1955 best tires, what was original transmission?

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FiveFiveTbird

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Nov 25, 2018
Thunderbird Year
1955
Hello I’m new to the Thunderbird Forum so bare with me. I actually don’t own a Thunderbird but agreed to work on a friend of mine’s. It’s a 1955 all original along with 41,000 actual miles. First of all it needs a set of tires, and was wandering what would be an original looking set that would be correct for this year? As far as the size of tire and how wide of a white wall? I want an original looking tire but in a radial version. 6.50x 15’s are on it now. Also what motor and transmission would this car come with? I’m guessing a 312 with some kind of 2 speed automatic. The valve covers say “Thunderbird Special” I believe. And one other thing where is the best place to shop for parts for it? Any information would be greatly appreciated thanks in advance!
 

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Welcome to the forum. When you post, your title is very important. Posting the year and how many miles the car has does not really help other member understand what the post is about prior to clicking on it. I initially thought you were selling a car.

I revised the title for you.
 
FiveFiveTbird said:
Hello I’m new to the Thunderbird Forum so bare with me. I actually don’t own a Thunderbird but agreed to work on a friend of mine’s. It’s a 1955 all original along with 41,000 actual miles. First of all it needs a set of tires, and was wandering what would be an original looking set that would be correct for this year? As far as the size of tire and how wide of a white wall? I want an original looking tire but in a radial version. 6.50x 15’s are on it now. Also what motor and transmission would this car come with? I’m guessing a 312 with some kind of 2 speed automatic. The valve covers say “Thunderbird Special” I believe. And one other thing where is the best place to shop for parts for it? Any information would be greatly appreciated thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

In answer to the engine.... The 1955 Thunderbird would have been a 292 unless someone changed it out. The 312's were not available until 1956. If it was originally an automatic it would be the 198 HP version of the engine with a 4 barrel carburetor. The other thing that would be different is the rear end ratio. The Fordomatic transmission was hooked to a 3.30 to 1 rear end gear ratio.
 
Ok great info! Thx for straightening the title out. I noticed it has a dual point distributor, what are the point gap specs and where can I get parts for the distributor?
 
As far as I know dual point distributor is not stock. Should be a tach drive distributor with a vacuum advance that connects at the carburetor. You will have to get some information off the distributor and hopefully "Google is your friend"

Also, regarding the decals on the valve covers. If the decals say "Thunderbird Special" then they are designating a 312 CI engine. The valve cover decals on the 292's only said "Thunderbird" and had the "Y" V8 logo. Is it possible someone had the engine changed? I remember at one time my dad had a 57 wagon and had a rebuilt engine installed (by Sears Roebuck). They pulled his 292 and put in a rebuilt 312 with the "Thunderbird Special" decals on the valve covers.
 
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Interesting! It is not a tach driven distributor but does have an old looking electronic box on the passenger side inner fender that has some adjusting screws to adjust/calibrate tachometer? Not sure how they converted the mechanical tach to some sort of electronic version? All of this stuff looks old and original if it’s worth anything.
 
Well not a 100% sure it’s a non tach drive distributor? I will have to look closer when I get home tonight.
 
Ok it is a Holley distributor with Ford cap and rotor. It has a vacuum line to carb off of the base of the distributor with NO tach drive. Instead it has a 6 volt Sun tachometer transmitter.
It also has two old looking electric fuel pumps back by the tank in which the steel lines had been cut and by passed then goes up into a mechanical pump that has some sort of vacuum top on the pump? Is any of this factory or can anyone make sense of this??
 
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