Modified 1956 Ford Thunderbird
The Ford Thunderbird is a car manufactured in the USA by the Ford Motor Company. It was conceived as a response to the Chevrolet Corvette and entered production for the 1955 model year as a two-seater quasi sports car, going on sale on October 22, 1954.
Three men are generally credited with creating the original Thunderbird: Lewis D. Crusoe, a millionaire lured out of retirement by Henry Ford II; George Walker, chief stylist and a Ford vice-president; and Frank Hershey, a Ford designer. Crusoe and Walker met in France in October 1951. Walking in the Grand Palais in Paris, Crusoe pointed at a sports car and asked Walker, 'Why can’t we have something like that?'
Walker promptly telephoned Ford's HQ in Dearborn and told designer Frank Hershey about the idea. Hershey took the idea and began working on the vehicle.
The concept was for a two-passenger open car, with a target weight of 2,525 lb, an Interceptor V8 engine and a top speed of over 100 mph.
Crusoe saw a painted clay model on May 18, 1953, which corresponded closely to the final car. Crusoe green-lighted the car in September.
There was some difficulty in naming the car, with suggestions ranging from the exotic to the ridiculous (Hep Cat, Beaver, Detroiter, Runabout, Arcturus, Savile, El Tigre, and Coronado were submitted among the 5,000 suggestions). One serious suggestion was Whizzer. Crusoe offered a $250 suit to anyone who could come up with a better name.
Stylist Alden 'Gib' Giberson submitted Thunderbird as part of a list. Giberson never claimed his prize, settling for a $95 suit and an extra pair of trousers from Saks Fifth Avenue.
According to Palm Springs Life magazine, the car's final name came not from the Native American symbol as one might expect, but from an ultra-exclusive housing tract in what would later be incorporated as Rancho Mirage, California: Thunderbird Heights. Unlike the Corvette, the Thunderbird was never a full-blown sporting vehicle; Ford's description was personal luxury car, and the company essentially created this market segment.
The car was shown at the first postwar Detroit Auto Show on February 20, 1954. The first production car came off the line on September 9, 1954. It went on sale the following month as a 1955 model.
It did not make the target weight: the 1955 Thunderbird was launched at 3,180 lb, but it did have a 292 ci V8 engine. Customers placed 3,500 orders in the Thunderbird's first ten days on sale.
Ironically, the Thunderbird is the reason the Corvette still survives; Chevrolet was planning to discontinue the Corvette, thanks to poorer than expected sales, until a Ford competitor came along.
The Thunderbird's evolution took it on a steadily diverging path from the Corvette. A "porthole" window was added for 1956 and a padded dash for 1957. From the 1958 model year, Thunderbirds were four- or five-seaters, and they climbed steadily upmarket and further away from sportiness. The sharp, angular styling of the 1958 to 1960 models earned it the somewhat derogatory nickname of "Squarebird," although it captured Motor Trend's Car of the Year award in its debut season, the first of three it would eventually accumulate.
By 1961, the styling had smoothed out considerably as seen in the picture. Sales of the Thunderbird were hit badly by the advent of the much cheaper Ford Mustang in 1964, and the response was to hasten this trend towards luxury. General Motors was at first slow to respond to the bigger, plusher T-bird, but eventually entered the market in force with the Pontiac Grand Prix, Oldsmobile Toronado, Buick Riviera, and Cadillac Eldorado.
From the 1967 model year, Thunderbirds were much larger, and some fans of the classic Thunderbird consider 1966 to be the last year of interest. The convertible model was discontinued in this year, and 1967 also saw the introduction of a four-door model (with rear suicide doors), as pictured. The four-door would remain available through 1971 but never generated substantial sales.
The new 1968 Lincoln Continental Mark III was based on the four-door Thunderbird chassis, and from that point until the late Nineties, Thunderbirds and Continental Marks were generally related cars, the Thunderbird following the Mark's growth to enormity in the 1972 model year. The Mercury Cougar also often shared components.
In 1971, Neiman–Marcus offered "his and hers" Thunderbirds in its catalog, with telephones, tape recorders and other niceties. They retailed for $25,000 for the pair.
For the 1977 through 1979 model years, the Thunderbird nameplate was shifted to the smaller chassis that had underpinned the discontinued Ford Torino, as Ford's first effort at downsizing the car. The 1977s came with a slight price reduction over the 1976s.
1980 saw a new, shrunken Thunderbird that was little more than a sedan with nicer trim. In fact, it was merely a rebodied Ford Fairmont compact—though in post-fuel-crisis America, these vehicles could be thought of as intermediates, rather than compacts.
However, 1983 saw a much improved and aerodynamic car and the launch of the Turbo Coupe, and a much sportier image. In 1987, the Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe was redesigned and came with such notable features as automatic ride control, anti-lock brakes, and the intercooled turbocharged engine from the Ford Mustang SVO. All this resulted in a personal luxury car that produced 190 horsepower (142 kW) from a 2.3 liter 4-cylinder engine and had a 140+ mph (225 km/h) top speed. The Turbo Coupe was Motor Trend's Car of the Year for 1987.
In 1989 the car was restyled again, becoming again somewhat larger, and this bodyshell lasted with minor styling changes and powerplant changes through the 1997 model year, which was the last for five years. The Thunderbird SC was Motor Trend's Car of the Year for 1989. The last four-seater Thunderbird rolled off the assembly line in Lorain, Ohio on September 4, 1997.
2002
However, 2002 saw a new Thunderbird launched; this Retro Bird was again a two-seater and received the model's third Motor Trend Car of the Year honor. It was also nominated for the North American Car of the Year award that year.
The new Thunderbird was based on the Ford DEW platform, shared with the Lincoln LS. It followed the recent trend for nostalgic recreations of old-fashioned styling (See VW New Beetle, Chrysler PT Cruiser), being a recreation of the 1955-1957 two-seat Thunderbird in a modern style. Available only as a convertible with a removable hardtop, the new Thunderbird certainly turns heads.
The Ford Motor Company announced in March 2005 that the Thunderbird will again be discontinued in July 2005. Ford plans to release a new Thunderbird sometime in the years to come, but an exact date has not been specified. Sales had been declining.
In the last 50 years, some 1.2 million Thunderbirds have been sold.
Generations
- 1955-1957 Ford Thunderbird 2-seater "Classic Birds"
- 1958-1960 Ford Thunderbird "Square Birds"
- 1961-1963 Ford Thunderbird "Bullet Birds"
- 1964-1966 Ford Thunderbird "Flair Birds"
- 1967-1971 Ford Thunderbird "Glamor Birds"
- 1972-1976 Ford Thunderbird "Big Birds"
- 1977-1979 Ford Thunderbird "Torino Birds" (also called "Big Birds", though they were a little smaller)
- 1980-1982 Ford Thunderbird "Box Birds"
- 1983-1988 Ford Thunderbird "Aero Birds", including the Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
- 1989-1997 Ford Thunderbird "Super Birds"
- 2002-2005 Ford Thunderbird "Retro Birds"
Sources
Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975, John A. Gunnell, Editor. Kraus Publications, 2nd ed., 1987. ISBN 0-87341-096-3
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