It was designed and fitted at the factory by the Golde Company of Frankfurt am Main,West Germany who were well known for its steel sliding roofs and ran an office in Detroit. Towards the end of production in 1960, a limited number of cars were fitted with a steel sliding sunroof, the first post-war on an American car. For 1959 there were a few minor styling changes to the grille, rear light cluster and the car badging. This T-Bird was the first American-produced car to sport a full length centre console and individual bucket seats. The body was produced by the Budd Company, and the only bolton panels were the doorsplus the massicve bonnet and bootlid. With its wide pillar roof and more boxy lines the car also got nicknamed the ‘Squarebird’ and its new front grille was akin to that of a mouth organ.īut the name of the game was all about sales and the Ford hierarchy must have been well satisfied with their new car! With designs penned by Bill Boyer and Maurice King, body styling was all new with no chassis. Some purists recoiled in horror at the restyling of the T-Bird which was not as pretty as before. Such was its popularity, the new T-Bird was named Car of the Year by Motor Trend magazine.
Production of the Thunderbird was moved to Ford’s Wixom plant, which also housed the Blue Oval luxury Lincoln car division.įirst year sales were 37,892, which was extremely encouraging and compared favourably with the entire production of the first T-Bird over three years, which was 53,166.
It was then displayed at the Chicago Auto Show during January 1958. Historyįirmly established as a highly effective competitor in a head-to-head with Chevrolet’s Corvette, which it easily outsold, the second generation T-Bird was launched to the public on New Year’s Eve 1957 at the Thunderbird Golf Club in Palm Springs, California. While the second generation T-Bird may have lacked the more sporting image of the original, it was what the American public required and it was marketed as more a personal luxury car than pure sports. There was also a huge boot with ample room for luggage. In a departure from the original T-Bird, which was strictly a twoseater convertible and produced from 1955-1957, its replacement was a four-seater which meant that now the whole family could go out for the day and enjoy the fun. It got the name from the Indian legend portraying the Thunderbird from the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona as a divine helper of man. The successor to the original twoseat Thunderbird and one in a long line of these excellent models from the Blue Oval stable that can command iconic status. What is a Second Generation Ford Thunderbird?
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