1957 Ford thunderbird

today we are back at jonker fighters located just outside of salem ohio to take a look at this 1957 ford thunderbird if you're ever out this way be sure to check them out they are open monday through friday nine to five tell them jay youtube car guy sent you there that's me i'm jay welcome to what it's like this channel we feature the classics vintage some exotics lots of orphan cars and cars off the beaten path we do deep dives on all of the cars featured show various period correct ads and do a full tour of them to show you what these cars were actually like so if that sounds like a channel that interests you hit the subscribe button turn on the bell icon next to it to never miss a video one quick thing before we move on to our featured car if you would like to get in touch with me for whatever reason you'd like shoot me a comment i read all my comments and i try to answer all of them too and it will always be like that it's not a secretary it's not a computer it's me second we made a facebook group that correlates with this youtube channel there's no obligation to join i'm just showing you that it's a thing lots of facebook groups have tons of rules and sometimes admins are jerks i'm not a jerk and this group isn't like those groups this group is for people that want to share their rides their memories experiences even other youtube channel links are welcome because i'm just trying to grow a car community so that people from younger generations can pick this stuff up and have a gist of what they're looking at so if that sounds like something that you'd be interested in the link is in the description let's talk 1957 ford lineup 1957 was a huge year for ford they outsold chevy for the first time in 22 years the last time they did that was back in 1935. ford trim lineup ford offered the custom at the bottom then the custom 300 fairlane fairlane 500 and then there was the wagon models then there was the thunderbird which was totally redesigned for the 1957 model year and it was a one year only design which was longer than the 56 the 1957 was the last year the thunderbirds were two-seaters and 58 they go to a much bigger design with room for four people but getting back to the 57 the styling still retains that thunderbird look the front bumper was reshaped the grille and tail fins were made larger featured larger taillights the spare tire was moved from the outside mounted tire that they did in 56 it was moved back inside the trunk let's talk options not getting into all of the options offered in 57 just some ones that stuck out volumatic signal seek radio it was a new option for the thunderbird in 1957 it automatically raised or lowered the volume depending on car speed the ultimate luxury no more adjusting the radio at speeds then lowering it while stop two controls searched for the next available station based on signal strength of strong town or weak country dilomatic which was a four-way power seat it was new for 57 it allows the most comfortable seat position to be dialed in to control mounted under the center instrument panel when ignition is turned off the seat will automatically be moved to the rear most position for maximum entry and exit room then return to the preset position when the key is turned on i just love the wording of this one so ford's power steering system was called master guide in 57 reduces the effort required to steer the car by 75 percent this was especially appreciated in tight parking situations where steering wheel was turned locked to lock in order to maneuver the car other options included but not limited to power lift windows swift sure power brakes chrome dress-up kit overdrive magic heater ford o-matic tinted glass white wall tires radio let's talk specs rides a wheelbase of 102.2 inches long 70.3 inches wide 181.4 inches is the overall length weighs 3132 pounds price was 3 406 dollars which would be equivalent to you spending 36 thousand hundred one dollars 48 cents in the year 2022. total ford production in 1957 was 1 million 676 449 units of which total t-bird production was 21 380 units moving on to engines there's a lot of them so the standard engine in 57 was the 292 y-block v8 4.8 liters it would have a c code on the vin tag if it had this engine it was rated at 212 brake horsepower at 4500 rpm with a bore of 3.8 inches and a stroke of 3.3 inches compression was nine point one to one five main bearings cast iron block slash crank case four barrel carburetor now the rest of these are all 312's but different configurations so i'm not going to go over the boring stroke every single time but it'll be up there so you can see what it is so this one was called the special v8 it was a hundred and twenty three dollar option which would be equivalent to you spending a 1279.45 in year 2022 this had a decode on the vin tag 312 cubic inch displacement y block v8 5.1 liters it made 245 brake horsepower at 4500 rpm bore of 3.8 inches stroke of 3.4 inches compression was 9.7 to 1 5 main bearings fed with a four-barrel carburetor all right moving up the ladder this one is called the super v8 it was priced at 189.60 which was equivalent to 1972.22 in the year 2022. on the vintage it would say e-code this one made 285 brake horsepower at 5000 rpms the compression was 10 to 1. five main bearings just like the rest of them the carburetor situation was dual quads so two four-barrel carburetors on the top of this engine perched at the top of the engine tree this one's the extra high performance super duper v8 i added the duper this one's supercharged and it cost 230 dollars 80 cents which would be equivalent to 2478 dollars in 2022 312 cubic inch displacement y block v8 5.1 liters this thing made 340 horsepower at 5300 rpm compression was eight point five to one cast iron block holley four barrel carburetor let's move on to the transmissions there was three transmissions on offer three speed manual three speed manual with overdrive and the three speed 3-speed 4-domatic automatic just a little bit of a side note the 2-speed 4-domatic comes a little bit later and the easiest way to tell them apart is the 2-speed 4-domatic has an aluminum housing or casing let's talk about this door panel just check this out we've got wing windows at the top here not vent windows because they're just attached to the door pillar itself but notice how this is designed this is just a bar that supports the wing window and then when the window comes up it supports the window and everything but it's just essentially just a bar just sticking out moving down here block and unlock the doors this is the door handle to get out down here is the electric window switches passenger and driver side there's a set of switches just to the right of the door handle those control the power seats notice how the armrest comes up here and it tapers downward it gets bigger as it comes down here and it's also at an angle all right moving on to the seating position which i think is the biggest downfall of this car these cars are gorgeous but just to show you look at how small the seat cushion is legitly on the floor i totally forgot my level today and it might be hard to see this but back here the water is pretty level if you move it up here it it dips down but it doesn't dip down far enough for it to be comfortable i have a whole comparison video coming up with different cars comparing why it works in some cars and why it doesn't work in other cars i was going to do it in part of this episode but i found out that you can't really read the tape measure the way that i shot this so i have to go back and reshoot it but it's coming all right now we're going to get inside the thunderbird i'm going to show you how hard it is for somebody my size to get in it but i will show you to be fair this seat isn't all the way back it can go back a little ways but as soon as the top hits this that's all the space it has so it's only going to improve by like an inch maybe an inch and a half i can't put the seat back our is being worked on at the moment but i don't want it to disappear here we go all right show you what it's like getting inside here so this is a really hard car to get into if you're tall it's so much easier getting into a nash metropolitan dog legs definitely help out they help me out anyway put my leg in like this oh steering wheel the steering wheel is so huge that it's just it's hard to do it that way but this seating position is a lot better than a 56 or a 55. they just feel tighter for some reason this doesn't feel so bad this one doesn't seem so bad once you get situated there's enough room underneath the steering wheel i don't know if they re did the tops or anything but there's a lot more room in this because legitly when i drove the other one i was hunched over driving it this one isn't so bad as you can see the seat profile here it does have a little bit of an angle so it's not straight up it's slanted a little bit this is the over the hood impression this is what it would look like first person i love the dashboard in this it's one of my favorite dashboard designs of the 1950s i love all the engine turning and it continues the whole way across in on the door panel itself this one's got quite a big very wide it's very deep i should say lots of 50s cars don't have very deep dashboards this one's relatively deep on to the button switches and knobs all the way to the bottom left is the ignition switch just above that left air all right point your attention to the bottom of the dashboard just to the right of the ignition switch are the headlights just above that rpm gauge notice it's a hundred times a hundred instead of times a thousand just above that the fuel gauge the speedometer is in the center generally where the speedometer is and it's a bigger gauge than all the rest of the gauges it also features an odometer which is in the center of that gauge it's flanked on both sides at the top by turn signals that's what those little round dots are both left and right those are for your turn signal indicators and at the bottom of the speedometer is an oil and generator which are represented as lights just to the right of the speedometer is the temperature gauge just below that is a clock just below the clock at the bottom of the dashboard is the wiper switch just below that is the hood release just to the right of the clock is the lighter in the center is the town and country radio with a light at the top ashtrays located right below it climate controls and blower within reach for passengers on to the gold box test here's our test subject here's our glove box so it fits in there coming down inside the pedal box down here this is the hand brake there's the high beam for your headlights brake pedal gas pedal there's these side vents also there's one on the driver's side as well as on the passenger side over there there is another vent down inside there and that allows cold air to come in from the outside draws it in from here and blows it down at your feet check out the drive select modes on this for park reverse neutral drive and low so coming around to the back back here and getting into the trunk keyhole cover you just move it out of the way this is what the trunk looks like notice it has a plaid trunk liner full-size spare the gas filler to put gas in this car is on the right hand side as opposed to the left-hand side i don't know why car companies did that in the 50s especially like if your car is left hand drive why did they put them on the right-hand side or vice versa my favorite spot for the gas filler is in the center because then you could go to either one it doesn't get under the hood you always want to pick these up in the center so just check out the battery box here master cylinder notice there's no power brake booster attached to it power steering this looks like a windshield washer accessory because the bag is attached to it this is a windshield washer bag that's what used to be distributors in the back which usually on fords are in the front chevy puts them in the back so just check out this generator look at the radiator it's not that big and here's my hand for reference it's got a four blade fan the shroud's really interesting design on to the pros and cons i'm getting all of these pros and cons from the complete book of collectible cars blue chip auto investment 70 years from 1930 to 2000 by richard m langworth and the auto editors of consumer guide on the positive side outstanding styling still looks great good performance beginning to gain back the value it lost in the 1990s large club support two-seat mystique against it handling is uninspired they are pricey some rust success ability in other words they are rust prone thank you all so much for watching if you're in the usa happy fourth of july shoot some fireworks off for me if you're local i'll see you tonight at the louisville car show cruising the river tonight and until next time but you can come along with me cause we got a lot of things to do now and we'll have fun fun fun now that daddy takes a t-bird away fun now that daddy took the t-bird away happy fourth of july everybody just wanted to end with something a little bit different something a little fun till next time toodaloo

Channel: What it’s like

Views: 16,265

Keywords:

Id: U_8_mRR2THc

Length: 16min 57sec (1017 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 04 2022