1957 Ford Thunderbird: Reader Ride

By: Gavin Pocock, Photography by: Gavin Pocock

Date: 08.08.2016

Gavin Pocock's 1957 Ford T-Bird is an American dream machine

Gavin Pocock's 1957 Ford Thunderbird

I lent my Ford Model T to an American gentleman that I’d met when we were in the US in 2003, we drove our Model T from Los Angeles to Detroit for the 100 years of Ford celebration, and he was driving from Longreach to Brisbane. When he came back to Brisbane he said "What do I owe you?" and I said "I don’t want any money but if you ever come across a baby bird (1955-57 model) let me know".

About 18 months went by before he called me up and said he’d found a ’57 that’d been in one family since new, so I made a few inquiries and six weeks later the car was in Australia. It’s a North Hollywood vehicle, I bought it from the son of the original owner who’d been driving it after his father passed in 2004 but had only put 300 miles on it in six years. The father had put the car up on blocks in 1974 until 2004 when the son put it back on the road and it was still registered but was still in a pretty bad state, interior needed work etc., but it was rust-free.

When it arrived here I drove it around the block a couple of times then said to my wife, Karen, "The car deserves to be restored". So the body came off the chassis and I did a full restoration and about 18 months later we were finished. There wasn’t a lot that had to be done mechanically, but I did all the bodywork and prep myself with the final painting done by someone else. It had 18,700 miles on the clock when I picked it up, the son wasn’t sure if it was genuine, but going by things like the diff and the transmission, which were in excellent condition, I think it’s genuine.

Valuation: 1957 Ford Thunderbird

Expect to pay $40,000 for entry-level examples of T-Birds with the best asking $70,000-plus.

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