Thunderbird: Soaring the American Road
8 May 1998
Thunderbird: Soaring the American Road
DEARBORN, Mich., May 8 -- Ford Thunderbird, one of the great
names in automotive history, was first unveiled February 20, 1954 at Detroit's
first post-World War II auto show. An automotive legend was born.
Built at Ford's Dearborn Assembly Plant, the two-seat convertible with an
optional removable hardtop made its public debut on September 9, 1954. Since
then, eleven generations of Thunderbirds have produced treasured collectors'
items in a variety of models from the two-seat convertibles of the '50s to the
four-door luxury sedans of the '60s and '70s.
Thunderbird has left an indelible mark on the American road stretching
over five decades. What began as a small-specialty sports coupe quickly
evolved into a new segment in 1958 when the redesigned "square bird" entered
the scene as a personal luxury coupe. In the following years, Thunderbird was
offered as a convertible, a conservative four-door sedan, an aerodynamic turbo
charged sport coupe, a supercharged sport coupe and a personal sport coupe,
all with their own identity, but sharing a romance that goes along with the
Thunderbird nameplate.
An Original
As all legends do, Thunderbird has its share of folk lore beginning with
its early design and development by a skunkworks team in an unnoticed corner
of Ford's design studio to the '60s hit song by the Beach Boys and its
appearance in the film "American Graffiti."
The Thunderbird name was picked from a long list of candidates.
Frustration from such uninspired names as "Beaver," "Detroiter," and "Hep
Cat," resulted in an offer of a new $95 suit of clothes to anyone who could do
better. The suit was awarded to a young Ford stylist, Alden "Gib" Giberson,
who once lived in the Southwest where the Native American legend of the
Thunderbird is well known. The name comes from Arizona and New Mexico where
according to the legend, the Thunderbird ruled the sky and was a divine helper
of man. The great flapping wings, invisible to mortal man, created the winds
and the thunder and provided rains in the arid desert where fate had brought
the Native Americans.
The 102-inch wheelbase two-seat classic was powered by a 292-CID V-8
engine and demand was great. More than 3,500 orders were placed in the first
10-day sales period -- 35 percent of the 10,000 total planned for the entire
model year. But the two-seater was built for only three years, giving way to
a four-seater in 1958.
Generations of Change
The much larger four-seater, dubbed the "square bird," brought the limited
production specialty car to the masses. Sales jumped in 1958 to 48,482 from
just 15,173 in 1957. The new Thunderbird boasted "more room per passenger
than any luxury car" and had a door opening (78.74 inches) that was wider than
any American automobile on the market.
Thunderbird continued on a three-year design cycle evolving through a
series of themes that gave it a "projectile" and a "cockpit" look among
others.
The Seventies
By 1971, there had been 1 million sold. Thunderbird reached true luxury
status in 1975 and became a two-door mid-sized specialty car in 1977. The
peak sales year for Thunderbird was 1977 with 322,517 sold in the calendar
year.
The Eighties ... Racing History ... Aero Style
Thunderbird first appeared in NASCAR in 1959 winning six races in the top
division. The mid-sized Thunderbird is one of the most successful cars in
racing history, attracting a legion of fans to Ford. The restyled Thunderbird
burst onto the NASCAR circuit in 1982, and since, has won 145 races in
NASCAR's top division, including four victories in the Daytona 500.
Thunderbird helped shape the future of the automotive industry when the
redesigned aerodynamic 1983 Thunderbird was introduced, a precursor to Ford's
"aero" styling that would lead to the revolutionary 1986 Taurus.
Thunderbird was all-new from the ground up in 1989, featuring an exterior
design destined to further reshape the aero styling trends of the '80s. This
Thunderbird was a leader in technology transfer from racing to production and
was among the first vehicles outfitted with Ford's next generation electronic
engine control module developed by Ford's Formula One racing program.
More than 4 million Thunderbirds have graced the great American roads
since 1955.
SOURCE Ford Motor Company
