The Ford Thunderbird - An American Classic

The Ford Thunderbird 1956

The Ford Thunderbird Classic

The Ford Thunderbird 2009

The Ford Thunderbird - An American Classic

The Ford Thunderbird has been hailed as an dweller icon, preserved in film and song. The Beach Boys, the popular rock group of the 60's, put the Thunderbird to music in their song, \"Fun, Fun, Fun\"

\"And she'll have fun, fun, fun

til her daddy takes the t-bird away\"

One of the Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson, originally owned a 1955 T-bird. It is now in the Hollywood Stars Cars Museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, fully restored with the Beach Boys' autograph on the hood.

The T-bird is also remembered for her film debut in dweller Graffiti.

The T-bird was originally conceived to contend with the Chevrolet Corvette. The years following World War 2 witnessed the convey of some veterans from the European front. While in Europe they had seen and fallen in love with the European sports cars. dweller manufactures took note of this and Chevrolet marketed the Corvette. So Ford was challenged to produce a competitor.

Three men were most instrumental in the creation of the original T-bird. adventurer D. Crusoe was a retired GM executive still speechmaker Ford II had enticed him to join Ford. George Walker was Ford's honcho stylist and a vice-president. Frank Hershey was a Ford designer.

Crusoe and Walker were visiting in Paris when Crusoe saw a sports automobile in the Grand Palais. They were impressed by the design and Walker then called Frank Hershey in Dearborn. Hershey started working on the design. It was to be an open automobile that would centre two passengers. It would be equipped with An Interceptor V8 engine and be capable of attaining a pace of over 100 miles per hour.

Although designed to contend with the Corvette, it wasn't a genuine sports car. Ford conceived it as a individualized luxury car.

For some reason, they encountered difficulty in creating a study for the automobile so Crusoe offered a prize, a $250 suit, to anyone who submitted an unexceptionable name. A stylist, Alden Giberson, entered a list with Thunderbird included.

The idea behind the study is controversial. Some sources feature it was named for the Native dweller god of rain and prosperity. Palm Life Magazine stated the study came from an ultra exclusive housing district. It is also reportable that Giberson got the idea when he witnessed an illusion of a bird struck by lightening during a storm.

The Thunderbird first met the dweller open at the Detroit Auto Show in Feb of 1954. However, it was not available at dealers until October of 1954. This help was a two-door convertible equipped with a V8 engine that could cruise between 110 and 120 miles per hour. The standard top was fiberglass but a fabric convertible top was an option. Featuring quaternary artefact supercharged seats and push button interior doors, the T-bird was actually a small individualized luxury automobile not a sports car.

However, it definitely appealed to the dweller open at the instance and in the first ten life of sale, dealers conventional 3,500 orders. The total sales for 1955 amounted to 16,155 as Ford realized their goal of surpassing the Corvette.

Later however, owners of the 'Classic' would kvetch about the demand of a back centre and small trunk. This would lead to modifications and a new generation of T-birds however, the \"Little Bird\" remains an dweller icon.

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