Ford Thunderbird

1983 Ford Thunderbird

The Ford Thunderbird went into production on June 9th 1954 as a 1955 model. It was Ford's answer to the Corvette. Thunderbird began as a sleek two-seater sports car. It came with a 292 c.i. V-8 engine. (Actually called a Y-8 because of the skirt around the bottom on the engine block) It was an all weather vehicle with roll-up windows and a removable top. About 16,000 of the 102 inch wheelbase Thunderbirds were sold the first year. The Continental Kit spare tire was added for 1956. The four-seater T-bird made it's debut for 1958 and sales jumped to 37,892 units. Big block V-8's were now available in both a 300 h.p. and 375 h.p. versions. In 1958 Ford also introduced a convertible T-bird which could completely conceal it's top beneath the rear deck lid. In 1961 you could purchase a new bullet shaped T-bird hardtop for $5,170 - not bad for a luxury car. 1966 saw the last of the factory built convertibles, until the current generation of Retro-Birds. If you are interested in T-birds of the past and present, checkout the Ford Motor Company Thunderbird web pages. If you really like Thunderbirds, don't miss the Thunderbird Cyber Nest! I owned the 1983 T-bird shown in the picture above. It came with a fuel-injected 302 c.i. V-8 engine. It could fly! Speaking of flying, did you know Ford manufactured aircraft? They built a commercial plane with three engines called the Ford Trimotor.