First-year sales of 16,155 units easily accounted for Corvette’s meagre 700 total. But it was decently brisk, comfortable, nicely balanced and easy to drive. Over the following few months, however, Crusoe moved the T-Bird theme towards luxury, creating the term (and the segment) “personal car”.īy the time the open two-seater with standard removable hardtop went on sale in October 1954, it had gained 300kg over its target weight and there wasn’t much chance of chasing Ferraris. In September 1953, again at the Paris show, Crusoe gave the nod. The design brief had called for a V8 engine, a target weight of 1145kg and a top speed of at least 100mph (162km/h). The Bill Boyer-penned Thunderbird was lithe, low-slung and futuristic, and made in real steel. The project got approval in February 1953, a month after Chevrolet revealed its Corvette. and found a telephone to tell designer Frank Hershey what was happening. “Oh, we have something like that in the works right now,” Walker lied. Crusoe, spotting an unspecified Euro sporty, asked: “Why can’t we have something like that?” It was born during a visit to the 1951 Paris show by Ford brass Louis Crusoe and design chief George Walker. The Thunderbird had the makings of greatness. If the hot-rod was the home-built American two-seater, the Corvette and the Thunderbird were the official issue. Launched at the end of 1954 as a “new kind of sports car”, the 4.8-litre V8 came a year after Chevrolet’s own confused Chevrolet Corvette, which paired a svelte two-seat body with a wheezy 3.9-litre six.īoth cars were Detroit’s response to the booming market for imported sports cars, fuelled by returned WW2 soldiers familiar with sleek British and European machines. THERE was always one glaring thing wrong with the Ford Thunderbird from Day One: the identity crisis. The original Ford Thunderbird was a smash hit, then daddy took the T-Bird away.
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