Ford once was the biggest-selling automotive brand in the United States. Starting in 1936, Chevrolet became the consistent #1 brand in the market, so it wasn’t until 1957 that Ford was able to achieve #1 status again. Our Pick of the Day is just one of those Blue Oval vehicles, but one that is among the most special of the bunch. This 1957 Ford Custom Tudor Sedan is listed for sale on ClassicCars.com by a private seller in Dallas.

Nineteen fifty-seven was a very interesting model year for Ford, if not the Ford Motor Company. While Chevrolets featured a heavy restyle based on the 1955 platform, Ford was strutting redesign that included two different bodies for the first time. Though subtle, the differences were profound if you had a ruler: The low-line Custom and Custom 300 featured a 116-inch wheelbase and 201.7-inch length, while Fairlane and Fairlane 500 models featured a 118-inch wheelbase and an overall length of 207.7 inches. When seen from the rear, the latter two models featured sharper, more angular fins.

Considering Chevrolet’s celebrated small-block and fuel injection, Ford’s powerplants deserve more praise. The Y-block V-8 certainly hasn’t reached the annals of the automotive hall of fame, but two versions are noteworthy. In E-code spec, the Thunderbird 312ci V-8 featured two four-barrel carburetors offered 270 horsepower — on par with the Turbo-Fire 283 with the same number of venturis — though 285 horses was achievable with a special, Isky-designed performance camshaft, though Ford considered it more for competition than the street.

The F-code 312 shared the same camshaft as the 270-horse engine and ran on a four-barrel carburetor, but it also featured a McColloch supercharger. Horsepower was listed at 300, though 340 could be achieved when the competition camshaft was used. Yet folks wax poetic about the Chevy small-block …

You would think Ford’s efforts would be cause for celebration, but let’s evaluate the corporation at the end of the decade: Two Ford bodies were expensive and, in the end, unnecessary, with Ford reverting to one body for 1959; Mercury had been given a unique body for 1957, but the public wasn’t going for it, plus the 1958 recession killed sales even more; the Continental division was discontinued after about two years of production; and the Edsel debacle, of which nothing more needs to be said. Ford Motor Company would start the new decade with austerity on its mind but, as the decade developed, the corporation found its mojo.

Supercharged Fords are quite rare. While production numbers of F-code Thunderbirds are more or less known (212 is the accepted number, though issues with invoices and prototypes keep it from being official), it is not known how many Ford passenger cars were built with the same engine. What we can tell you is that this supercharged 1957 Ford Custom Tudor Sedan would be the racer’s choice, either going down the quarter-mile or the banked ovals. Assembled at Ford’s Dallas plant, it’s backed by the correct, column-shifted Borg-Warner T-85 three-speed manual (the only transmission offered), though this one has overdrive. There is no clock, radio, or heater, so you know there’s only one thing on the mind of the person who originally ordered it. “Shown twice in concours competition. Won AACA Junior Award & AACA Senior National First Prize Award,” says the seller, so you know it’s truly as nice as the pictures suggest.

If you’re in-the-know, you know sellers Amos Minter and his son are Thunderbird restorers par excellence. That means you can count on this early muscle car being a supreme specimen worthy of the $119,000 asking price.

Click here to view this Pick of the Day on ClassicCars.com