It featured a sleek design and a powerful engine that made it a favorite among drivers. The 1957 Ford Thunderbird was a car that was ahead of its time. The Thunderbird was a huge success and quickly became one of Ford's most popular models. It was one of the first cars to feature a wraparound windshield. The 1957 Ford Thunderbird “F-Code” is a prime example of classic cool, and a trend-leader in its own right for driving the muscle car explosion of the 1960s.Introduced in 1955, the Ford Thunderbird was a two-seater with a front-mounted V8 engine and a rear-mounted transmission. Here on TheCoolist, it’s our aim to study recent advancements and trends in design and culture, but with plenty of reverence for “historic cool”. Under the hood, the engine is carefully maintained, producing the 300-horsepower response that it was celebrated for in ’57. It sports a two-seat open cockpit for fair weather cruising, and its interior is as speckless as the condition of the body. This 1957 Ford Thunderbird is as elegant as it is powerful.
Its exterior is raven black in color, and the white walls and chrome spokes recall the original design by Ford. The F-Code Thunderbird is immaculately restored, appearing as it did in 1957 when it rolled out of the factory floor in Detroit, Michigan.
It is amongst the jewels of the collection of Sam Pack, a Dallas-based collector who is auctioning his entire collection in November 2014. This Ford Thunderbird, named “F-Code” after a faithful restoration to factory condition, is about to go under the gavel. With that supercharger, the 1957 Ford Thunderbird “F-Bird” put “bigger, faster, stronger” on the map, sparking an engine arms race that continued into the 1970s. Supercharging wasn’t a new technology, but a supercharged V8 was instantly the most desirable engine between four wheels.
The F-Series Thunderbird was the first of its era to offer a supercharged V8, an engine with a power boost that blew the ceiling off of V8 potential. The V8 engine had already become the powerplant of choice from America’s top manufacturers, but the ’57 Thunderbird was a breakthrough. The 1957 Ford Thunderbird represented a tipping point in the era of American Muscle.