This is a Manual Transmission Shifter 1957 Ford Thunderbird Hard as it may be to believe, in all of the years that curbside classics have been gracing the pages of Curbside Classic, we have never given the 1957 Thunderbird its day in the sun. At least not without its older brothers along. That day has now come. It is generally accepted that General Motors was the long-reining king of automotive styling. Names like Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell are well known for the long stream of attractive and trend-setting cars that they guided from paper to clay and into showrooms everywhere during the company’s long term domination of the American auto industry. However, it seems that once every decade it was the Ford Motor Company that hit the stylistic home run which made all other cars seem ordinary.