1959 Ford Thunderbird by GPS 56 from New Zealand - CC BY 2.0
The Ford Thunderbird first hit the market in October 1954 as a two seater to compete with the two year old Chevrolet Corvette. Unlike the Corvette, Ford marketed the Baby Bird, as the first generation of T-Birds have come to be known, as a personal luxury vehicle, not a sports car. Focusing on its comfort and convenience proved to be the right route for Ford, as the car found wild success, outselling Corvette nearly 23 to 1 in its first year of production. Between 1955 and 1957 some 50,000 Thunderbirds ended up in driveways around the country. The big wigs upstairs at Ford, particularly whiz kid Robert McNamara, thought it could do better. This led to a complete redesign for 1958, resulting in the four-seat Ford Thunderbird,...