Red 1957 Ford thunderbird in a garage
Joe Tegtmeier’s 1957 Thunderbird looked nice when it arrived at Cool Hand Customs. Stripping the red paint revealed a mostly rust-free body, but one with a lot of previous damage repair. (Image/Cool Hand Customs)

Joe named the Thunderbird “Sam the Baby Bullet.” Yes, there’s a story behind it.

“Baby Bullet is from the combination of styles from the two generations of Thunderbirds,” Joe explained. “Sam is for my father. His real name was Jim, but that was so common and our last name too difficult to pronounce that he just used Sam when he made reservations at a restaurant or other places. My son Colt does the same thing, so it’s now a family tradition and great way to honor my father’s memory.”

You can see tons of Baby Bullet build photos on Cool Hand Customs’ Facebook page and project videos on their YouTube Channel. You’ll be impressed with the work that went into this car!

Drivetrain

small block ford crate engine in a 1957 thunderbird
The Thunderbird’s factory 312 cubic inch Y-block engine was given the heave-ho for a small block Ford crate engine with Holley Sniper 2 electronic fuel injection. The engine is rated at 365 horsepower and 370 lbs.-ft. of torque and is backed by a Ford AOD four-speed automatic transmission with a stall converter. (Image/Cool Hand Customs)

The T-Bird arrived at Cool Hand Customs with its original 312 cubic inch Y-block and Ford-O-Matic automatic transmission. It was replaced with a small block Ford crate engine rated at 365 horsepower and 370 lbs.-ft. of torque. It’s fitted with an All-American Billet serpentine accessory drive system and a Holley Sniper 2 EFI system. An AOD four-speed automatic transmission with a 2,500 to 2,800 RPM stall torque converter sits behind the small block. It sends power back to a Ford 9 inch rear axle with 3.73 gears and an Eaton Detroit TruTrac differential.

Chassis

1957 ford thunderbird project stripped down to bare metal
Here’s the T-Bird in bare metal, sitting on its new Regal Roadsters reproduction frame. The front suspension is Mustang II style with QA1 coilovers. Out back is a Ford 9 inch rear axle suspended by a four-link with QA1 coilovers. Classic Performance disc brakes sit on all four corners. (Image/Cool Hand Customs)

The frame is a steel reproduction made by Regal Roadsters, a company that builds fiberglass Thunderbird replicas and components that is virtually down the street from the Cool Hand shop. It came with a Mustang II-style front suspension that Cool Hand upgraded with a QA1 Pro Coilover conversion and Classic Performance discs brakes. The rear suspension is a four-link with QA1 Pro coilovers and Classic Performance discs.

The Thunderbird rides on 205/55/17 Diamondback whitewalls mounted on custom-built 17 x 7 US Wheel smoothies. The wheels are painted to match the tan canvas top and are fitted with dog dish-style hubcaps.

Body

Welded & repaired floor pan in a 1957 ford thunderbird
The floors were ‘repaired’ with a ton of fiberglass and heat control mat. Cool Hand scraped it all off, replaced the floor pans and crossmembers with reproduction parts, and made patches for the transmission tunnel and other places that had minor rust-through. (Image/Cool Hand Customs)

The body is (mostly) Ford steel. Removing the red paint revealed very little rust but a lot of damage ‘repair,’ especially in the floors and rear quarter panels. Nothing Cool Hand couldn’t, er, handle.

Thunderbird 57 to 63 rear quarter Comparison graphic
This drawing shows the difference between a stock ’57 and the same car with the Fairlane rear quarter panels. If you saw the car without seeing the comparison (or you really know your T-Birds), this would look factory. (Image/Cool Hand Customs)

They replaced the lower rear quarters with quarters from a 1963 Ford Fairlane as they have very similar lines, especially in the taillight area. They also eliminated the fender skirts, which Joe didn’t like.

rear quarter of a 1957 thunderbird in bare metal
The rear quarter panels were a mess, too. Instead of repairing or replacing them with reproduction parts, Cool Hand did some figuring and determined that lower quarters from a 1963 Ford Fairlane would fit and also give the Thunderbird a subtle custom look. If you didn’t know, you would think they were factory. (Image/Cool Hand Customs)

Cool Hand also extended the rear passenger area by 4.5 inches to give the Tegtmeiers some extra space. They also rebuilt the trunk floor to convert the spare tire well into a closed tool box, filled and smoothed the firewall, and removed the side vents in the front fenders. All told, EJ and Amy have over 1,000 hours invested in fabrication and bodywork alone.

The paint color is called Lithium Blue, created by KBS Coatings and Cool Hand Customs for the KBS MAXX line of low VOC single-stage paint.

1957 ford thunderbird in paint booth
The paint is Lithium Blue, a custom color created by KBS Coatings with input from Cool Hand Customs. If you dig the color, it’s available in KBS’ MAXX single-stage topcoat line and by special order from Summit Racing. (Image/Cool Hand Customs)

Interior

Cool Hand Customs built a custom ‘double-cove’ dash that mimics the 1961-63 T-Bird interior. They fitted a 1963 T-bird gauge panel filled with New Vintage USA Woodward Series gauges and modified a ’63 center console to fit. It houses a Shiftworks shifter and controls for the Vintage Air climate control system.

interior of a custom 1957 ford thunderbird
Cool Hand Customs built a custom ‘double-cove’ dash from expanded steel and parts of a dash out of a 1963 Thunderbird. A gauge panel from the same car is filled with New Vintage USA Woodward Series gauges. The ’63 center console was modified to fit between 1967 Mustang bucket seats upholstered in Saddle Brown and Palomino vinyl from Distinctive Industries. An ididit steering column is topped with a Classic Performance American Retro steering wheel. (Image/Cool Hand Customs)

The seats are 1967 Mustang buckets built up using components from OER, Scott Drake, and Distinctive Industries. Amy upholstered the interior with Saddle Brown and Palomino vinyl from Distinctive Industries. Other interior upgrades include an ididit steering column topped with a Classic Performance American Retro steering wheel and Billet Specialties pedals.

The Thunderbird made its debut in the KBS Coatings booth at the 2023 SEMA Show. Car season was pretty much over when it came home to Wisconsin, but Joe Tegtmeier took advantage of a break in the weather on Thanksgiving Day to take the car for a drive. As he said, he couldn’t help himself. Can’t say we blame him.

man sitting in a custom 1957 ford thunderbird
And here is owner Joe Tegtmeier in his ‘Baby Bullet’ T-Bird. It’s nicknamed Sam in honor of his  father. “His real name was Jim, but that was so common and our last name too difficult to pronounce that he just used Sam when he made reservations at a restaurant or other places,” Joe explained. “My son Colt does the same thing, so it’s now a family tradition and great way to honor my father’s memory.” (Image/Cool Hand Customs)

Cool Hand Customs 1957 Ford Thunderbird Parts List

Drivetrain

Exhaust System

Chassis & Brakes

Interior

Misc.

Keywords
Cool Hand Customs, Ford, Thunderbird
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Author: Alan Rebescher

Editor, author, PR man—Alan Rebescher has done it all in a 25 year career in the high performance industry. He has written and photographed many feature stories and tech articles for Summit Racing and various magazines including Hot Rod, Car Craft, and Popular Hot Rodding, and edited Summit Racing’s Street & Strip magazine in the 1990s. His garage is currently occupied by a 1965 Ford Mustang.