It’s no secret that we like Corvettes around here—a lot.
In fact, we’ve written a lengthy series on the Corvette’s history.
But truth be told, there’s a good chance the Corvette would’ve never made it out of the 1950s, if it hadn’t been for an unintentional lift by the Ford Motor Company.
…which brings us to today’s Lot Shots Vehicle Feature: a stunningly clean 1957 Ford Thunderbird.
You see, when Chevrolet introduced the Corvette in 1953, it was all alone.
Outside of the relatively low-volume automakers Crosley and Kaiser, none of the major North American car brands had a small sporty roadster in their showrooms.
As a result, the Blue Oval got a bit nervous about letting its main competitor own an entire segment. Pretty soon, the company had plans drawn up for its own two-seater, the Ford Thunderbird, to debut in 1955. Available exclusively as a convertible (with factory-equipped removable hardtop), the T-bird had the Corvette squarely in its sights.
…Except that the Ford had a V8 and manual transmission available from day one—compared to the Corvette which, at the time, only had the Blue Flame Six and a two-speed Powerglide.
Perhaps more importantly, thanks to the Corvette’s new fiberglass body, mandatory ragtop, and snap-in windows, early buyers complained about squeaks, leaks, and rattles.
All this meant that early Corvette sales were—to put this delicately—not great. In fact, from 1953 to 1955 Chevy was only able to move about 5,000 units.
In contrast, when the Thunderbird hit the market in 1955, Ford sold over 16,000 of them in that year alone.
Suffice it to say, Chevy immediately felt the heat and refocused its Corvette performance efforts—namely with intervention from Zora Arkus-Duntov and a newly-minted small block Chevy V8. In other words, without pressure from the Thunderbird, it’s likely that the GM brass would’ve killed the Corvette program before it ever made it to the Sting Ray era.
But we digress, this Lot Shots feature is about the Ford Thunderbird—specially this later 1957 model that raced into the Summit Racing Retail Store outside Akron, Ohio a while back.
Representing the tail-end of the T-Bird’s first generation (1955-57), you can clearly see how the car was a direct response to the sporty, low-slung profile of the Corvette.
As popular as it was during its launch however, the Thunderbird’s compact roadster styling would be short-lived.
Starting with its second-generation (1958-60), the Thunderbird grew larger and added a pair of back seats as it tiptoed into the nascent “Personal Luxury Coupe” segment that would gradually spawn competitors like the Dodge Charger, Chevy Monte Carlo, and Buick Riviera.
In fact, save for the rare “Sports Roadster” models (which merely concealed the rear passenger compartment), we wouldn’t see a two-seat Thunderbird until the nameplate was revived for its 11th generation almost 50 years later—we’ll talk about those cars here in a moment, but we’re digressing…again.
As mentioned, the one in our Lot Shots Feature is a 1957 model, which means it has either a 292ci or a 312ci version of Ford’s venerable Y-Block under the hood—better still, for 1957 only, buyer’s could tick an option box for a supercharged 312 that was good to the tune of a whopping 300 horsepower.
Behind those engines was either a three-speed manual (with optional overdrive) or the trusty three-speed Ford-O-Matic.
Our favorite detail is the color though. While the Thunderbird could be had in a pretty broad palette, this particular car is finished in the aptly-named “Thunderbird Bronze Metallic.”
It’s a striking look to say the least.
The 1957 models also had a few key styling updates that made them distinct from the earlier cars. For starters, in 1956 Ford moved the spare outside—giving all 1956 Thunderbirds a stock “Continental Kit” out back. But for 1957, the spare moved back into the trunk.
The smaller taillights of the 1956 T-Bird also gave way to larger round jet-inspired nacelles as car designers embraced space-race styling trends.
Up front, the 1955 and 1956 Thunderbirds had two chrome pods that extended from the bumper up into the grille that housed the parking lights. In 1957, those lights were integrated into the grille itself for a cleaner look.
As alluded to above, the sporty first-gen. Thunderbird coupe would soon give way to a larger, better appointed four-seater that helped establish the Personal Luxury segment.
But the impression of those early 1955-57 cars is a lasting one. In our experience we’re far more likely to encounter a first-gen. Thunderbird at car shows than we are many of the later models.
And ultimately, it’d be these early T-Birds that would inspire the nameplate’s brief resurrection as an eleventh-generation coupe from 2002 to 2005. At even a passing glance, it’s easy to see the modern version’s bloodline thanks to the distinct grille, hood scoop, and opera windows on the hardtop.
At any rate, Thunderbirds of any vintage are always a welcome sight.
And if you’re a Corvette owner, next time you see one of these early first-gen. T-Birds in a crowd, you might want to shake the owner’s hand and thank them for helping to keep the Vette’s legacy alive.
Into Thunderbirds? You may enjoy these articles too:
- The Newly-Redesigned 1961 Ford Thunderbird Brought us the “Bullet Bird” Generation
- Driven Restorations’ ‘Mom’s T-Bird’ 1959 Thunderbird
- Cool Hand Customs Builds a 1957 Thunderbird for the Ages
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