Tag: thunderbird

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,...

Ford's answer to the Corvette, the Thunderbird, began rolling off assembly lines in 1954 for the 1955 model year. While designed to compete with Chevrolet's sports car, the Thunderbird was marketed as a personal luxury vehicle. Ford emphasized its new car's comfort and convenience, letting shoppers discover its sportiness during the test drive. It worked, with the Thunderbird outselling the Corvette some 20 to 1 in 1955. Though successful, the two-seat T-Bird had room to grow and the last of the first generation Ford Thunderbirds rolled off the assembly line on this day in 1957. Above: 1965 Ford Thunderbird By F.G.Bendiks. Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0. Top: 1955 Ford Thunderbird by Nminow. Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 Though the two-seater found continued success through 1957, engineers and...

On the heels of the Chevrolet Corvette debut in January 1953, Ford unveiled the concept for the Thunderbird to the public just one month later. Believing Chevy would begin Corvette begin production in the near future, Ford kicked development of the Thunderbird into high gear. A full scale, painted clay model that closely resembled the production T-Bird debuted by May. Final approval would come the following September after minor tweaks. Engineers scrambled to build a brand new car in near record time. Just one year after introducing the idea of the car, the Ford Thunderbird wowed the public at the Detroit Auto Show on February 20, 1954. Production would begin the following September and on this day in 1954 the Thunderbird went on sale. Above: 1960 Ford Thunderbird. By Reinhold Möl...

Ford's answer to the Corvette, the Thunderbird, began rolling off assembly lines on this day in 1954 for the 1955 model year. The Thunderbird, while aligned to compete with Chevrolet's sports car, was positioned as a personal luxury vehicle. Ford emphasized its new car's comfort and convenience, letting shoppers discover its sportiness during the test drive. It worked, with the Thunderbird outselling the Corvette some 20 to 1 in 1955. Above: 1965 Ford Thunderbird By F.G.Bendiks. Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0. Top: 1955 Ford Thunderbird by Nminow. Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 Though the two-seater found continued success through 1957, engineers and designers at Ford thought they could sell far more than 23,000 of the cars in a year. Executive Robert McNamara called for a four-seater version, ...

On this day in 2005 the last Ford Thunderbird rolled off the assembly line at Ford's Wixom, Michigan plant. The Thunderbird was developed in the years following World War II as a competitor to the Chevrolet Corvette, though billed as a personal luxury vehicle. When it was released in 1955 it outsold the Corvette 14,000 units to just 700. Above: First generation Ford ThunderbirdTop: Last generation Ford Thunderbird In the decades that followed, the Thunderbird would go through numerous changes, including growing from two seats to four in 1958. In an attempt to capitalize on buyers’ nostalgia, Ford released a retro Thunderbird in 2002 to much fanfare. Despite promising initial sales of the old school T-Bird, the success eventually waned, leading to the car being discontinued.