I just had to stop for these two red classics facing off at a car broker’s lot. Not a full CC today, although we are a bit overdue on the ’55 – ’57 T-Bird. And I’m holding out for a ’56 -’57 “Vette. In the meantime, let’s do a quickie shopping comparison, before we whip out the old Bank of MM checkbook.
Let’s take a couple of steps back and size up just who is stepping into this ring. Like most face-offs, they’re not hardly perfectly matched. The Corvette is a 1959 (I’m 99% certain), whereas the T-Bird is a 1956. By 1959, the ‘Little Bird’ had morphed into the Squarebird, an altogether different animal.
And by 1959, the Corvette was suffering a bit from GM’s late-fifties bling binge. But their design origins stem back to a roughly similar time period, and certainly reflect their respective corporate themes.
Especially so, the Thunderbird. Except for a slightly different lens, that rear tail light assembly looks like it came right off the 1956 Ford sedans. That rear “jet exhaust outlet” sure doesn’t work for me. It was functional in 1955, with the exhaust pipe ducted through the middle of it. Now it just looks dumb. At least this one doesn’t have the continental spare hanging off the back end, as almost every ’56 T-Bird now seems to. Needless to say, the T-Bird’s boulevard-cruiser image was there from the beginning to some extent, but quickly came to dominate.
The Corvette hind quarters are a booty-lover’s delight. Big, bulging, sensuous; if already looking a bit out of date. It was the Corvette’s most dated feature, and the only one that merited plastic surgery (in 1961) before the end of its run. At least the ’59 had lost the horrendous additional chrome trim that cluttered up the 1958’s tail.
The T-Bird’s real intended purpose is also evident in the interior, which even eschews genuine buckets for a contoured bench. That red steering wheel looks a bit odd and unoriginal to me; or?
The Corvette’s interior meanwhile kept getting more business-like, in the idiom of the times. With the dash restyle of 1958, it even placed a proper-sized tach right where it belonged, front and center. Four-speed: check! And that steering wheel: the GM version of a Nardi.
Now we’re getting to the business ends. The T-Bird’s front end is rather handsome, although it would have looked that much better yet without the rubber Dagmars. The ones that have had the double mastectomy look decidedly better for it. Under the Thunderbird’s fake hood scoop beats the the heart of Ford’s Y-Block V8, not exactly a true sporting machine by any stretch. Maybe that’s what determined the T-Bird’s fate and direction from the start.
The 1956s had a choice of the the 292 or 312, in 202, 215 or 225 hp versions. That equaled the ’56 Corvette’s much smaller but also 225 hp 265 inch small block.
The Corvette’s 1958 face lift included some serious orthodontia. But some folks swear by its sparkling “presence”. To each their own.
But we know there’s plenty of sparkling performance under the hood, especially when it has those magic words on its side. A fuelie ‘Vette; if only it were a ’57. Or ’65. The words were near-mythical at the time, and still are among the C1 Corvette faithful. I don’t know which of the two it has:, the 250 hp “mild” version, or the 290 horsepower Duntov-cammed one. The little 283 fuelie would eventually peak with 315 hp in 1961, before the 327’s reign began.
There we have it. The market has of course already spoken by the asking prices: $26, 995 for the Thunderbird, and $49,995 for the Corvette. But don’t let that dissuade you, since we’re talking MM dollars.
Ill take the Corvette always liked the looks its unique and with a cutting torch and a gallon or two of bog I could chop a 56 Customline into a T bird The Corvette looks to me like it was designed to be what it is where the T bird always looked like a modified Custo. So Sue me
I had always understood that the continental kit spare was factory issue on the 56, and standard equipment, at that. So, could this one be a 55?
Anyway, a great question. The Birds seem to have sunk down more or less to earth, after being so hugely sought after in the 1970s. I always liked the look of the little Bird, a 56 with the conti kit and fender skirts was my fave. But as nice as it would be with a 4 barrel 312, I think that any fair observer will conclude that the Vette had it all over the Bird as a driver’s sports car.
Can I have both? The Vette for real driving (and investment?) and the Bird for more comfortable cruising.
You’re right about that; I forgot it was standard. The license plate says “Our 56T”, and it does not have the ’55 exhaust tips on the middle of the “afterburners”.Hmm.
Other details also say “56”. Guess they took of the conti spare. Congratulations for going against the grain.
’56 added little vent doors a la Studebaker. This smacks of a ’55. Which means a 292 Y block. More noise than speed, but remember, THESE T-Birds are boulevadiers. Yes, I’d love one!
This one does have the vent doors in the fenders, so it’s a ’56 with the continental kit removed.
I wear bifocals and looked at this on my iPhone. I’ll look again; if it indeed does have doors (and I do believe I’m wrong), then I’ll do ten our fathers and an automotive novena. Then ’56 it is! Little Studebaker doors were in response to ’55 owners’ complaints that the cabin got too warm because of engine heat.
Expanded the photo – the Studebaker doors are there. ’56 it is! I made the sign of the “T” and am doing pennance.
If the Malibu behind them were a coupe I’d say neither. Since that’s not the case I’ll stick with the Mark of Excellence and take the Corvette.
My favorite T-birds are from the “bullet bird” era, not so much the 1st gen T-birds. I’m not much of a Vette fan either, but 1959-60 are my favorites and that one checks all the right boxes: quad headlamps with chrome bezels, pre-61 back-end with the taillights in the fender tops, contrasting color in the side scallops, 4-speed stick. The OEM mechanical fuel injection system is good for bragging rights, but I’d rather do without it and save some aggravation and money if I was actually buying though. In this particular showdown, the Vette definitely wins in my mind.
I wonder if the steering wheel is the only part of the interior that has not had a color change. That saddle tan interior, while well done, looks like a reupholstery job to me. The top looks like it has a vinyl covering in the same color, which definitely is not original. I’d guess both it and the interior were done at the same time. The interior colors on these T-Birds tended to match the exterior color, with white as the second interior color. I bet this one originally had a red and white interior and a red top.
That said, I prefer the Corvette, but if the T-Bird was a ’57, I’d have to reconsider. Love those fins!
I agree. You might see a red and white Customline 2-door with a tan interior – in fact I know of one – but not a T-bird.
Interesting pics. A full cc on the early ‘birds would definitely be a treat for some of us fans of Fords from the past.
The continental spare was definitely standard on all ‘birds for 1956, and the interior color and vinyl top on this car are most definintely not original as neither was part of the color palette for any of the first three ‘bird years. It looks as though the ‘bird was subject to a lesser quality restoration at some point, and they must have taken off the ’56 rear bumper and continental kit and replaced it with the bumper from a ’55. The problem they ran into was that the ’56 exhaust originally ran out of openings at either end of the bumper rather than out of those bullets on the bumper, as had been done in ’55. (With the continental spare, there was no room for the bullets.) Rather than trying to go to the trouble of routing through the bullets, it appears they just let the exhaust pipes run straight out the back.
The continental spare was originally intended to free up trunk space for what was not a true sports car, but a boulevard cruiser. That heavy weight at the very back of the car made handling, particularly at higher speeds, a bit delicate, so the spare was put back in the trunk in ’57.
I am in agreement with you on the interior, now that I have seen it on a better monitor. That interior says 70s or 80s to me, certainly not 50s.
Yeah , I knew That Brown interior just didn’t look like any I had seen in a T-Bird.
Thanks Joe for the insight on the reason for Bumper changes so completely rethought out over 2 short years of updates.
I’d have to go T-Bird for myself. Just a more graceful look to my eye.
I hope I don’t sound like a bigger-than-usual jerk here, but what’s a MM dollar?
Monopoly Money.
Mental Masturbation.
Funny, I first thought it was Murrilee Martin!
Muralee, that’s what I kept thinking too but knew that was NOT what Paul meant though!
Just two things. Henry FordII said the tbirds were a personal luxury car and not in competition with the vette. Obviously GM disagreed and probably kept the vette around because of the bird.
265 CID for the small block. Not 256.
Good comparo but according to Ford it was apples and oranges.
Im biased obviously to the Corvette <<
I love them both and think they are perfect just the way they are. In fact I’m one of those low class people who would like the Thunderbird better if it had a continental kit.
My father owned a 57 Vette and a 57 T-Bird when I was a teenager. The Vette was very fast (283 2 4 barrel carbs three speed manual) and it rode like a log truck. I drove it 4 hours home from the auction. The T-Bird was so slow with the automatic transmission, it was a big disappointment. Then, I would have chosen the Vette, now (40 years later) the T-Bird.
I’ll go for the T-bird on the basis that I’d prefer a C2 or early C3 Corvette, but the first gen T-bird is the one I would buy if I was stocking my MM 100-car garage. The price difference will allow a lot of upgrades to make it perform and drive a lot better, as the style is the charm of these cars not the whole package IMO. Just a question of how far you take it, eg keep the original engine, go for a 347 or a Coyote (with some effort to keep a period looking engine bay).
55 – I’d Go for a T-Bird in Thunderbird Blue over the Corvette
56 The Interior Ruins This 4 me, T-bird is One Car I Want 100% original, So I’d pick the 59 Corvette Over this
57 T-Bird Dusty Rose or Dusk Rose, Matching interior. White Hardtop?
58 I rather like the ornate rear end, In Turquoise
1959 T-Bird Would Lose out to The Rare- Corvette… In Red I suppose, I like Little Red Corvette far too much , not to have one, with MM of course.
1960 Tbird Coupe With Fac tory Sunroof – Gold and Black or Pink
61 — I Liked The Vette’s new Back end More than The New T-birds, but for..
62 I’ll get a Bullet Bird in Teal or ? Aqua , before I go back to The
63 Corvette With that Dashing new front end
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4 Me The Real Match up would come in 1965 – They Both Were At Their Peak…
two different cars, Tops In their own field , yet both OVershadowed by something Almost or twice as Exciting at less that 1/2 the price….
Throw in a ’57 Studebaker Golden Hawk . . . and I’ll take the Studie . . . has to be stick!
The Corvette had its purpose – and remained true to it. What bloat it suffered was in favor of the wild styling and huge motors of the post-1968 era. Heavy or not, it was intended to look like a racer and run like one. Even if it did somewhat resemble the Batmobile….
The T-Bird suffered from lack of mission. Obviously (and history verifies this) it was an afterthought; a me-too run-off. Body was outsourced to Briggs and the engineering (and trim; note the mid-fifties front-end parts and the off-the-line taillights) was strictly parts-bin. This last to help hide the project from Lundy and McNamara and the other Whiz Kids, who prattled on about “standard volume” and tried to block any attempt to make a Ford that was other than an appliance. Young Lee Iacocca learned his chops on this, also; as his Mustang was somewhat of a back-alley project until the Deuce gave late blessing.
The lack of mission was demonstrated when a market was perceived for what later became the “personal luxury” subset. The T-Bird was quickly remade into that mold, with the Squarebird and its later excesses.
As to which I’d want: Neither, probably. Never had much interest in the Speed-Racer cars. Give me something minimalist, utilitarian and reasonably fast, and I’m a happy owner.
Henry Ford II wanted the first Thunderbird, so I don’t believe that the developers had to hide the original car from McNamara and Ed Lundy.
Initial work on the four-seater had to be kept quiet, as McNamara was determined to kill the Thunderbird after 1957, and no replacement was initially planned. Once he supported the four-seat concept, work proceeded quickly.
Some enthusiasts within Ford did try to continue the two-seater by working up a facelift for 1958 on their own, but McNamara did shut down that effort once he got wind of it.
The sharing of parts with the standard 1955-56 Ford was designed to keep the costs down, and establish a family link between the Thunderbird and regular Ford.
Ford used this to good effect, as many advertisements featured both cars. Ford wanted the Thunderbird to radiate some of its glamor on to the pedestrian standard cars, and it worked. In this respect, Ford initially got much more mileage out of the original Thunderbird than Chevrolet did out of the first Corvette.
Give me a ’57 F code (supercharged) T-Bird or an E code (dual quads).
“There we have it. The market has of course already spoken by the asking prices: $26, 995 for the Thunderbird, and $49,995 for the Corvette. But don’t let that dissuade you, since we’re talking MM dollars.”
$75K to over $120K++ for E and F code Birds………speaks a lot!
While you are at it, why not compare a 53 Corvette (6 cylinder/2 spd auto) to a 55 Thunderbird (V8/stick……with power windows and a hardtop no less?)
This is an absurd comparo…………and the bias is obvious. You don’t like Fords….so be it. But don’t do an unfair comparison with a somewhat funky (tan interior?? no Continental Kit…….wonder why the price is so low?) Bird and a newer, decent, Vette.
In good original condition they are both great cars.
I think you missed the point. I didn’t pick these two cars; they just happened to be there. And there is no “winner”; did I say there was? It’s simply a conversation about two cars found together.
I don’t believe that the front bumper guards with rubber tips were available in 1956. The factory bumper guards were all chrome.
While I don’t doubt that Corvettes are worth more than same yearThunderbirds in the same condition, the asking price for this particular Thunderbird probably reflects the half-hearted restoration effort. The interior colors and materials are not factory original, the continental kit is missing and the front bumper guards and rear bumper are not correct.
The red exterior color looks like it has a much more orange tint than the red Ford actually used that year. The Corvette, on the other hand, looks as though it only needs factory-correct wheels and wheel covers to please the “purist” crowd. The fuel injection also boosts the value of the Corvette.
For 1955, I’d take the Thunderbird, but it would be a toss-up for 1956 and 1957. When Chevrolet debuted the new, improved 1956 Corvette, it was already apparent that these cars were heading in very different directions.
Growing up, a Corvette was rara avis in my steel-town neighborhood. Few people owned one, because they were expensive and not very utilitarian.
I think back to when I was a child, older adults thought that spending that much money on a car that only accommodated two people was frivolous. Of course, many of the older adults I knew as a child survived the depression and a world war, so maybe their priorities were correct.
But I loved the baroque (for lack of a better term, think of Rembrandt’s female models) styling of the late 50’s Vette. And that the few motorheads in our neighborhood (who weren’t teenage boys) were in awe of them, only heightened the mystique.
I never saw that vintage of Thunderbird on the road, in fact I didn’t become familiar with them until I was in my teens. When I was very young, most of that vintage of car in general had rusted off the road years before. That we lived in a town near a GM plant and had many people employed there, which resulted in a bit of a bias to the GM boys, even if our plant was producing Impalas at the time.
I still find the Thunderbird winsome, even playful, as compared to the electric shaver/Godzilla orthodontia Corvette.
I’d have to take them both. Besides, its just MM money anyway, right?
I like them both, but both are restorations – not that there’s anything wrong with that, but the TBird needs a red interior like originally intended, not GM saddle tan. Come to think of it, the saddle tan is ‘way nicer a color than the late 70’s-early 80’s Ford orange-ish tan! Shoulda changed the steering wheel, though.
Give me a new ‘Vette any day…
I’d take the Vette if I could strip off all the bling and make it look more like the ones Briggs Cunningham ran at Sebring:
However since I have bad taste in cars and despise the enthusiast baloney that goes with genuine collectables I’ll hold my MM for now.
I’d go with the Corvette, the first one of these I ever saw was in Key Biscayne Florida when they were fiiming one of the Porkys movies, all the movie cars were being kept in the parking garage of an apartment buidling, I took a look at the Corvette and I was hooked on that 160MPH sweeping speedometer, the car in the pictures reminds me of Otters Corvette in Animal House and the red and white Corvette that the used car salesman had in True Lies.
I have had the pleasure to ride in both cars, and found that the doors are bigger when getting in the thunder bird, but buy the time your butt finds the seat bottom in the tee bird ,your pretty flat with the floor like a go cart. The corvette buckets are alot more comfortable.The leg room in the tee bird will not allow you to streach your legs, while the vett will. the corvette has a cowl vent , that keeps the air moving, while the tee birds vents don”t do a thing.Driving in the tee bird you notice the nose is long, and it feels like a sled. lastly when you excellerate in the corvette it makes you smile!