1960 Ford Thunderbird

FTLComm - Tisdale - Saturday, September 29, 2001

In the mid fifties GM and Ford both decided it was time to build an exclusive sport car. GM went to a two seat plastic bodied muscle car, the Corvette and Ford in 1955 produced a spiffy looking smaller car with spirit but more than anything very clean style. The original Thunderbird was no a big seller because it like the Corvette was really a two seater and in 57 they came out with this design. A larger car with four seats and

design features that were copied by all designers for a decade or more. This is the most refined of that series of cars the 1960 with its leaf rear springs and design elements that came right off of fighter aircraft of the era. The interior of this car is

original with its red and white seats and chrome everywhere. The earlier rounded rectangle tail lights were replaced with six round jet exhaust styled lights. The lines of the second generation Thunderbird were replicated on other vehicles especially the roof line which was described as a "formal" roof. The difficult to build roof is flat as is the back window, both are just exaggerations of the 55 design. But this over all design captured the imagination of drivers and this set the standard for all car designs of the period and perhaps even now as this forty-one year old car looks completely appropriate compared with cars of today..