1957 Ford Thunderbird
312 Y-Block V-8
4 Barrell Holly Carburetor
Fordomatic Automatic Transmission
Colonial White with Black removeable hardtop
This 1957 Ford Thunderbird will be a complete, frame off, driver quality restoration. Pictures are organized with the oldest at the bottom, and progress moves up the page.
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hardtop fiberglass repairs finished and ready for paint |
parts for the softtop painted |
painted and polished
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gas tank cleaned up and painted for "tank tone" appearance |
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more parts going on. |
new cowl vent seals
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hand brake detailed and ready to install |
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trunk backside |
trunk topside
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starting to put the fun stuff on! |
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gear selector "before" |
gear selector "after"
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paint polished and door installed
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accessories installed onto engine
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engine and transmission reinstalled. |
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renewing the paint on the exposed area of the chassis in the engine compartment. |
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Paint Application |
The booth gets a thorough cleaning, and the floor is covered in butcher paper to aid in keeping things clean. |
In goes the T-Bird, and it's masked off for color.
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color and clear. |
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The carburetor gets a kit while the engine detailing is taking place. |
After final trial fittings of the grille and its trim, the painting process begins with the engine compartment and the trunk.
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Trunk |
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exhaust manifolds are sandblasted and painted in a POR15 cast iron gray coating for a lasting look. |
the block is painted in the correct Ford Thunderbird Red.
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Engine compartment items that aren't red are sandblasted, inspected, and painted the proper gloss of black. |
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Engine Details |
After so many years of storage, the Thunderbird engine had lost its luster. We will get the engine running and make sure all is right, and then remove the engine and transmission for a proper detailing job. |
After engine removal from the car, the old paint is removed and the cast iron cleaned of dirt, grime, rust and made ready for epoxy primer.
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The engine in epoxy primer. |
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Rear inner quarter panel metal tacked in place for fitting of the reproduction quarter skin. The skin will be properly fit before the inner panels are finish welded. |
trial fit of the quarter.
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All that panel fitting and bodywork results in a properly repaired body with well fitted panels. |
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The rusted metal is removed, the inner metal is cleaned and treated for corrosion protection, and a patch is fabricated and will be TIG welded in. |
Patches are welded in, pinholes and stress cracks are repaired.
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Whew that was a lot of filler! Nothing but a light skim coat at most after we're done... |
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While the body was already stripped to bare metal and had some repair done, the T-Bird's doors, decklid, and hood were still assembled and in the old paint. |
It's common for doors with ventwings to have cracks in the skin due to pulling on the wing to close the door over all those previous years. This Thunderbird was no exception. |
Lurking under all that filler and paint were rust holes. These lower corners of the doors were built with almost no space between the skin and the doorframe, so it's common for debris to accumulate there. Moisture gets retained, and rust through is the result. |
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The Beginning! |
On this 1957 Thunderbird, we have an opportunity to finish a restoration that was started and then put away. Here we see that the driver's side quarter and rocker panel work had already been done |
The Thunderbird's passenger side front fender had recieved quite a blow, and was previously repaired by filling the damage with lead. We've melted out the solder in preparation for more closely repairing the sheetmetal.
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The passenger quarter had been cut, exposing the rusted inner panels yet to be replaced. |
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