Purists wonder if four seats were a mistake. The Wiz Kids running Ford determined four seats sell better than two so Thunderbird grew for 1958, eliminating Corvette's domestic competitor. 'Thunderbirds were exciting versions of Ford automobiles and they have continued to be that way through the years.' 'When the T-Bird came out, it was something,' said Rodney Wake, president of Vintage Thunderbird Club International, Inc. Planned square windows to improve hardtop visibility became elegant portholes. Spare tires were mounted on rear 'continental kits' to free trunk space for golf clubs.

'It looks nice, like you could get in and drive without it hurting you.' 'If you stand back and look at the car, that vehicle has really, really beautiful styling,' Kreipke said. So was the color pallet that included Snowshoe White, Goldenrod Yellow and Thunderbird Blue. In his own book, The Man Who Saved the V8, Morsey said, 'I still feel a little guilty about borrowing one of the Mark II's major design cues. 'The idea for the blind quarter came when Chase Morsey came to the Continental Division for a sneak look,' recounted William Clay Ford for Bill Boyer's book, 'Thunderbird: An Odyssey in Automotive Design.' 'We were months ahead of the T-Bird in clay, and he 'borrowed' our roof line for a car that was to precede the Mark II by a year.'įord was head of Continental Division and de-facto chief designer.

Ford thunderbird 70s