'55-'56 Birds and Crown Vics
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Daves55Sedan
Well-known member
Might be because....there are "classics" and then there are "RARE classics", coupled with the fact that the bird and Crown Vic were first introduced in '55. I believe the term "rare" refers to fewer of this model produced than other models. If that's true, I think you will find that the '55 Courier sedan delivery (a stripped down Mainline series utility wagon) is highly valued due to there being even fewer of these made in '55 than Crown Vics.
Oldmics
BANNED
I think that the current values of these two vehicles are only representative of the current crop of buyers.
Very few buyers of these cars are under 50 years of age. I also believe that the Crown Vic prices will fall faster than the price of Birds.
Birds are more of a rolling piece of art (not that the Vics are not lookers) as the Birds were deemed collectable very shortly after the final two seater rolled off the assembly line.
Interesting that only the 55-56 Birds were mentioned as the 57 Birds usually have a greater resale price tag.
I"ll get flamed for saying it but the Vics are old mans cars and the Birds appeal to the youthful sporty group.
I have great respect for both series of cars!
Now Dave mentions the rarity of the 55 Courier which as he said is a stripped down Mainline body style.
I find it interesting that people believe that a specific trim style or color or any unusual feature within a fairly hi production assembly line build creates a "rare" car.
I don't subscribe to that mindset and feel its seller bait to inflate the price of the car.
They built 40,493 Mainlines - a pretty sizeable quantity for a production run. Weather or not they built 12 green and white Couriers out of those Mainlines doesn't matter to me and only to the ultimate buyer/owner.
Same with Birds - 16,155 Birds in 1955. A smaller number built BUT look at the Golden Rod color asking price and you would think those sellers are holding real gold nuggets.
That is Barrett / Jackson marketing hype. Listen to those guys spewing out the build specs in hopes to inflate the sale prices
What I also find interesting is the values of somewhat unknown but truly rare cars.
A good example of this is the 58 Edsel Roundup 2 door wagon (yes I have one)
963 built - very small amount built BUT not very valuable.
There has to be knowledge of a cars existence along with a market desireability to have a car that will command a great sales price.
Just because a car is rare does not necessarly mean its valuable.
I find that aspect very interesting.
I didn't want to take this thread off topic but wanted to address those points.
Oldmics
Very few buyers of these cars are under 50 years of age. I also believe that the Crown Vic prices will fall faster than the price of Birds.
Birds are more of a rolling piece of art (not that the Vics are not lookers) as the Birds were deemed collectable very shortly after the final two seater rolled off the assembly line.
Interesting that only the 55-56 Birds were mentioned as the 57 Birds usually have a greater resale price tag.
I"ll get flamed for saying it but the Vics are old mans cars and the Birds appeal to the youthful sporty group.
I have great respect for both series of cars!
Now Dave mentions the rarity of the 55 Courier which as he said is a stripped down Mainline body style.
I find it interesting that people believe that a specific trim style or color or any unusual feature within a fairly hi production assembly line build creates a "rare" car.
I don't subscribe to that mindset and feel its seller bait to inflate the price of the car.
They built 40,493 Mainlines - a pretty sizeable quantity for a production run. Weather or not they built 12 green and white Couriers out of those Mainlines doesn't matter to me and only to the ultimate buyer/owner.
Same with Birds - 16,155 Birds in 1955. A smaller number built BUT look at the Golden Rod color asking price and you would think those sellers are holding real gold nuggets.
That is Barrett / Jackson marketing hype. Listen to those guys spewing out the build specs in hopes to inflate the sale prices
What I also find interesting is the values of somewhat unknown but truly rare cars.
A good example of this is the 58 Edsel Roundup 2 door wagon (yes I have one)
963 built - very small amount built BUT not very valuable.
There has to be knowledge of a cars existence along with a market desireability to have a car that will command a great sales price.
Just because a car is rare does not necessarly mean its valuable.
I find that aspect very interesting.
I didn't want to take this thread off topic but wanted to address those points.
Oldmics
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Hot Rod Reverend
Well-known member
The Parklanes and the 56 Customline Hardtop are good examples of this. I am not sure what the 56 Fairlane Fordor Hardtops are bringing but I "thought" they were a rare car (don't have production numbers) and that they carried a nice price tag.
then again, alot of this just depends on the buyer's taste. Back when I was young the 55/56 wagons were not that big of a deal for value (Parklane or Country Squire being an exception) - nowadays some of the wagons are bringing pretty high sale prices.
I agree with Oldmics on the Tbirds being a "youth" kind of thing. The two-seater always wins that one I would think. They are more recognizable than a Crown Vic. I have driven a lot of 55/56 Fords, but only one 57, and that was a Thunderbird. Love the birds, but they are out of my league. Maybe one day when the kids are out of the house I can have one.
When I was younger and driving a 55 every day, a lot of the owners of the Crown Vics/Tbirds were snobs in my opinion. At car shows and swap meets, club events, and what have you they were unwilling to invest much time in an owner like me that was asking honest questions, looking at what they had, etc. After all, I didn't own the creme de la creme - a Crown or a Tbird. Don't get me wrong, there were some decent guys - my grandpa was one of them. He ended up buying a 55 Crown that had the Regency Purple/White tutone paint job. Pretty wild. But he didn't act like a "holier than thou" with his car. My buddies who were looking to get into the classic car got turned off by the stupidity and stayed away from 50s Fords.
All that being said to explain this point: those cars may track the same in value now, but give it a decade or so and things will be all over the map. The generation who grew up with these cars continues to get smaller in number due to age, and the the difference in the "youth" thing will be how many guys will want to customize a car or a Tbird. That seems to be all the rage these days. Fewer and fewer cars are being restored. Nowadays the word is "restomod" as the younger generation has little to no connection to how things were back in the day - they weren't even alive back when the car was new, or even sitting on a used car lot.
For me, a 43 year old, I can only hope that prices go down over the next decade - that Tbird will be all the more in reach and most people wont even know what an E code or an F code would be! (oh if only!)
then again, alot of this just depends on the buyer's taste. Back when I was young the 55/56 wagons were not that big of a deal for value (Parklane or Country Squire being an exception) - nowadays some of the wagons are bringing pretty high sale prices.
I agree with Oldmics on the Tbirds being a "youth" kind of thing. The two-seater always wins that one I would think. They are more recognizable than a Crown Vic. I have driven a lot of 55/56 Fords, but only one 57, and that was a Thunderbird. Love the birds, but they are out of my league. Maybe one day when the kids are out of the house I can have one.
When I was younger and driving a 55 every day, a lot of the owners of the Crown Vics/Tbirds were snobs in my opinion. At car shows and swap meets, club events, and what have you they were unwilling to invest much time in an owner like me that was asking honest questions, looking at what they had, etc. After all, I didn't own the creme de la creme - a Crown or a Tbird. Don't get me wrong, there were some decent guys - my grandpa was one of them. He ended up buying a 55 Crown that had the Regency Purple/White tutone paint job. Pretty wild. But he didn't act like a "holier than thou" with his car. My buddies who were looking to get into the classic car got turned off by the stupidity and stayed away from 50s Fords.
All that being said to explain this point: those cars may track the same in value now, but give it a decade or so and things will be all over the map. The generation who grew up with these cars continues to get smaller in number due to age, and the the difference in the "youth" thing will be how many guys will want to customize a car or a Tbird. That seems to be all the rage these days. Fewer and fewer cars are being restored. Nowadays the word is "restomod" as the younger generation has little to no connection to how things were back in the day - they weren't even alive back when the car was new, or even sitting on a used car lot.
For me, a 43 year old, I can only hope that prices go down over the next decade - that Tbird will be all the more in reach and most people wont even know what an E code or an F code would be! (oh if only!)
dmsfrr
Well-known member
My 2¢'s worth, and... an explanation if anyone correctly suspects I'm posting comments here more often than actually working on a car......
I have driven a lot of 55/56 Fords, but only one 57, and that was a Thunderbird. Love the birds, but they are out of my league. Maybe one day when the kids are out of the house I can have one.
.....
For me, a 43 year old, I can only hope that prices go down over the next decade - that Tbird will be all the more in reach and most people wont even know what an E code or an F code would be! (oh if only!)
Don't wait too long. If you really want to take on something, go for it.
I've got a couple extra decades on you and bought my '55 T-Bird retirement present/project a few years back. As I've gotten older things usually take a bit longer than they used to but I was still optimistic. Work on the car started out pretty well.
Then my wife started having medical problems and this past summer fell and hurt herself pretty bad. She now needs 24/7 supervision so until I can find someone to come in and keep an eye on her, or take the car to a local resto shop, work on it has effectively stopped.
The future is always an unknown. If you postpone something too often it may not happen.
.
Daves55Sedan
Well-known member
Sorry I failed to mention that my suspicion being "rare" = valuable seems to come from comparing Kelly antique blue book values. Rough examples would be:
'55 Customline fordor sedans; mint condition; 1 zillion produced. Value = $6000
'55 Crown Vic; mint condition; 13,xxx produced. Value = $30,000
'55 Courier; mint condition; 8,xxx produced. Value = $28,000
These may not be exact values today, but you can see the comparison. The market may not reflect this but I would wonder why Kelly blue book bothers to provide a GUIDE if it is not meant to influence the market.
So, I guess were are talking apples and oranges. You are asking about "market" prices and I am referring to Kelly blue book.
'55 Customline fordor sedans; mint condition; 1 zillion produced. Value = $6000
'55 Crown Vic; mint condition; 13,xxx produced. Value = $30,000
'55 Courier; mint condition; 8,xxx produced. Value = $28,000
These may not be exact values today, but you can see the comparison. The market may not reflect this but I would wonder why Kelly blue book bothers to provide a GUIDE if it is not meant to influence the market.
So, I guess were are talking apples and oranges. You are asking about "market" prices and I am referring to Kelly blue book.
Daves55Sedan
Well-known member
OMG, I could name names, but I won't. Back in the mid '80's, I went to a few of the big Ford swap meets one summer and that was the end of that. I never went to another one again. Those snobs really turned me off.
There were some that seemed snobby, but it was for a different reason. They didn't have a love for the hobby at all, they were just in it for the money.
y'sguy
Senior Member
A lot of interesting comments on here about the birds and snobbery and such. I had my 55 bird since 1967. I have also been around all kinds of snobs. They come in every variety carwise and otherwise.
"My factory fuelie 63 split window is better than your factory race prepped dodge coronet is better than your 63 galaxie 427 liteweight!" and the list goes on.
I like a lot of all of them.
My old bird is my first car I ever bought. I just decided to keep it anytime someone talked about buying it.
I hear comments sometimes about how "yea, those concours bird guys would really be pissed off or upset if they saw that OR the vette purists get there panties in a wad if they see the wrong wheels on one of 'em. It gets weary. I've been the steward of my little car for 49 years now and I've fixed it, painted, changed over several trends of time. Also it goes much quicker and faster than most!. But I have all the respect for the concours cars of any type. I drive the crap out of mine if I can. So, I can be a tbird snob and a hotrodder too whenever I feel like it. It also may not bring the money that some might for those reasons. But it is my personal car.
They made less 55 birds out of all of them. they should be worth more-less of them, first one of the line, etc. But they're not? the others have all the improvements that the 55 needed. I don't care-still like mine better.
I think most individuals are capable of being snobs at whatever they can. And it's us who let ourselves be intimidated by them, I no longer am. Cause I'm old now
OK, whew, I'm done for now.
"My factory fuelie 63 split window is better than your factory race prepped dodge coronet is better than your 63 galaxie 427 liteweight!" and the list goes on.
I like a lot of all of them.
My old bird is my first car I ever bought. I just decided to keep it anytime someone talked about buying it.
I hear comments sometimes about how "yea, those concours bird guys would really be pissed off or upset if they saw that OR the vette purists get there panties in a wad if they see the wrong wheels on one of 'em. It gets weary. I've been the steward of my little car for 49 years now and I've fixed it, painted, changed over several trends of time. Also it goes much quicker and faster than most!. But I have all the respect for the concours cars of any type. I drive the crap out of mine if I can. So, I can be a tbird snob and a hotrodder too whenever I feel like it. It also may not bring the money that some might for those reasons. But it is my personal car.
They made less 55 birds out of all of them. they should be worth more-less of them, first one of the line, etc. But they're not? the others have all the improvements that the 55 needed. I don't care-still like mine better.
I think most individuals are capable of being snobs at whatever they can. And it's us who let ourselves be intimidated by them, I no longer am. Cause I'm old now
OK, whew, I'm done for now.
Oldmics
BANNED
I"ve never seen a Kelly Blue Book that had the values in it. I"ll take Daves word on the fact they exist.
I do think its interesting that this Kelly book has better information than Ford themselves.
The Ford production figures are on body styles and not on trim packages.
That again leads me to believe there either has to be additional information that was availiable or that someone is blowing smoke.
Also Bird production numbers show that 56 was the least amount produced model year. (Please lets not get into this model year v/s calender year produced debate)
1955=16,155
1956=15,631
1957=21,380
Oldmics
I do think its interesting that this Kelly book has better information than Ford themselves.
The Ford production figures are on body styles and not on trim packages.
That again leads me to believe there either has to be additional information that was availiable or that someone is blowing smoke.
Also Bird production numbers show that 56 was the least amount produced model year. (Please lets not get into this model year v/s calender year produced debate)
1955=16,155
1956=15,631
1957=21,380
Oldmics
Fortunateson
Well-known member
How about a '56 Meteor Rideau Victoria, power everything? Rather rare being built in Canada.
Grumpy Rick
Senior Member
Well, I guess I will jump in here and get my 2 cents worth.
I come from a long hot rod background, and I am now 74 years old. I have a '56 two door Vickie that has a 5.0 EFI and 4 speed automatic. I am now on my third '55 T-Bird, which is basically restored stock with a few mods.
My first '55 bird cost me $400 in 1965. I completely restored it and sold it for $1050 in '67. Sold it because it was not fast, nor did it handle the way I wanted it to. (into sports cars for a while).
My second '55 bird was a junkyard candidate that needed too many original parts to restore, and I dropped a SBC into it, and called it my 'RatBird'. Sold it about 6 years ago.
My current one I got a year ago and just cannot seem to find the time and energy to do too much to it. This is where I want to agree with DMSFRR. Getting older, the stamina is just not there anymore, and I am three years into building a kitchen, ten years into the whole house remodel. Like I said, time and energy.
What amazes me is the price of little Birds. They have gone DOWN over the last few years, to where you can buy a very presentable one for $25K around here. I sold RatBird for $13, six years ago, and a decent one at that time was about $33K.
Everybody wants the car they wanted in High School, and I don't think that has changed, and is why Mustangs and Camaro's go for more than a Bird now. Won't be long before middle agers will be lusting after K cars.
I am fortunate that I have always had neat cars, and when I sold one, I could usually buy my next one with that money. The amounts have changed, but not the actual comparative values.
That is my way of saying that I always wanted a '56 Nomad, but couldn't afford the $1000 in 1964, any more than I can afford the $60K for the same condition car today.
Guess that makes me Grumpy.
Merry Christmas everybody.
I come from a long hot rod background, and I am now 74 years old. I have a '56 two door Vickie that has a 5.0 EFI and 4 speed automatic. I am now on my third '55 T-Bird, which is basically restored stock with a few mods.
My first '55 bird cost me $400 in 1965. I completely restored it and sold it for $1050 in '67. Sold it because it was not fast, nor did it handle the way I wanted it to. (into sports cars for a while).
My second '55 bird was a junkyard candidate that needed too many original parts to restore, and I dropped a SBC into it, and called it my 'RatBird'. Sold it about 6 years ago.
My current one I got a year ago and just cannot seem to find the time and energy to do too much to it. This is where I want to agree with DMSFRR. Getting older, the stamina is just not there anymore, and I am three years into building a kitchen, ten years into the whole house remodel. Like I said, time and energy.
What amazes me is the price of little Birds. They have gone DOWN over the last few years, to where you can buy a very presentable one for $25K around here. I sold RatBird for $13, six years ago, and a decent one at that time was about $33K.
Everybody wants the car they wanted in High School, and I don't think that has changed, and is why Mustangs and Camaro's go for more than a Bird now. Won't be long before middle agers will be lusting after K cars.
I am fortunate that I have always had neat cars, and when I sold one, I could usually buy my next one with that money. The amounts have changed, but not the actual comparative values.
That is my way of saying that I always wanted a '56 Nomad, but couldn't afford the $1000 in 1964, any more than I can afford the $60K for the same condition car today.
Guess that makes me Grumpy.
Merry Christmas everybody.
Anteek29
Well-known member
All great comments, guys. I've always loved the baby birds...owned a '55 for
several years and sold it 2 years ago when an irresistible offer came along. Been looking to acquire a '55/'56 Crown Vic next.
I am a Ford man but my feeling is that someone looking to invest in an American sports car would do very well with one of the very early Corvettes.
I believe those have tremendous upside potential due to their limited production numbers. Chevy guys love em!
Well, just my 2 cents...
several years and sold it 2 years ago when an irresistible offer came along. Been looking to acquire a '55/'56 Crown Vic next.
I am a Ford man but my feeling is that someone looking to invest in an American sports car would do very well with one of the very early Corvettes.
I believe those have tremendous upside potential due to their limited production numbers. Chevy guys love em!
Well, just my 2 cents...