Tom, I have the 57 Ford manual (which is no help as it only shows the passenger car set-up) and the 143 page "Illustrated Parts Manual - 1955-1956-1957 Thunderbird" from Larry's. I'm guessing that the Larry's book is a condensed knock-off of the unabridged version that you have. There are two drawings in the Larry's book that are relevant to my problem: Page 12, the "brake pedal & related pars (manual gear shift)", and page 52, the "1955/57 "typical" clutch, clutch pedal, etc.". If your book has these drawings, and you refer to the first one (page 52 of my book), you can see that the clutch pedal is supposed to rest against a bumper (part 7583). In my "custom" tbird (note sarcasm), the rod connected to the clutch pedal rod that approaches the bumper has been cut short. The reason this was done is for the installation of two, apparently also "custom" braces that run from each side of the top of the transmission hump to the underside of the dash. These braces resemble the braces seen on the shock towers of early mustangs. I have never seen the braces in any t-bird books, so I suspect they are custom, particularly since they interfere with the proper operation of the clutch pedal and bumper. Why would these braces be necessary - who knows. Maybe to add rigidity since the bonehead cut out the center of the floor and sheet-metal screwed in a replacement hump. Anyway, this is why I'm try to get a better handle on how things are supposed to look.
I am a CTCI member, and I'll take your advice about making local contacts. There's an all-ford car show coming up here on the first weekend in May, maybe I'll get lucky. Thanks again.
Ken
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