“Classic” doesn’t always mean “collectible.” Take the 1957 Ford Thunderbird, which has been struggling to find buyers, a phenomenon that Jay Leno himself recently shed light on.
Leno highlighted the 1957 Ford Thunderbird in a recent edition of Jay Leno’s Garage alongside appraiser Donald Osborne. The specific vehicle in question is on loan from the Audrain Automotive Museum in Newport, Rhode Island, and features a manual gearbox, making it a bit rarer than the masses. Leno points out that the Thunderbird has actually gone down in value in recent years, explaining that the ’57 model year T-bird was worth more at the beginning of its life than it’s proven to be in the later stages. It featured cutting-edge tech for the time, like electric windows and a big V8 engine, geared more toward luxury than performance.
However, that focus on luxury proved to be a detriment in the long-term. Leno says that automotive enthusiasts tend to favor power and speed more than luxury, driving fans toward the likes of the Chevy Corvette. As such, the 1957 Ford Thunderbird has become rather hard to sell in the modern market and seem to be a dime a dozen on online auction sites.
“Five years ago, a car like this Thunderbird, an E-Code manual gearbox car, would have been bought for about $150,000,” Osborne explains. “Today, it’d be about $125,000.”
While that figure is certainly nothing to sneeze at, it represents a 17 percent decrease in value in just five years, and that’s not insignificant. It’s even worse for examples of the T-bird that don’t have a manual transmission, though – automatic transmission models are even more common, making them far less valuable than the example pictured here.
However, that’s not to say all Ford Thunderbird models are depreciating so rapidly. In fact, the 1964 through 1966 model year T-bird landed on Hagerty’s bull market list a few years ago.
Leno certainly knows his way around a Ford. He took a California Highway Patrol Ford Mustang tribute for a ride, showing off the vehicle’s tech and its unique paint scheme. He’s also one of the lucky few to get his hands on the Ford Mustang GTD – and had his vehicle personally delivered by Ford CEO Jim Farley himself.
The Explorer Sport Trac and a parked car were the only victims.
It has quite a few modern upgrades.
Behind only the Explorer and the Mach-E itself.
They might have been given Transit Trail tires.
View Comments
Surprising the number of facts in the T-Bird discussion these guys, especially Leno, are wrong about.
Joe…absolutely right. Also, I am guessing that the ‘55 with overheating problems and the ‘56 with the continental tire probably are worse off than the ‘57. I’d love to have one in that it is a more contemporary car and represents, for me, a better world. It never was intended to be a racer but a spirited tourer.
My mom's cousin was a big shot at Ford, and had one with a supercharger. It was geared more toward performance.
Somewhat surprised that the interview did not discuss the factory 1957 supercharged "F-Birds", of which about 196 were made. That rare type seems to be holding its value due to its rarity, and its well above average performance with the Paxton supercharger pushing the Y-Block 312 to about 300 to 340 HP.
Car collectors can be a strange bunch. The baby birds are wonderful automobiles and out preform the corvette. You slap a bow tie on them and for some strange reason the value would probably go up.