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http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=570465 :
Quote:DETROIT Mar 10, 2005 — We had fun, fun, fun ’til Ford took the T-bird away. Again. Ford Motor Co. said Thursday the 2005 model year will be the last for the current-generation Ford Thunderbird, a retro-styled convertible that went on sale in August 2001.Ford had planned to discontinue the Thunderbird after the 2005 or 2006 model year but told employees Thursday production will end in July.
“We promised all along that this Thunderbird would have a limited production run, and we’re being true to our word,” Ford Division President Steve Lyons said. “Thunderbird was a terrific image builder for the Ford brand showroom at a time when we needed it.”
The Wixom Assembly Plant northwest of Detroit, which produces the Thunderbird, will continue to make the Lincoln LS and Town Car and also will be the final assembly point for the Ford GT supercar, which was released last year.
The Thunderbird, one of Ford’s most celebrated nameplates, first went on sale in 1954. Its peak sales year was 1977, when 322,517 redesigned Thunderbirds were sold. The Thunderbird went through numerous design changes over the decades before going on hiatus in 1997.
The redesigned 2002 Thunderbird got off to a roaring start. Dealers were flooded with pre-orders and got $10,000 premiums on top of the car’s sticker price of $30,000. It also won over critics, securing Motor Trend magazine’s Car of the Year award.
But the flurry died down almost as quickly as it emerged. Ford had projected sales of 25,000 per year but fell well short of that mark. Just 11,998 Thunderbirds sold in 2004, 33 percent fewer than 2003.
Ford has sold a total of 54,360 new-generation Thunderbirds since 2001. The company said it has sold 4.2 million Thunderbirds since 1954.
Well it looks like the thunderbird is done. Personally I think that ford did a poor job on the new thunderbirds, I would have preferred that they bring a little more of the styling back from the old t-birds than they did.
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Quote:Quote:Well it looks like the thunderbird is done. Personally I think that ford did a poor job on the new thunderbirds, I would have preferred that they bring a little more of the styling back from the old t-birds than they did.I have a ’93 in great condition. I realize that it isn’t
worth a fortune, but it’s still a nice looking car.I wouldn’t mind having a ’65! The styling is nice.
But I have one problem………no place to keep it!!!
Yeah I wouldn’t mind having a couple classics too, now that they aren’t going to be made anymore the value of the old ones will just keep going up.
I think they could of done a better job of making it look like the original. They needed a more powerful engine also. The dealers didn’t help when they added a premium onto the sticker.
Too bad what they did to the T-bird in the ’80s. They turned a once-competitor for the corvette into a family car/grocery getter 😯 It had a shorter wheelbase, an anemic engine, and was boxy and devoid of any character. But “sensible” 🙄
Glad it has gotten some of the original charm back, if only for a short time.
Quote:Too bad what they did to the T-bird in the ’80s. They turned a once-competitor for the corvette into a family car/grocery getter 😯 It had a shorter wheelbase, an anemic engine, and was boxy and devoid of any character. But “sensible” 🙄Glad it has gotten some of the original charm back, if only for a short time.
I really like how they brought back the portholes, that was really a nice touch. Unfortunately like you said the 80 tbirds had that mainstream “jellybean” look which wasn’t attractive at all IMO.
I’m not happy with the new look 😥
You mean hypothetically? If Ford were to start a new version, I think it would be another mistake. They did a pretty good job, retro-styling-wise, on the recent one but priced it out of the market (dealers guilty, too). There are too many good/better value cars to choose from these days.
Quote:You mean hypothetically? If Ford were to start a new version, I think it would be another mistake. They did a pretty good job, retro-styling-wise, on the recent one but priced it out of the market (dealers guilty, too). There are too many good/better value cars to choose from these days.I see what you mean. Basically the tbird has had a good run but they should let it go now.
Quote:Quote:You mean hypothetically? If Ford were to start a new version, I think it would be another mistake. They did a pretty good job, retro-styling-wise, on the recent one but priced it out of the market (dealers guilty, too). There are too many good/better value cars to choose from these days.I see what you mean. Basically the tbird has had a good run but they should let it go now.
Well Pontiac let go of the TA/ Chevy with the Z-28 ….. and that had a shorter run. Too bad to see any classic die like that, but maybe it’s time.
Quote:I think they could of done a better job of making it look like the original. They needed a more powerful engine also. The dealers didn’t help when they added a premium onto the sticker.I agree fully, they should have brought back the styling from the original tbirds.
Personally I think Ford shot themselves in the foot with their approach to the latest Thunderbird. You’re basically taking a car that was once priced in the low 20K’s and redesigning and pricing it to the upper 30K/lower 40K. Pricewise alone you are approaching the price range of the C5 Corvettes when they were being sold brand new during 03-04. To add insult to injury Ford is taking a retro restyled car and outfitting it with a motor that in the eyes of many was servely underpowered (260 horsepower I believe).
Things like this really turned off people towards purchasing a model and on top of that during this time the 03-04 Cobras were selling like crazy with a larger supercharged engine sporting 390 horsepower. Price wise the Mustang Cobras were priced slightly less than the starting price of a Thunderbird. I feel that if Ford were to price the Thunderbird in the price range that it is in, they should have increased the horsepower, otherwise it should have been priced somewhere in the 20K range.
Quote:Personally I think Ford shot themselves in the foot with their approach to the latest Thunderbird. You’re basically taking a car that was once priced in the low 20K’s and redesigning and pricing it to the upper 30K/lower 40K. Pricewise alone you are approaching the price range of the C5 Corvettes when they were being sold brand new during 03-04. To add insult to injury Ford is taking a retro restyled car and outfitting it with a motor that in the eyes of many was servely underpowered (260 horsepower I believe).Things like this really turned off people towards purchasing a model and on top of that during this time the 03-04 Cobras were selling like crazy with a larger supercharged engine sporting 390 horsepower. Price wise the Mustang Cobras were priced slightly less than the starting price of a Thunderbird. I feel that if Ford were to price the Thunderbird in the price range that it is in, they should have increased the horsepower, otherwise it should have been priced somewhere in the 20K range.
I completely agree. Like you said the boost the price up for no real reason, and then on top of that put in an underpowered engine, not a good move. Why would people want to buy the tbird (unless they are reeeaaallly into it) for that kind of money when they could get a corvette like you said for the same amount with a much bigger engine.
I would agree they definately needed a more powerful engine. They had a real opportunity to be very creative and they blew it. It will be interesting to see if the new T-bird holds any collectible value in the coming years. I think they could of done more with the design. If they would of modeled it exactly after the original it would of been more popular. And like you said they should of priced it accordingly.
Quote:I think they could of done a better job of making it look like the original. They needed a more powerful engine also. The dealers didn’t help when they added a premium onto the sticker.I’ve noticed that on lost of cars. Espically the Dodge Charger. They should have made it look exactly like the one from the Dukes of Hazard TV show and I bet it would have sold much better.
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