{"id":2716,"date":"2006-11-29T05:42:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-29T10:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/2006\/11\/days-of-thunder\/"},"modified":"2010-12-30T12:02:03","modified_gmt":"2010-12-30T17:02:03","slug":"days-of-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/2006\/11\/days-of-thunder\/","title":{"rendered":"Days of Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1969<\/a><\/p>\n

Ford’s Thunderbird cannot claim the longest consecutive run of a model name, but it can certainly make a case for the most adventurous search of identity over nearly half a century. What began as a two-seat sports roadster in the 1955<\/a> model year ended as a “personal luxury” coupe 44 years later, then after a five-year hiatus returned to its roots.<\/p>\n

Actually, Ford never called the Thunderbird a sports car, unlike Chevy with the T-Bird’s competition, the Corvette<\/a>. The Thunderbird’s adjective was always “personal.” “Luxury” was added later, when the ‘Bird gained seats for four and moved upmarket. Some decried the baroque “Squarebirds” of 1958<\/a>–60<\/a>, but the customers didn’t. Sales of the 1958 model were more than double those of 1956<\/a>. For 1961, Thunderbird moved into its “Cigarbird<\/a>” phase, with a pleasingly pointed design originally intended for front-wheel drive. Fwd was ditched as too costly, left for GM to pioneer with the Olds Toronado<\/a> in 1966 (and it is said The General licensed the powertrain design<\/a> from Ford). A novel feature of the ’61 was a “swing away<\/a>” steering wheel. Thunderbird’s body was squared up again in 1964<\/a>; in 1966 the last convertible<\/a> was built.<\/p>\n

A new design for 1967 brought two wheelbases, 114.7 inches for the coupe (this is a ’68<\/a>) and 117.2 for a (gasp) sedan<\/a> with “suicide” rear doors. The latter was used as a platform for the Lincoln Continental Mk III<\/a> two years later. (The Thunderbird Landau Sedan is not the most out-of-character car built by Ford Motor Company. Consider the Mercury Cougar Villager<\/a> station wagon of 1977.) By 1972<\/a>, the “Bird” had retreated to its coupe persona and become a sibling of the Continental Mk IV<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the big ‘Birds were heavy and thirsty, so for 1977<\/a> came a downsized car. Half a ton lighter and nearly $3000 cheaper than its predecessor, its sales grew sixfold. For 1980<\/a>, it was downsized yet again, on the Fox platform (Fairmont\/Zephyr). By 1981<\/a>, it even came with a six-cylinder engine, Ford’s 200 cid Mustang\/Maverick\/Granada unit. (Although the six was mentioned in sales literature, only the V8<\/a> was illustrated.)<\/p>\n

In 1983, Thunderbird gained back its unique personality with a new coupe<\/a> of softened contours, and engine options including a turbocharged four. In 1989<\/a> came the final iteration of the Thunderbird coupe, initially with only V6 power, though a 210-hp “Super Coupe” was supercharged. In 1991 the familiar 5.0-liter V8 returned, replaced in 1994 by the new “modular” ohc 4.6-liter unit. Sleeker than the 1983-89 ‘Bird, this new coupe continued with few changes until the plug was pulled after the 1997 model year.<\/p>\n

Rumors of a new coupe, possibly front-drive, abounded, but a retro concept at the 1999 Detroit auto show hinted the new direction. A “modern heritage<\/a>” style, in Ford’s words, it was clearly cued from the 1955-57 two-seaters. It went into production as a 2002 model, but sales were underwhelming. Perhaps merely an inspirational exercise, like the Plymouth Prowler<\/a>, the new T-Bird ended with a 50th Anniversary<\/a> model, the last of which rolled out on July 1, 2005. What would have happened had the two-seater been brought back earlier? Well it might have been. Around 1960 a downsized roadster<\/a>, not unlike the 2002 car, was built. Powered by a supercharged Falcon six, the car survives<\/a> in the collection of The Henry Ford<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’ve never owned a T-Bird, but I do have preferences. Of the two-seaters, my favorite is the ’57<\/a>. Squarebirds and the downsized 1977-82s hold no attraction for me, but a ’63 Cigarbird<\/a> could catch my fancy. As an automotive contrarian, though, I might just go for a Landau Sedan<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ford’s Thunderbird cannot claim the longest consecutive run of a model name, but it can certainly make a case for the most adventurous search of identity over nearly half a century. What began as a two-seat sports roadster in the 1955 model year ended as a “personal luxury” coupe 44 years later, then after a….<\/span>
Read full article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2716"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3358,"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2716\/revisions\/3358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}