Today, it remains in gorgeous concours condition. This impeccable car also received an 18-month mechanical restoration in Melbourne, Australia. It was the subject of a rotisserie restoration using original parts and completed in late 2010 by Gil Baumgartner. One of just eight still remaining, this fabulous 1957 Thunderbird Phase 1 was sent by the factory to Florida for the annual Speed Week flying mile competition at Daytona Beach. McNamara’s plan bore fruit at Daytona in February 1957, where one of the Phase 1 Thunderbirds set a new record in the flying mile competition for American sports cars with a speed of 138.755 MPH, beating the previous year’s record by 6 MPH. The supercharger option would carry a rating of 300 horsepower.” McNamara’s order led to the production of approximatThunderbirds, all built on January 25, 1957, incorporating the specified 312 CI single 4-barrel carburetor engine, McCulloch VR57 Phase 1 supercharger, a heavy-duty 3-speed manual transmission, seat belts and a fiberglass hard top. McNamara issued a letter to the Ford Executive Committee describing an internal engine development program “deemed essential to the maintenance of the Ford car and Thunderbird performance reputation.” Determined to respond to Chevrolet’s program to develop a fuel-injection system, McNamara recommended on behalf of the Ford Engineering Office “the installation on the 312 CI 4V carburetor engine of a new design McCulloch supercharger for use on the Ford car and Thunderbird … which would provide operational characteristics equal to or better than any fuel injection system at present day development.
On November 26, 1956, Ford Division General Manager Robert S.
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