Albert Ornellas' 1957 Ford

Albert's receipt from Bill Frick Motors. Photo courtesy of M. Carlo.

Albert's old Thunderbird as it sat in May of 2014. Notice the teardrop bulges in the hood. Photo courtesy of M. Carlo.

Photo courtesy of M. Carlo.

Photo courtesy of M. Carlo.

Photo courtesy of M. Carlo.

Photo courtesy of M. Carlo.

Photo courtesy of M. Carlo.

The gauge panel that Frick installed in the car. Photo courtesy of M. Carlo.

Photo courtesy of M. Carlo.

Photo courtesy of M. Carlo.

In 2014 the car still had the 389 Pontiac engine that Frick installed. Photo courtesy of M. Carlo.

1957 Ford Thunderbird owned by Albert Ornellas of Lowell, Massachusetts. From July 23, 1959 to October 27, 1959 Al's Thunderbird was at Bill Frick Motors receiving a 389 Pontiac engine with two McCulloch blowers. Before the engine was installed, it was balanced and equipped with Forgedtrue pistons, PC rings, special bearings, full-floating wrist pins, high pressure oil pump, relieve combustion chambers, ground-out ports, adjustable rocker arm studs, Howard cam and lifters, log-type intake manifold and 6 Rochester carburetors, lightened and polished valves, Spaulding distributor, a special flywheel and clutc and more. The McCulloch blower was installed with all necessary installation components especially designed and fabricated to permit operation without idler arms. The conversion took 663 hours to perform. The hourly charge was 5 USD, and the total price $3315.00.

Don Schleich's big brother Jack worked for Frick when Albert's Thunderbird was done. In 2013 Don still remembered that they had a customer from Massachusetts at Bill Frick Motors that was a big time street racer for money, and that he had a 1957 Ford Thunderbird that Frick and the boys put a 389 Pontiac with two McCulloch blowers under the hood. The only thing you could see from the outside was a little bump on each side of the hood where the top of the blowers would have interfered.

Albert parked the car in the mid 1960s, and it didn't see the light of day until he died in 1989. The blower system was according to Albert's grandson scrapped at some point before the car was parked, as it didn't work right. The tear drops on the hood and the gauge panel inside the car are all that is left of Frick's system.

In 2014 the car was located in Manchester, New Hampshire. It was advertised for sale on Hemmings, and the asking price was $56,900.00 USD. The car still had the 389 Pontiac engine at the time.