The Ford Thunderbird - An American Legend

This American classic began its run in 1955. It continued to generate strong sales for the United States based Ford Company for over three decades. The Ford Company created it not as an option for a sports car but rather what they called a “personal luxury car”. This completely new class of automobile paved the way for a brand new automobile market, the personal luxury class.

Initially sporting a 2 door design and a robust engine, the Thunderbird quickly gained popularity. Sales maintained a high level and exceeded expectations.

As the years passed on the desire for 2 door models began to dwindle. In 1997, Ford decided to cease production of this model. Trying to make its way for a comeback, Ford reintroduced the T-bird in 2002. They created this newly revised model until 2005, at which time they ceased to produce them once again.

There are a couple of individuals that should receive credit for the concept of the Original Thunderbird. As the story goes, in 1951, a retired former GM executive coupled with the then chief stylist for Ford had a meeting in France. While they were enjoying the sites, a sports car caught his eye. Crusoe turned to Walker and asked, “Why can’t we have something like that?”

Inspired by this new idea, Walker spoke to Ford designer Frank Hershey about the sports car he had seen. Hershey too was impressed with this concept and went immediately to work. The concept was to have an open car that sported 2 seats, didn’t weigh that much and could achieve speeds over the 100 mph limit.

Hershey spent about 1 year and a half working on this design to please Crusoe. Finally, in 1953, Crusoe was able to see a painted clay model of the Thunderbird. This clay model closely resembled the finished product that they launched in 1955. Upon seeing this representation, Crusoe gave the approval to begin manufacturing it. Then in 1955 the first T-Bird was born.

Thunderbird was not the first name chosen. There were others that were suggested that were poor, even laughable. Here are some of the names that were initially suggested: Beaver, Runabout, Arcturus, Savile, El Tigre, Hep Cat and Coronado. None of these really stuck thankfully. It would be difficult to imagine driving a beaver.

Anxious for some help in naming his new 2 car wonder, Crusoe held a contest to see if anyone else could come up with a better name. The prize offered a $250 suit from a major suit retailer. Alden Giberson submitted the name of Thunderbird, along with a couple other options.

Giberson claimed that he came up with the idea when he had a vision of a bird getting hit by lightning. Hence the name Thunderbird was born.