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Ford built roughly 21,000 two-seat Thunderbirds for 1957, and only a couple hundred of them left the factory with the supercharged F-code 312. This one is not that car. It is a hand-built tribute running Mummert aluminum heads, an Edelbrock intake and triple carburetors under a pearl white porthole hardtop. Read on for what made the 1957 Thunderbird the best of the two-seaters and how this build chases the same idea by a different route.
This 1958 Ford F100 shortbed still runs its factory 272 cubic-inch Y-block V8 and original three-speed manual, filmed at Country Classic Cars in Staunton, Illinois. Sharp-eyed commenters spotted clues suggesting the radio and mirrors weren’t original to the truck — a reminder of just how much detective work goes into verifying a survivor. Watch to see what else gives this classic Ford’s history away.
Ford invented the modern car-based pickup with the 1957 Ranchero, then spent 1958 giving it a completely new face borrowed from the Thunderbird’s design language. This red and black two-tone example runs the 292 Y-block V8 backed by a three-speed manual — the configuration most 1958 buyers actually chose. Production that year barely cleared 10,000 units. Read on to find out why the Ranchero’s second year is the hardest one to find today.