1955 - 1957 Ford Thunderbird

Sinatra had one, Bing had one, the "mysterious blonde" in American Graffiti had one, & my father had one when I was a kid. No matter where we went, people would stop us...men, women, young, old...didn't matter.

as found in Edmunds

If Chevrolet hadn't introduced the 1953 Corvette it's likely that Ford never would have felt compelled to develop the Thunderbird in response. But though the T-Bird was a response to it, Ford's two-seater was a distinctly different machine from GM's plastic-bodied sports car.

First of all, the Thunderbird's body, like that of all other Fords, was made of steel. Second, the Thunderbird was available solely with a V8 engine unlike the Corvette which started life with a straight six and only added the V8 as an option for 1955. And third, the Thunderbird wasn't trying very hard to pretend it was a sports car.

The Thunderbird went on sale October 22, 1954, and quickly overwhelmed the Corvette in sales volume. Ford had thought it would sell about 10,000 examples that first year, but found itself unable to keep up with demand and eventually knocked out 16,155 examples during the debut model year (production ran deep into September of '55 when the 1956 model Fords were already in showrooms). That was more than five times the number of Corvettes Chevrolet built that year — and all this despite a price tag that started at $2,695 but could run easily past $3,800 with options.







This video was just too entertaining not to post...some parts may be considered inappropriate today in some circles...in my opinion it was just a simpler time. Let me know what you think...