Four-Door Ford Thunderbirds 1967-1971

Ford's sporty Thunderbird line (Wikipedia entry here) was produced model years 1955-2005 save 1998-2001.  For all but five of those production years, Thunderbirds had only two doors.  But for model years 1967-1971, four-door Thunderbird sedans were also marketed.  Wikipedia calls this the 5th generation, and its write-up about that is here.

During 1967-1970, two-door Thunderbirds has wheelbases of 114.7 inches (2913 mm), trivially lengthened to 115 inches (2921 mm) for 1971.  Four-door T-birds were based on a 117.2 inch (2977 mm) wheelbase that was shared with the Lincoln Continental Mark III starting 1968.

Early sedans sold fairly well in 1967 and 1968, but production numbers dropped rapidly after that.  Production for '67 was about 25,000, and around 8,400 in 1970.   So the sedan idea was dropped for the 1972 redesign.

Those T-bird sedans were marketed as "Landaus," having faux landau irons attached to Vinyl covered tops.  This was in an effort to position Thunderbirds as being upscale as well as sporty.  Landau coupes (with Vinyl covered tops, but no landau irons) strongly outsold their plainer stablemates 1967-71.

Below are images of 1967 Thunderbird Landau sedans and a 1970 facelifted version.

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1967 Thunderbird Landau Sedan - Ford photo
An almost too-simple grille design.  Edge sections pivot to reveal quad headlights.

1967 Thunderbird Landau Sedan - Barrett-Jackson Auctions photo
Plenty of front overhang provides a long hood line.  The landau iron flows downward from the chrome upper window framing.  That's a nice touch that almost (for me) justifies their phony inclusion.

1967 Thunderbird Landau Sedan - car-for-sale photo
Basically a nice, trim body design typical of 1960s U.S. styling -- a golden era for many car brands.

1970 Thunderbird Landau hardtop coupe - Ford photo
I don't have a good overhead photo of a '70 Landau sedan, so this image of a coupe will have to provide a view of the long-nose frontal facelift.

1970 Thunderbird Landau Sedan - BaT Auctions photo
Side view showing door cut lines.  Note how the rear door's cutline is partly framed by the landau iron.

1970 Thunderbird Landau Sedan - BaT Auctions photo
Doors-open view.  Like 1960s Lincoln Continental 4-door models, the rear door is "suicide" hinged.  Also note that there is a full-height B-pillar, making this a sedan, and not a hardtop (pillarless) sedan, as some might think, given the design's era.

2002 Ford Thunderbird Walkaround

Like the original 1955 Ford Thunderbird, the 2002 final generation model seated only the driver and one passenger.  All other Thunderbirds were at least four-place.

The 2002 car was "Retro" in that while it had a wind tunnel tested shape, ornamentation cues came from the original, non-aerodynamic design.  Unfortunately, sales were below expectation.

I thought the 2002 Thunderbird was attractively styled, its shape more coherent than was the '55 model that in some respects was a scaled-down version of a 1955 Ford convertible.  Today's post presents a walkaround of a '02 T-bird for your viewing enjoyment.

Images below are via Bring a Trailer auctions.

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Two-Passenger Thunderbirds: 1955-56 Versus 1957

What was the best-looking Ford Thunderbird?

Not any of the four-passenger models, in my opinion, though the third-generation (1961-1963) design was pretty nice.

As for two-passenger Thunderbirds, they were all attractive.  I rank the final-generation (2002-2005) model in second place, it being a more consistent design than the 1955-1956 first generation T-birds despite some quirky details.

The best of the lot?  It's the 1957 facelifted first-generation design.  This is a fairly rare instance of a facelift being better than the original styling.  A styling rule-of-thumb is that the first version is more pure than the facelifts.  That's because facelifts often consist of changes in trim that are simply meant to be noticeably new, and not necessarily consistent with the basic body design.

In the Gallery below I compare the 1955-1956 design with the 1957 version.

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First, a 1957 Thunderbird, Barrett-Jackson auction photo.  Thunderbirds were basically convertibles with retractable soft tops.  Detachable hard tops were an option that was popular -- the cars shown below all sport that feature.

This is a 1955 Thunderbird, Mecum auction photo.  Compare its grille-bumper ensemble with the 1957 car below.

Another Mecum image.  The grille is deeper, and is partly framed by the re-shaped bumper.  Protection is diminished, but the appearance seems more organic compared to the tacked-on bumper seen above.

The side-view differences are in the rear fender area.  That porthole on the top is not a standard 1955 feature: it became so for the '56 model year.  However, the car itself is indeed a 1955 model.

For 1957, a canted tail fin was added.

The earlier rear end design is fussier than the '57 replacement.  Note the clutter below the trunk lid's aft fold, an indented panel with those twin exhausts.  The finned rear fender shaping combined with the items just mentioned creates a slightly "pinched" feeling that's more obvious when viewed in person as opposed to seeing a photo such as this.

The '57's aft is much cleaner looking because the shaping is simplified and the exhaust outlets have been moved to below the tail lights.  That placement, plus the outward-canted tail fins, make the rear design seem wider, eliminating the pinched appearance noted above.  Image is of a for-sale car.

Now for some views of a 1957 Thunderbird, more images via Mecum.

The car's color is not original, but it serves a useful purpose here because it enhances the body sculpting.

This is a very nicely styled car.

Ford Thunderbird - First and Last

The first and last generations of the Ford Thunderbird (Wikipedia entry here) had seating for only the driver and one passenger.  Other Thunderbirds seated four or so.

Wikipedia's take on the 2002-2005 eleventh and last Thunderbird generation is here.  It does not discuss Ford's reason for making the car a two-passenger type, given that cars with that carrying capacity seldom sold in large numbers.  And as it happened, the new Thunderbird's sales were not up to expectation.

Today's post compares the styling of the eleventh-generation Thunderbird with that of the original, 1955, model.  A strong effort was made by Ford stylists to evoke the original, and that evocation is what I'll deal with here.

The 1955 car images below are via Mecum Auctions, and those of the 2002 Thunderbird are from the American Muscle Car Museum.

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Thunderbirds of both generations were convertibles.  A detachable solid top was available, so that feature is shown in all the images here.  The 1955 Thunderbird pictured above is clearly of its pre- wind tunnel testing era.  Its most time-dependent feature is its wraparound (panoramic) windshield, various versions of which were found on nearly all 1955 model year American cars.

The 2002 Thunderbird's overall shape reveals its wind tunnel test heritage.  Carryover featured from 1955 include the shape of the grille and its bars pattern, the two round items flanking the front license plate location, the air scoop on the hood, and the winged symbol placed between the grille and hood opening.

Mid-1950s American styling stressed length, and to enhance it visually, the tops of the fenderline at each end extend farther than the rest of the fender.

Frenched headlight assemblies are not aerodynamics-firendly, so the 2002 car has a rounded front.  Carryover items here are the front fender louvres (fake on the '55s) and the character line extending aft of the lower edges.  The round opera window was seen on some 1956 Thunderbird tops.

Rear end details mimic those of 1955 Ford sedans, especially the round tail lights and nearby fender detailing.

Round tail lights are retained here.  The license plate nest echoes the shape of the grille.  But the tail light shape is the only carryover feature at the rear.
Early Thunderbirds were attractive, though I prefer the looks of the 1957 cars with their modest, canted tail fins to the '55 and '56 models.  That said, I think the 2002 Thunderbird is better styled.  That's because it is more of a piece, not a shrunken version of a passenger car, as the '55 Thunderbird was.

1955 Ford Thunderbirds With "Checkmark" Side Trim

The 1955 Ford Thunderbird was the first of that name.  In a way, it was Ford's answer to Chevrolet's Corvette sports car, though Ford marketed it as being simply a sporty-looking two seater.  Which it was.

Those T-Birds appeared around the same time as Ford's heavily facelifted 1955 models bearing the newly fashionable panoramic (wraparound) windshields.  Line-topping Ford Fairlanes featured a rather odd "checkmark" shaped side chrome strip that served as a color divider for two-tone paint schemes.

Production Thunderbirds lacked that detail.  But a few pre-production cars had it.  Moreover, early T-Bird advertisements showed it.  Why was it eliminated for production?  I don't know.  One guess is that it had been decided that there would be no two-toned Thunderbirds.  Another is that the cars looked better without that trim.

Below are largely Ford images illustrating T-Bird checkmark side trim.  Click on most of them to enlarge.

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A production 1955 Thunderbird, Mecum auction photo.

Advertisement showing that side trim.  Clearly, the decision to not use the trim came too late to affect early advertising.

A publicity photo of a T-Bird with side trim.

Probably the same car with its hard top removed and canvas top raised.  Same lady, same house in the background.

Taken near the same time as the color photo above, judging by the shadows.

Same house, but a different day (after a rain shower), different models, and a different car -- a production job.

1961 Continental and Thunderbird

Because they were to be built at the Wixom, Michigan factory that was set up for making unit bodies (rather than traditional body-on-frame contruction), and because the huge 1958-generation Lincoln did not sell as well as expected, Ford Motor Company executives ordered that there would be commonlity for the redesigned 1961 Lincoln Continental and Ford Thunderbird.

Some background on the 1961 Continental is here.

Although the new Lincoln was smaller than the previous model, it was an enlarged version of the four-passenger Thunderbird.  Ford executives liked '61 Thunderbird styling proposals and specified that the Continental be a four-door version with Continental-type ornamentation and other unique features.

Key dimensions:  Wheelbase -- T-Bird, 113 in (2870 mm), Continental, 123 in (3124 mm).  Length -- T-Bird, 205 in (5204 mm), Continental, 212.4 in (5395 mm).

Both cars shared the cowling and nearby details, as is shown below in the Gallery.  Unless noted, images are of for-sale cars or factory-sourced photos.

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1961 Thunderbird proposal model
Several such full-size models were built.  This one has a fenderline similar to that used on the Continental.

1961 Thunderbird Hardtop Coupe - Mecum Auctions photo

1961 Continental sedan
The windshields are the same.  And the fender tops have chrome strips on them.

Thunderbird - Mecum
Thunderbirds had a back seat which required a wide door to allow passenger entry there.

The Continental and Thunderbird share the windshield, ventipanes and door front cutline, items related to their shared cowling stucture.

Thunderbird - Mecum

Otherwise their designs are different aside from the tumblehome of the passenger compartment greenhouse sides.

Aerodynamic 1983 Ford Thunderbird

During the mid-1980s Ford Motor Company was the first American manufacturer to make strong use of wind tunnel testing to shape cars.  This was in reaction to government pressure for increased fuel efficiency.  The first production example of Ford's effort was the 1983 Ford Thunderbird, along with the Mercury Cougar that shared the basic body.

I wrote this post comparing Thunderbirds to 1983-88 Mercury Cougars.  And here I made a design evolution comparison of Thunderbirds to Ford's Mustang over five decades.  It showed that Thunderbird styling theme continuity was weak -- essentially a wide C-pillar that failed to appear in some Thunderbird body generations.

Perhaps I shouldn't mention this, but why not?  Recall that during the 1970s and early '80s cars tended to feature crisp, boxy lines.  The '83 Thunderbird's shape was in stark contrast to that, and my reaction at the time was that the Thunderbird's shape reminded me of a man's shoe.

Photos of 1983 Thunderbirds are below.  All are either "for sale" cars or are publicity images from Ford and its advertising agency.  Keep in mind that 1983 Thunderbird styling exhibited almost no continuity with previous designs.  The main carry-over from the previous design was gridded grille bars.

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A 1985 Thunderbird that was essentially identical to 1983 models.  The overall impression is softness, though the grille, headlight assemblies and dark bumper-side rub bar offered some contrast.

Side view.  The C-pillar is thick, the only (occasional) long-term Thunderbird visual brand identification element, weak though it seems here.

Viewed from head-on, the impression of softness is minimized.

Rear quarter view.  Aerodynamic spoilers, now almost universal, had yet to appear.  Below are three images served up as Thunderbird publicity for 1983.