This 1957 Ford Thunderbird is one of the rare one-owner cars! 

It was Rick’s dad from day one and has undergone various restorations since 1957: two transmissions, two engine rebuilds, a new interior in 1985, and, more recently, a complete rechrome. It has no motor and is currently undergoing a complete restoration. 

Now that the body is gone off for complete restoration, Rick wants to take care of the chassis and drivetrain: the chassis is returning to his home shop for a full teardown, and the drivetrain will be electric. As he likes to say, he is a “nuts and bolts” guy and will handle the conversion himself. “Pop & I rebuilt the engine the prior two times and will be happy to do it once more myself.”

He needs a complete EV conversion kit. “My intent is to retain the classic looks of this car but with current automotive tech underneath the skin. I see this car being used for parades, car shows, and date nights locally.”

The Thunderbird is in Florida, the second American state in terms of EV conversion, after California and before Colorado. Rick is an engineer with resources and his own shop. He will consider any challenge an opportunity to develop his skillset and use all his tools and ingenuity. 

Rick wants the kit to use as many original mounts and brackets as possible and the conversion to be reversible. The automatic transmission will be removed in favor of a manual transmission coupled with one or two netgain hyper9, although it may be underpowered (to be determined). Rick is open to suggestions, and using a torque converter is another option he would consider. As he wants the interior to look factory, he could design a shifter that looks factory as a DNR gear selector instead of a keypad or an electronic selector. 

He wants the Thunderbird to remain rear-wheel drive and a bit less powerful than today, with 150-200 hp and a top speed of 80mph. Rick expects 100 miles of range with regen braking. He will upgrade the suspension and brakes before the conversion starts. Finally, AC or power steering will be considered optional.

The Thunderbird will charge at home overnight. Rick has no preference for batteries and is okay with used ones such as Tesla modules.

Rick wants to keep the car’s interior as close to the original as possible, except for an embedded LCD display in place of the existing gauges. Once the Thunderbird moves on its own electric power, he will consider all the options available in the second phase of the project. 

There is no towing requirement.