Great Cars: THUNDERBIRD

the Thunderbird created a storm right from the start Americans loved these sporty and glamorous cars but this bird grew and grew until it became a dodo headed for extinction fans convinced Ford to put it on a diet and the Thunderbird was reborn the trim bird was poised to take off again [Music] when the Thunderbird first flew out of Ford's coupe it turned heads [Music] but this revolutionary car was brought down in 1997 when Ford ended production the cars legion of fans kept up the pressure and Ford relented and by 2001 there was a new Thunderbird flying down the highway this all modern car reminded people of the original two-seater that had captured everyone's heart the first Thunderbird was created in the wake of World War two soldiers came back ready to hit the road and have some fun but executives at the Ford Motor Company weren't having much fun years of mismanagement had created a financial mess to turn things around henry ford ii enlisted the help of a group of bright mostly young systems analysts he caught the Wisc heads they dived in in five years ford was back to profitability [Applause] helped by the whiz kids in the post-war boom Ford was building a million cars a year by 1950 Ford knew it had to take advantage of the growing economy and pay attention to the changing demands of car buyers it needed to develop products that would keep its vast plants busy and its workers employed as America prospered people started to be more demanding about what they bought everyone was buying cars and there were plenty of choices automakers had to fight for attention and for the first time there were cars filtering in from Europe that were creating quite a stir the first wave came from British sports cars mainly the mgs European companies were targeting the u.s. trying to earn much-needed foreign currency the American economy was sound while Europe was still suffering from the effects of the war the American car companies responded with their own sports cars first came the Corvette from General Motors in 1953 [Music] when the head of Ford's Design Department Frank her she learned of GM's Corvette he started to lobby for a Ford response her she liked the Jaguar xk120 s and decided to use these cars as a jumping-off point for a Ford sports car [Music] he put together a team to work on his pet project but neglected to get permission he told them to capture the spirit of the European cars but find a way to put in the comfort features Americans wanted like roll-up windows heaters and big engines Hersh's gorilla team was discovered by the head of engineering who thought Ford should focus on mainstream cars he wanted Hershey to design cars for the masses not for a few sports car buffs Hersh's project was put on hold but he found a sympathetic ear at the Paris Auto Show that certainly outranked the engineering vice-president for division general manager asked her she's boss why Ford didn't have a sports car like Joshua her she was told to step on the gas Ford now wanted something to compete with Chevrolet the team got busy and transformed their design into a real car unlike the glass-fibre Corvette it had a steel body it had power seats the heater and a telescoping steering wheel unheard of features in a sports car they worked feverishly to get the car ready for its debut one issue needed to be solved what to call it Ford had a contest they invited all the designers to submit a name for the car the prize a new suit a young designer saw the perfect design staring at him one morning on a souvenir coffee cup he'd bought on a trip out west he lopped one head off the bird and submitted a sketch to management he called it the Thunderbird they loved it the car had a name now Bouldin Giberson needed to find a suit to buy to claim his 250 dollar prize but there weren't any suits available in Detroit that cost that much so he settled on a suit and two pairs of pants for $95 the car was ready to meet the public the Thunderbird was rolled out in February of 1954 at the Detroit Auto Show the crowd loved it it was stylish had good performance and a touch of luxury all this for only $2,700 it was a package that was hard to resist however it wasn't a real sophisticated road car but it was comfortable and loaded with fun Corvette buyers had complained about the cars lack of power the t-bird came with a large v8 engine power steering and brakes completed the package on the road the t-bird it not only looked good it could outperform a Corvette in its sleep [Music] it became a popular choice for magazine covers and the subject of countless articles some Ford executives still weren't convinced that there was enough of a market for a two-seat car but when it went on sale in October 1954 four thousand were ordered on the first day more than 16 thousand sold by January [Music] the Thunderbird production line was operating at full capacity it is making a mark across the country [Music] the car cost less than a Corvette have more performance and more luxury it was hard to beat but critics pointed out that there was room for improvement Ford responded in 1956 with a modified bird the biggest change was making more room in the trunk [Music] they moved the spare to a perch on the back bumper this was similar to what they'd done on the Lincoln Continental it was called a continental kit some didn't like the tire hanging off the back but it opened up the trunk and gave the car a longer bolder profile [Music] another problem was the lack of ventilation the v8 engine created a lot of heat Ford added side cowl bench to cool things off the hot top had a blind spot so the designers created a porthole a fashionable fix [Music] [Applause] the car quickly became an icon it lifted the profile of the whole company all the Fords started to reflect the jazzier feel of the Thunderbird it had a halo effect on all the cars the company was growing and changing the Ford family finally decided to take it public after running it for 50 years as a privately owned company they'd retain effective control but it was a new era [Music] auto safety became a concern crash testing became quite a science and started to influence designs [Music] meet one of the busiest men in town he sells 56 Ford's and that's not all in addition to Ford's I sell safety like this new lifeguard steering wheel with its rim mounted high above the recess steering post it acts as a cushion on impact you can have the instrument panel and Sun visors padded for additional safety and lifeguards seatbelts afford option that keeps you firmly in your seat in case of sudden stops these options found their way into the 1956 Thunderbird but the public didn't appear to be interested in seatbelts and safety GM was advertising and promoting performance Ford emphasized safety GM's sales zoomed Ford's film gm's Corvette tour of the sand of Daytona Beach with its new v8 engine Ford decided to rethink its safety campaign the 1957 Thunderbird received some minor cosmetic changes like tail fins and an array of bigger engines to choose from sales picked up more than 21,000 t-birds flew out of the showrooms that year they still have a devoted following [Music] we've always had loved cars my whole family has a father my uncle and we've always been car nuts oh boy out of 57 Thunderbird knew in 57 and that's what turned me on to the 57 Thunderbirds despite the stronger than expected sales of the t-bird there were some at Ford who thought the car should be doing better Robert McNamara the practical and puritanical young general manager of Ford wanted to pump up sales [Music] he listened to those who said he could sell more Thunderbirds if he added a backseat her she opposed the idea but dutifully had a four seat design prepared it took a few sketches and clay models to hit on the right look the new car was ready for the 1958 model year the longer lower and larger car with its hooded headlights became known as the square bird [Music] some felt betrayed by the car but many more people bought the bigger bird it triple t-bird sales to nearly 40,000 cars McNamara was right sales continued to grow they hit 60 thousand in 1959 that was more than all the roadsters combined there was no turning back [Music] Ford launched an all-out ad campaign to remind buyers that the t-bird was now a four-seat family-friendly car sales continue to rise the future looked bright for the Thunderbird the 1960s assured in a new era with the election of President John Kennedy McNamara moved to Washington to become a Secretary of Defense and there were more changes to come at four [Music] henry ford ii became the company's chairman and a talented young sales executive lee iaccoca took over as Ford's general manager it was the jet age and the dawn of the Space Age automotive stylists wanted to put some of that excitement in their designs the Thunderbird was stretched and given a jet like look its afterburner shaped taillights screamed power and speed unfortunately the public didn't respond and sale slipped about 21% ford stayed the course but decided to load it up with novelty touches like automatic tops Iacocca knew how to make money by selling extra options and creating sales with its sexy features the Thunderbird had once been forged product centerpiece but Iacocca had something new in mind he wanted to capture the baby boomers with a smaller sporty car he called it the Mustang the Mustang concept car had been a two-seater but Iacocca heeded the lessons learned with the Thunderbird the Mustang would be a four seater from the start the introduction of the Mustang in 1964 pushed the Thunderbird off its sporty car perch it was consigned to duty in a new niche the more upscale personal luxury car the 1964 through 1966 Thunderbirds were given a classic redesign with some novel touches like sequential taillights [Music] people talked about the swing-away steering wheel this could only be found on a t-bird it gave the cars some cash a concerns about crash worthiness ended the run of Thunderbird convertibles in 1966 safety issues climbed back into the front seat once again to comply with new federal safety guidelines Ford built larger cars one result was the four-door Thunderbird it's so-called suicide doors are reminiscent of the Lincoln's from the early 1960s these 1968 t-birds bore little resemblance to the original roadsters Ford like the rest of the auto industry started to lose its way in the late 1960s and 70s fuel economy concerns emissions regulations safety quality and the changing tastes of its buyers created havoc electric excitement it was hard to figure out what a Thunderbird should be redundant at our people our customer he wants the drama in his automobile Jerry do you think this looks like real solid Thunderbird stuff by 1972 the personal luxury car style had transformed the t-bird into something that just didn't fly but the designers did retain enough touches from the roadsters to remind buyers of the cars heritage by 1978 sales were setting records over 350,000 t-birds migrated from dealers Lots into buyers garages the euphoria didn't last long an oil crisis in 1979 rained on the t-birds parade and its sales crashed Ford was reeling its profits had disappeared but designers decided to take a risk sometimes that's the best thing to do in a crisis Ford introduced a shorter slimmer and more aerodynamic Thunderbird in 1983 [Music] it's styled paved the way for the toilets a car that would revolutionize automotive design but for now towards wanted to see if anyone would buy the new hood people liked the Aero bird sales had shot up 300% over a hundred and twenty thousand Thunderbirds hit the streets in the first year this was the bold move toward needed it wasn't the Roadster but it was for sporty-er than other Thunderbirds and it had a performance look and feel its success helped the entire company like the original it brought people into dealerships to look at it it was a style leader that influenced the rest of the lineup the Aero look was with in 1986 the Thunderbird received their power jolt when Ford introduced a turbo model in 1987 the Thunderbird turbo Cooper was named Motor Trend Car of the Year this was quite an honor that was repeated in 1989 [Music] while the Thunderbird had recaptured a certain sporty feel many still longed for the roadsters there's nothing like an open-top sports car by 1996 the Thunderbird sales had fallen to below 80 thousand cars a year the company decided to face it out of the 1997 model year but the cars wouldn't disappear more than 4.2 million t-birds have been sold during its 42 year lifespan there were a lot of loyal owners who kept their classics looking like sparkling new showroom babies their enthusiasm was contagious some Ford executives have become infected with the t-bird bug and began to plot for its return work began on a new Thunderbird and just like the original effort this had no official authorization or funding the energized team dobe in and conjured up a host of concepts for a new Thunderbird - vintage Thunderbirds were purchased to provide some inspiration the team studied the classic shape of the original Thunderbird they wanted to see what made the car unique the egg-crate grille the hash marks on the side the hood scoops around taillights they digested all things that made a Thunderbird if they wanted to see their car on the road they would have to convince the money people at Ford but their passion of could translate into sailors [Music] they found an ally has had happened with the original car aqui executive threw his support behind the project Jack NASA became president and put the Thunderbird on a fast track [Music] the team was given funding and the go-ahead to create something wonderful computer-aided design speeded the process all the engineering and structural issues could be worked out faster [Music] there were still the question of the final design some wanted to use ideas submitted by Ford's international studios but when focus groups saw what the original team had done there was no doubt who had the better design in 2000 the cow was made ready for its first shearing once again it could be at the Detroit Auto Show it looked great and the media wrote glowing articles about the rebirth of the Bundaberg [Music] Neiman Marcus planned a special edition for its Christmas catalog and sold out in a couple of hours [Music] it looked like the t-bird would fly out of the showrooms again but technical snags production delays and subsequent recalls marred the car's introduction sales were lost some of the excitements began to wear off by the time it was released but when it was launched it was snapped up by people who've been waiting for the return of an icon there's certain cars out there that people recognize people recognize Corvettes people recognize Thunderbirds that you don't have to be a car lover to know and recognize the Thunderbird they see the car driving down the road and they instantly know what it is a classic reverse wedge shape appealed to t-bird loyalists it was immediately accepted into their midst the reborn Thunderbird fitted in with its classic forebears but sales never quite hit the targets Ford had hoped while at one styling praised some wanted more power better handling more refinement Ford announced that the car would be a limited edition and that production would eventually stop no matter what this modern tribute to a classic is really a lot of fun to drive it's a reminder of why people fall in love with automobiles [Music]

Channel: King Rose Archives

Views: 200,066

Keywords: Ford Thunderbird, Until Daddy took my T bird away, TBird, spoirts cars, George Walker, Henry Ford II, Ernest Breech, Lewis D. Crusoe, retro future

Id: gNad-_X_jYY

Length: 25min 4sec (1504 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 31 2017