Body-off driver partial restoration of 1957 Thunderbird This 1957 Thunderbird has a Willow Green exterior, Cucumber Green and Willow interior with a black soft top. It has a 312 engine with a 4 barrel carburetor, automatic transmission, Borgeson power steering unit, power windows, power front disc brakes with a dual master cylinder and portioning valve, and Town and Country AM/FM radio. This car will be built to body off driver.

The existing undercoat has to be removed, which is a tedious process that can take days. It has to be done so the entire body is material free, as much as possible, to be ready for primer and paint.

Chemical paint stripper is applied to the body and then scraped off to remove all old paint, and body-filler. Then, all lead will be removed from the lead seams and we will have the body sent for sand blasting.

The car is now ready to be sand blasted to finish removing all the old paint, filler, and seam sealer.

The metal had to be replaced in places after all the old material was removed. New metal is welded in to replace the missing pieces

The body has been sandblasted and the first layer of primer has been applied. Panel alignments are performed and rust repair is done.

The body is now coated with polyester primer filler.

We cleaned up the frame of the car and will re-install the body onto it.

The last coat of primer is applied and the body is almost ready for paint.

The engine is taped off and getting ready to be stripped and painted.

This 312 engine has been painted and is ready to be put back into the engine compartment.

The final blocking has been completed. The underside of the body is sanded and ready for paint.

The final primer has been applied to the body so it will be sanded one last time prior to the first coat of paint.

The splash panel, starter head light buckets, down-shaft tube and drive shaft are all painted.

Miscellaneous parts are painted and ready for installation.

The dash, air conditioning unit, and the engine have been reassembled.

After the long months of hard work, it has been completely restored. The trunk, doors, dash panel, carpet, and upholstery are shown in these final pictures.