The V6 supercharged, also known as the SC, was one of the best from its series. But the bland design was under the exterior's look.įord offered the Thunderbird with a choice of V6 and V8 engines. In the back, there was room enough for two adult passengers. At least, the center stack was right, with a logical layout for the stereo and the air-conditioning unit. The high, adjustable bolsters on the sport seats didn't look that good. Perhaps it was the interior that spoiled the car. Unusual for those times, its rear wheels were placed behind the C-pillar and made the car look more advanced than its competitors. A grille on the lower side of the bumper plus two air-intakes right under the hood kept the engine cool. On the hood, it featured the Thunderbird badge and a pair of slim, horizontal headlights. Just by looking at it, it was considered a good competitor for the BMW 6-series. All of a sudden, the T-Bird was the black sheep of the family who didn't get the much-needed lunch-money (advertising), and it didn't get the sales it deserved. The car exceeded its target price and its weight. full description and technical specificationsĭesigned to compete against the finest luxury German coupes on the market, the 1989 Ford Thunderbird was an underrated vehicle.Īfter the car was born, there were huge controversies in the Ford Motor Company, which led to the retirement of Anthony Kuchta, the man behind the project. Later on, in 2003, T-Bird received an updated version, which provided 284 hp. It was paired to a standard 5-speed automatic transmission. Since the T-Bird was built as a personal luxury coupe, it featured two seats at the front and a bench in the back, all leather-wrapped.įord chose to fit one engine under the Thunderbird's hood: a 3.9-liter V8 taken from Jaguar. But those didn't look too good next to the green LCD lettering placed on the bottom. A good thing was the new look for the instrument cluster, which featured four semi-circular dials, with red needles on white faces. In the end, it put just the same thing as in most of its other vehicles. The hardtop featured an oval window on the C-pillar, resembling older Thunderbirds.įor the interior, Ford tried for several years to find the materials which would suit best for the car. With a sloped silhouette, which started taller on the front fenders and descended toward the rear, the convertible inspired the old-style design theme, but in a modern interpretation. The retro-design style could have been seen on the front fascia, with its big and round headlights and the flat, chromed grille with square-grid mesh. The design was inspired by the first-generation of the T-Bird. When it unveiled it, the whole market was enthusiastic, but that enthusiasm didn't last long, and the T-Bird sunk with slow sales. It was based on the same platform as the Jaguar XF or the Lincoln LS. “Mechanical refinement of engine, transmission and steering would be hard to improve upon, the power-assisted steering setting an example to other manufacturers.With its retro-design look and modern features, the 2001 Thunderbird should have been a blast from the past and revive the brand name, but it was a flop.įord launched the eleventh generation of the Thunderbird in 1999 as a 2001 model-year. “More important than the high performance is the completely effortless manner in which it is achieved,” they said. Still, the road testers concluded that the Thunderbird was worth every penny. To provide a measure of commonsense, a Ford Anglia cost £589. Fifty-four years ago, that was a great deal of money – only slightly less than an Aston Martin DB4 (£3968) and more than twice the price of a Jaguar Mk2 3.8 (£1179). Perhaps the only immediate downside was the British purchase tax, which raised the price from £2679 14s 2d to £3797 7s 9d, albeit with a heater, radio and electrically operated front seats, windows and windscreen washers thrown in. Given its 5.2m length, that was a seriously impressive figure, equivalent to that achieved by the five-metre-long Range Rover today. Even a test best fuel economy of 15mpg was forgiven (it averaged just over 13mpg after spirited performance tests), due to the car’s two-tonne weight and the engine’s mighty cubic capacity.Įven more impressive – although perhaps less likely to excite a road tester – was the car’s 12.6-metre turning circle. Ford boss: no plans to follow GM and leave EuropeĪcceleration, meanwhile, was “exceptional”, with 0-60mph taking 9.3sec and 0-100mph 26.3sec, and even the auto ’box was noted to “change so smoothly that sometimes it was impossible to detect the shifts”.Promoted: Ford Focus ST – 7 Finest Features.Why the Ford Fiesta ST deserves to be a hot hatch hero.Promoted | The Ford Fiesta ST: seven features to love.Finding the best hot Ford Fiesta of all time.
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