The Ford Thunderbird: A Celebration
26 October 2021
As the story goes, the Thunderbird resulted from the designer George Walker and Ford’s division general manager Louis D. Crusoe admiring sports cars at the 1951 Paris Motor Show. In fact, the company had already considered building a two-seater but was concerned that such a model would have limited appeal.
However, the future ‘T Bird’ would almost certainly appeal to affluent young motorists. Its development was further spurred by the Chevrolet Corvette, which debuted in 1953, and so the Ford project had to fulfil seven criteria:
- It would be a two-seater convertible.
- It would use as many standard production components as possible.
- The weight would be 2,525 pounds.
- Power would be from an ‘Interceptor V8’ engine from the Mercury division.
- The top speed would be in excess of 100 mph.
- It would out-accelerate the competition.
- It would also retain a definite Ford identity.
As for the name, management rejected ‘Beaver’’, Detroiter’, ‘Runabout’, and ‘Savile’. They also spurned ideas such as ‘Arcturus’, ‘Beverly’, ‘Carioca’, ‘Dagmar’, ‘Debonnaire’, ‘Esquiline’, ‘Flag Liner ‘Hep Cat, ‘Playboy’, ‘Snipe’, ‘Tropicale’ and ‘999’. One marketing genius even suggested that buyers would surely crave a car named ‘Wombat’.
Legend has it that Crusoe offered a prize of a $250 suit to any employee with a better idea. However, other sources suggest that Henry Ford II offered a rather cheaper Saks Fifth Avenue outfit. The winning idea was from the designer Alden Giberson, whose coffee mug displayed an image of a Native American thunderbird. Furthermore, it was rumoured that General Motors was also considering this name. In the event, the actual prize was ‘a $95 suit and an extra pair of pants’.
The first example left the factory on the 9th September 1954, with sales commencing on the 22nd October; Ford had already received 4,000 advance orders. Dearborn envisaged a limited annual production run of 10,000 units, but they sold 16,155 in the first year alone.
Meanwhile, GM sold just 674 Corvettes in that same year, and your friendly local Ford dealer would no doubt highlight the T Bird’s winding side windows, a feature still lacking on the Chevrolet. Walt Woron, the editor of Motor Trend, raved:
“After pushing the car around the handling course a few times I soon got confident enough to begin taking the corners at 55-65 mph. With more practice, I felt sure that I could up the speed. That’s how the car impresses you. The ride is unlike that which the diehard sports car addict has come to expect from a sports car. It’s firm enough to prevent too much bobbing coming out of a dip or flying over a bump.”
Customers could order their ‘personal car of distinction’ in ‘Thunderbird Blue’ (naturally), ‘Goldenrod Yellow’, ‘Raven Black’, ‘Snowshoe White’ or ‘Torch Red’. The transmission choices were three-speed manual transmission or a Ford-O-Matic three-speed automatic box.
The T Bird ran for eleven generations, thanks to the impact of the original model. As Woron observed, “though Ford is the first one to deny it (Ford calls it a ‘personal car’) they have a sports car in the Thunderbird, and it’s a good one”. That said, Hep Cat would have been a splendid name.
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