After a hugely successful first season for its new “sports car,” Ford saw fit to change the Thunderbird only slightly for 1956. The optional removable hardtop was now fitted with round rear quarter windows, soon to be dubbed “portholes” by enthusiasts, which were intended to increase rearward visibility for the driver. Customer complaints about the spare taking up too much room in the trunk were answered with a rear-mounted one, which was a variation on the “Continental kit” that was popular as an accessory in the 1950s. The spare could be unlocked and swung away from the car to access the trunk. This would be a one-year-only feature, with the spare relocated back to the trunk for the “Little Bird’s” final season in 1957.

The Thunderbird offered here was acquired by Mr. Miller after many years in the renowned Ford collection of Jerry Capizzi. Typical of Mr. Capizzi’s superb automobiles, it received an outstanding, concours-level restoration in its original colors of Colonial White finish and black and white interior. Paint, seats, door panels, and carpets are all correct and beautiful, with the engine bay highly detailed and featuring proper clamps, hoses, and wires throughout. Similarly, the undercarriage has been nicely restored and detailed with undercoated floor pans. The headliner of the optional hardtop is described as being in excellent condition. Importantly, the car is equipped with a soft top as well.

In addition to both tops, desirable options include the 215-horsepower V-8 with a dress-up kit, a Ford-O-Matic transmission, power seats and windows, power steering and brakes, a Town & Country radio, and steel wheels that are wearing wire basket hubcaps and are shod in wide whitewall bias-ply tires—just about everything that one could want on a 1956 Thunderbird.

This wonderful example of the second year of Ford’s iconic “T-Bird” is a past Classic Thunderbird Club International First Place Gold Award winner, at both regional and national levels, and it is presented with an original owner’s manual. It is finely restored, well-optioned, and beautifully presented, and it is ready to pass from one fine home to another.