FORD Thunderbird 1955-1977 Photos, engines & full specs

Ford’s response to the Chevrolet Corvette, the Ford Thunderbird was unveiled to the public toward the end of 1954 at the Detroit Auto Show.

Ford realised that the new Corvette was of a great importance in the car industry and had to provide a swift response.

Henry Ford II got in touch with Lewis Crusoe, a former GM executive, and asked him to help them develop the new car. Crusoe worked along with Ford’s chief designed, Frank Hershey.

It was Hershey’s idea to design the new car based on his favourite sports cars, the Jaguar XK120, thus, the Thunderbird was built on the same platform, featuring similar interior seating position, steering wheel angle and pedal angles.

Seeing the painted clay model, Crusoe was impressed and got Henry’s approval for the final design.

Once it was shown to the public, the orders started flowing - over 3,500 order in the first ten days. Unexpectedly, the Thunderbird proved to be even more successful than the Corvette, only due to an impressive marketing strategy: the Thunderbird was advertised as a personal luxury car as opposed to the Corvette which was marketed as a sports car.

Interestingly, the name of Thunderbird was chosen by a Ford stylist named Alden Giberson. Maybe uninspired at the time, Ford decided to run a competition within his company find a suitable name for the 2-seater. Giberson thought of Thunderbird while he was drinking his morning coffee in a cup with a two-headed bird.