The crowded (and similarly sized) domestic competition reinforced the decision to upsize. In fact, there was a sudden wave of new coupes, some nearly as old and big as the Thunderbird like the Eldorado, Toronado, Grand Prix, Riveria and Charger. The Mustang’s impact was considerable on the industry with Ford’s Mercury division getting in on the action with it’s own tarted up version of the Mustang it called Cougar.Īlthough it was smaller than the Thunderbird, Ford execs still felt the need to further distinguish the two cars’ missions by emphasizing luxury and the size of the Thunderbird vs the smaller sportier nature of the Cougar. Designed around space age aspirations of modernism, the Thunderbird was one of Ford’s most recognizable designs until the Mustang came along in 1964. Before that I only admired more recent Thunderbirds from my teen years. I’d never given the 5th gen much thought until I saw one in a Prince video (of all places). Ford had already cultivated an image of luxury for the Thunderbird, but added practicality. That period of experimentation started in earnest with the fifth generation in 1967. The Corvette remained a two door, two seat sports car while the Thunderbird would experiment with different configurations on its way to defining the personal luxury coupe category it created.
Although they were often compared, the Thunderbird and Corvette could not have been more different, especially as time went on. As Ford’s flagship product, it was a sports car geared more towards luxury, as opposed to Chevrolet’s Corvette which aspired to be an all-out sports car with a few luxuries. The Ford Thunderbird was positioned as Ford’s top car in America since its inception in 1955.
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