1957 Ford Thunderbird Bill Frick Conversion Documented 1 Owner Low Miles!!! on 2040-cars

 Who was Bill Frick?   Bill Frick was a gifted early model mechanic and fabricator many years before the term "Hot Rodders" was used.  Well known in the late 40s by his custom engine conversion packages out of a little shop in Long Island NY.

 This very unique and rare example of one of Bill Frick's conversions (according to our research) that there were only 3 Thunderbirds built by Bill Frick Motors, however, only one with the Pontiac 389 engine.  When the car was purchased new in Lowell MA, the owner of the car was a big time drag racer.  He wanted to build a car that would blow the doors off anyone who would come against him.  he sent the car to Bill Frick in Rockville Centre NY for a performance upgrade engine swap.  They used a modified 1959 Pontiac engine, completely balanced, forge true pistons, PC rings, Clevite bearings, full floating wrist pins, high pressure oil pump, relieve combustion chamber, ground out ports, adjustable rocker arm studs, Howard cam and lifters, special log-type intake manifold and 6 Rochester carb, lighten and polished valves.  Spaulding special flywheel and clutch, a special dual McCulloch blower set up was installed and a special panel for blower solenoids, fuel pump and over drive was installed under the dash inside the car.  A Stewart Warner tach and manual spark control was also installed in the car.  Many modifications to the motor, clutch linkage, throttle linkage, a custom engine to trans, adapter plate was made, fabrication of special headers with Lake pipes and plugs installed For non-slip differential gears, removed and replaced gas tank modified for special fuel system.  Special under ride dual traction bars and lowering the back end to raise the front end.  The Paxton McCulloch system was aborted and sent back to Paxton and the car ended up with dual 4s Offenhauser alum intake and 2 Carter 4 barrel carbs.  They gave $500 credit to the 312 V8.  Some modifications had to be done to the hood of the car to make provisions for the dual supercharger system.  3  bulge style tear drops were dollied by hand and refinished in black lacquer.

The interior of the car is all orig. including the carpet.  Blk/wht/ bench seat has some dried cracks on the drivers side.  Door panels, dash board, instrument cluster is all in great shape, no cracks in the orig. dash.  Custom Hurst shifter with Borg Warner 3 spd. gear box with OD works fine.  Vintage Stewart Warner and McCulloch vacuum gauges and switches installed.  Town& Country am radio, no PS, power brakes, crank windows, telescopic steering wheel, no cracks noticed in the orig. steering wheel.  This unique single family owned thunderbird is straight from an estate, stored since 1999 in dry storage, the car is in running condition, however it hasn't been driven for the past 15 yrs.   We clay barred the exterior and it came back beautifully but we think it's best to preserve the originality of this car as a true time capsule without changing too much.  Comes with documentation, thousands of $$ in receipts, Owner History and many great stories.  Surely, one of a kind and modified from a famous legend (Bill Frick) who was well ahead of his time.  The only one know to exist with  Pontiac engine...own a piece of race history!  Contact Roland for more info: 603-361-3693.

More photos are available   http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/jillholland/library/57%20Thunderbird%20Black