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The Thunderbird lived its last days as a two-seater sports car in 1957 which is when Ford introduced the 312 5.1-liter V-8 engine. That’s how the E-Code Thunderbird was born, the beefiest of them all and the closest alternative to the Corvette that Ford ever offered.
Ford debuted the Thunderbird at the Detroit Auto Show in February of 1954 and quickly dubbed it “personal car” so as to suggest it wasn’t a direct answer to GM’s Corvette. What it was, in all fairness, was a luxury sports car tailor-made for the kind of people that were looking for a more refined 2-seater model than the Corvette.
The 1957 Thunderbird was the last which retained the original two-passenger layout before Ford decided that their clientele would much rather go for a 4-seater sports car with added amenities and weight. So, for 1957, Ford made the most powerful T-Bird ever by introducing the 5.1-liter V-8 engine, in a number of guises. The twin quad-barrel carburetor ones were distinguishable by the letter E in the car’s VIN code – the source of the ’E-Bird’ nickname.
Keep reading to learn more about the 1957 Ford Thunderbird E-Code
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