This success spawned a new market segment, the personal luxury car. The new Thunderbird began a sales momentum previously unseen with the car, selling 200,000 units in three years, four times the result of the two-seat model. As a result, the car was redesigned as a four-seater for 1958. From 1968 to 1998, Lincoln-Mercury marketed rebadged variants of the Thunderbird as the Continental Mark III, Mark IV, Mark V, Mercury Cougar, Lincoln Mark VII, and Lincoln Mark VIII.Īlthough the 1955–57 Thunderbird was a success, Ford executives-particularly Robert McNamara-were concerned that the car's position as a two-seater limited its sales potential. An American interpretation of the grand tourer, personal luxury cars were built with a higher emphasis on driving comfort and convenience features over handling and high-speed performance. These included a four-seat hardtop coupe, four-seat convertible, five-seat convertible and hardtop, four-door pillared hardtop sedan, six-passenger hardtop coupe, and five-passenger pillared coupe, with the final generation designed again as a two-seat convertible.įord targeted the two-seat Thunderbird as an upscale model, but the design introduced for 1958 featured a rear seat and arguably marked expansion of a market segment eventually known as personal luxury cars. Introduced as a two-seat convertible, the Thunderbird was produced in a variety of body configurations. THIS 1960 FORD THUNDERBIRD IS LOCATED IN: NORTH BILLERICA, MA 01862įord Thunderbird (colloquially called the T-Bird) is a personal luxury car produced by Ford from model years 1955 to 19 to 2005 throughout eleven distinct generations.
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