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At least the 70s ones looked like a Lincoln or LTD...this malaisey one doesn't have any aspirations of something better.
When I was little, my mom had one identical to this (but it had a white interior :surprise: ):
She loved the car.
I remember when the aero birds were new, she wanted one too...but for some reason my dad didn't want her to buy one. Maybe some kind of retaliation as he wanted an AMC Eagle or a Colt Vista 4WD, and she didn't.
Okay, so that big white monster is kind of an ugly brute, but at least it has presence. It LOOKS like a luxury car!
In their defense, Ford was on the ropes in 1980, almost as bad off as Chrysler. As a result, that 1980 T-bird was probably the best they could do, considering what they had to work with. Unfortunately, Ford didn't have anything better than the Fairmont to work with, unless they wanted to use the full-sized cars as the basis. They did this with the Mark VI, and the results were pretty lame.
Once they caught wind of what GM was planning for their 1981 personal luxury coupes, that probably lit a fire under them, too. It may not seem like it today, but that 1981 re-skin that GM did with the Monte, Regal, Cutlass, and Grand Prix was pretty substantial for the time, and helped to make the cars much more modern. These models also saw sales increase in a horrible sales year. In contrast, I think the T-bird fell from 156K units in 1980 to around 80-90K for 1981.
I wonder what the original replacement for the 1980-82 T-bird would have looked like, had they not gone the aero route? I tried looking around online, but can't find any pics. I'm sure they're out there, somewhere.
"Reputedly, in 1980 following a change in leadership, the new chief designer Jack Telnack was asked by executive Don Petersen "is this what you would want in your driveway?" Telnack's negative response prompted a redesign of the Thunderbird ...."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Thunderbird
You know, looking through the Wiki page on Thunderbirds (the source for the quotation above), I'm struck by the hideousness of some of the OTHER model year Thunderbirds.... Say this 59 convertible , for example, although perhaps it has more presence in person.
It looks like a 56 T' Bird that got rock-star syndrome - got old, gained 50 pounds and started drinking too much and taking drugs
Perhaps I loved them because I was blessed to first see them during their sleek years.....
Flatten that '59s nose, get rid of the coving from headlights to rear of front door, get rid of those dumb wire wheels (this is not a sports car for heaven's sake)...you can leave the fins for period, get rid of the gunsights on the fenders. Grille is okay, colors are cool, windshield fine, back end is all right.
What?~!!!!!!!
I can't agree with your blanket condemnation. The years where the Thunderbird was dropped and the name was put on a common model car are ones I don't even consider Thunderbirds.
The name Thunderbird was applied at Ford to many things because of its value. They did similar things with the "500" term. They even named a recent car line with "500."
The Thunderbird in the picture represented what people wanted in the DAY. A four-seater. A car that was powerful, more or less, and was luxurious. The first Thunderbirds were two-seaters and were directly competing with Corvettes. The cars beginning in 1961 (about) started their own line because of being four seaters.
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The fat Elvis Bird is the one my mom had, right down to the color combo.
I must have a little soft spot for the big bloated Bird...as some of my earliest automotive memories are in that car - specifically playing with the power seats, and sleeping in the back seat,
It's amusing to think back what was in all of our family garages or driveways during the high malaise period, maybe roughly 1979-83 or so. In 1981, the fintail family fleet was these:
Were the good old days so good? :P
The forward-looking spear was the design of the future. It was a jet plane influence. The ornaments on top of the fenders were a mark of a high line car. Even the taillights are jet-influenced representing exhausts of the "jet" engines.
For the era, that was tasteful and, flame suit on, good design.
It was a lower cost, sportier, answer to the luxury of this
I suggest reading the Continental pages on Wiki and noticing the mention that the 1961 was actually a design meant for Thunderbird, but modified and enlarged to become the then Continental which from 58 to 60 had been just a large Lincoln.
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In the collector car market however, there seems to be little discrimination between 58-60 and 61-66. This erodes my faith in humanity somewhat.
1958 was a disastrous sales year for the American auto industry. The market had been oversold in 1955-57, a recession was setting in, and a lot of people were getting tired of the horsepower race, and ever larger cars. Yet the 1958 T-bird managed to move around 38,000 units, compared to 1957's 21,000. This, despite the fact that the '58 only had a 9 month model year, versus 15 for the '57, and the convertible wasn't even offered until June of 1958! It was a pretty expensive car, too. The '58 hardtop had a base price of $3630. The convertible was $3913. That was a lot of money back then, especially for a Ford. In contrast, a '58 Impala convertible base priced at $2841.
For 1959, the T-bird sold even better: ~67,000 units. And another 92K for 1960. They handled almost as well as many cars twice their size, and probably had a hefty appetite for tires and suspension components, and weren't exactly easy to work on, but they were what the public wanted!
Looks like two of a kind with that barftacular maroon Thunderturd a few posts up. :sick:
One of these days I need to make sure I have my digital camera with me when I go out there.
I also spotted, out on the road, a beige '81-85 Impala sedan that looked like it had been lovingly preserved. That must be a pretty rare sight nowadays, since by that time Impalas were mainly taxis and police cars. And nowadays kids like to get ahold of them and donk them up, pimp them out, or whatever.
I also saw a good looking dark blue '86 Caprice wagon, and a beige '87-90 Caprice sedan that had some minor body damage up front.
I want one! :shades:
It was exactly this color of red, and in immaculate condition. I followed it in local traffic for several minutes, so I confirmed that it was a 912.... and it had its original Texas 1969 plates to give me the year.
There was just a puff of delicious smelling blue smoke on the upshifts to 2nd.
I wanted one badly last night, but today, I'm back to being a loyal Alfisti!
Keep your 912 and give me a boat tail, please.
Yeah, he definitely does! And one of the cars he has is a DeSoto...a 1959 Firesweep station wagon. Last I saw it, it was tucked in the far corner of his garage at home, and looked pretty far gone to me. I think he said it had dual a/c or something like that, that made it pretty rare. I guess ANY '59 DeSoto wagon is gonna be pretty rare these days, though!
Now that I think of it, he has a '59 Firedome 4-door sedan out in front at his shop. It's pretty shot though, and I think he's gonna just strip parts off of it and then junk what's left.
I also saw a Chevette and a Euro spec W124 with correct lights and sidemarkers - and period Lorinser wheels. Japanese import I'll wager.
The British tried the 3-wheel route with the 'Reliant' brand...never took off.
So.. now they just have 4-wheelers... which has cut the fatality rate down to just ridiculously high (from absurdly). :surprise:
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Also got to see one of these, and I'm guessing the owner really wanted a convertible and not a hardtop, because it was wedged under a tractor trailer! :surprise: As near as I can tell, the semi was making a right turn, cut it wide like they have to, and the Benz tried to make that same right, on the shoulder, and ended up getting wedged under the trailer. It was hard to tell if there was much damage, because it wasn't easily visible because of the traffic jam that ensued. It didn't look like it went very far under, though. Luckily, the truck driver probably stopped immediately after impact.
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Shame about the C126 - strong cars though, so hopefully it protected its errant driver.
It's raining here, too, although temps are holding around 60-62. It's supposed to clear up tomorrow, but only get up to around 49. And looking at the 10 day forecast (which probably changes every 15 minutes :P ) we'll be lucky to see 60 degrees again anytime soon. So I guess I should count myself lucky that I was able to get in what little convertible-time that I could!
Also passed a nice MGA on the way home.
Passed two more Heralds today, on my daily commute.
This could just be in my mind, but I swear my '67 Catalina feels slower with its new wheels and tires. Before, I had 215/75/R14 tires, and I think they were on a 6" wide steel wheel with hubcaps (when the car wasn't throwing them, that is
Would that really be enough of a change to make a noticeable difference? I swear it feels like it, but it could just be all in my head.
...yellow 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass two-door hardtop with black top.
...silver Austin-Healey with top down.
I usually use Micheliin's website to compare but they don't offer a 215.75.14 tire.
Is that enough to feel?
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Also, after my bartending gig, there was a recently-purchased (temp tags) '79-ish two-tone blue and metallic beige Cadillac Seville, in exceptional condition. I know those aren't super-valuable, but I don't think I'd leave it sitting on Pulaski Road in Chicago overnight.
Admittedly, there's a lot from that era that I like, but I think the Seville is one of the best looking cars from that time. I like the clean, smooth lines and the good proportions, and the fact that it seems to have decent-sized wheels and tires. In those days, most cars that "small" only ran on 14" wheels, so the 15's on that Seville help balance it out better. Those cars had a fairly wide track, too, so the wheels didn't have that tucked-under look that can make a car look tipsy.
In contrast, the '80-85 has more of a big-car feel to me. Even though they're about the same with respect to shoulder room (around 56"), legroom and the steering wheel position just feels better. Now if I was to choose one of these "beauties", I'd make sure to get the '80, with its Caddy 368. The '81 had the V-8-6-4, which I hear isn't too bad if you disable the cylinder deactivation, but then the '82-85 had that awful little 4.1 V-8. I hate to think of 125 hp moving one of these 4,000 lb mini-monsters.
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