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Thunderbird Takes Center Stage As Ford Motor Company And EAA Announce Sponsorship

28 July 1999

Thunderbird Takes Center Stage As Ford Motor Company And EAA Announce Sponsorship

    OSHKOSH, Wis., July 27 -- The Air Force Thunderbirds won't be
at this year's AirVenture Oshkosh air show and fly-in convention, but a
different kind of Thunderbird will be on display -- a Ford Thunderbird concept
car.
    Ford Motor Company and the Experimental Aircraft Association
(EAA) today announced a four-year sponsorship agreement (1999-2003) naming
Ford Motor Company products as the worldwide official vehicles for EAA, EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh and the EAA Foundation.
    The announcement was made on the eve of the opening of AirVenture Oshkosh
'99, the world's largest air show and fly-in convention and the EAA's annual
gathering of hundreds of thousands of aviation enthusiasts.
    "Since 1903 -- when Henry Ford started Ford Motor Company and his friends
the Wright brothers took their first flight -- automobiles and aviation have
been intricately linked as part of the fabric of America and the world's
transportation history," said Jim Schroer, Ford Motor Company vice president
of Marketing and Sales Operations.
    "This link continues today and into the future," Schroer said.  "The new
partnership between Ford Motor Company and the EAA is a natural outgrowth and
another example of how Ford Motor Company is reaching out directly to
consumers."
    Ford also will use AirVenture Oshkosh '99 to introduce several innovative
automotive technologies, including a first showing of Ford Motor Company's
satellite-based, commercial-free digital CD Radio system.  In addition, a new-
for-2000 seat-mounted climate control system was announced for the Lincoln
Navigator.
    "AirVenture is a perfect place to introduce high-tech systems to a
technically oriented audience," said Neil W. Ressler, vice president and chief
technical officer of Ford Motor Company.  "It's a chance for us to look beyond
the traditional auto show mindset, to reach a tech-savvy audience that thinks
of transportation in a very different way."
    Although there will be no U.S. Air Force Thunderbird F-16s at the show,
Ford will display the Thunderbird concept, the car that has been an auto show-
stopper from Detroit to Geneva.  The "scarlet" two-seat roadster takes its
key styling cues from the classic Ford Thunderbirds of 1955-57, reflecting the
value Ford places on its distinguished heritage.
    This modern interpretation of a well-loved American icon will be back in
production for the new millennium.