The restoration of a 1957 Factory Supercharged Thunderbird                                                   By Tom Maruska




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PAGE 3 The paint was quite thick on this car and it took three gallons of Remover to get down to the metal.  The small amounts of paint and primer residue that are left on the body will be removed later with the DA sander in preparation for  the straightening filler work.  The DA with 80 Grit paper will remove the leftover paint and primer quickly and scuff the surface of the metal which will  make for a good bond with the filler and new primer. Incidentally, if you don't have a good local auto body supply store, Auto Body Depot has a very good website where you can  purchase nearly everything you'll need.  It's located here:   http://www.autobodydepot.com When I purchased this car there were a lot of the unique supercharger related parts missing. I had the main items like the carburetor, intake manifold and McCulloch blower but a lot of the "seemingly" smaller parts were missing.  "Seemingly" because although they are small parts in size  I've found that they are not at all small in price. I guess the good news is that there are people out there that reproduce these elusive accessory parts.  It's been difficult to track down these guys so I'm going to introduce you to those I've found and tell you a little about them and their interest in the "F" Birds and how to get ahold  of them if you need parts for yours. The first guy I met is John Shields.  He is the keeper of the (un)Official Registry of 1957 Supercharged Thunderbirds.  John heard that I purchased an "F" Bird and while I was at the Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale Arizona in January 2006 where I sold a 1962 "M" Code Sport Roadster Thunderbird John approached me and introduced himself.  It was interesting to find that my car was previously unregistered and was car number 156 to be found of the original 196 (Phase 2 cars) that were built. John told me there  are 15 D/F's also called Phase Ones and 196 Phase Two F-Birds from F7FH310743 to   F7FH395670.   He also said "I have the numbers for  all 211 supercharged  cars and the dealers to which they were delivered.  Of the  156 cars I know exist  I  have data plate numbers and copies of 126 of their invoices  so far.   The last phase one was D7FH202195.   Your car is the 34th made as an "F" Bird.  If  I count the D/F cars yours would be the 49th  Supercharged Thunderbird." My car was last licensed in 1973 in the state of Virginia.  It came from Annandale and as I mentioned earlier the former owner started taking the car apart for restoration,  became ill and passed away.  The car sat in his garage for many years until his family finally decided to part with it in 2005.

An opportunist purchased it then and I purchased it from him through a third party broker in March of 2006.  The third party broker goes by "Tbird Nut" and you want to avoid him at all costs.  Email me at tom@tbirdsquare.com and I'll tell you why. Here's a little more about John Shields in his own hand: "When I bought my supercharged Thunderbird, I started looking  for  Thunderbird people  I could learn from and become more at ease with the car.  I  began to collect information from people I met at regional and national  car shows around the country.  I have met many car buffs in the last  25 years and now have a list  of 156 F-Birds with information from the data plates  and have received 126 invoices from the people I have met.  With  all the information that I have been able to collect over the years, a  number of the F-bird owners are now referring to the list as a registry of supercharged T-birds  and want their names on the list.  I have belonged to CTCI (ClassicThunderbird Club International) for many  years.  If you  need information, I will be glad to help you.   Please send the two lines of information off the  data plate and  a copy of your invoice, if possible."   John A Shields, CTCI #3519, 10542 E. Terra  Drive Scottsdale, AZ 85258, 480-391-2432 home phone, 480-614-1778 home fax, email fbirds@cox.net While talking with John I inquired about some of the parts I was missing and needed to find.  John gave me a couple names of guys he knew to reproduce some of the parts.  He gave me two names to check out, Frank Stubbs and  Dan Evans. Dan Evans owns a restoration shop called Classic Restorations at  2850 John Street Easton, PA.  He can be reached by email at evansda@fast.net or by phone at 610-258-9542. Among the items Dan reproduces are the unique vacuum and fuel lines for the "F" engines. He also has many NOS parts he's accumulated of which I've scored big time. Dan is also a great source of information as he is very knowledgeable about Thunderbirds in general and all of the unique pieces that make up the Supercharged engines.  His help has been invaluable. I of course asked Dan about the other parts I was still missing like the crank damper which is unique as it has three pulleys rather than the typical two of the production Small Birds.  The third runs the supercharger.  Dan gave me Jim Weatherlys name and phone number. Return to TOM MARUSKA CARS Move ahead TO PAGE 4