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Thunderbird 1964-1976
Performance Portfolio
Anotace
Ford operated a three-year model cycle in the early days of the Thunderbird but the fourth generation model (1964-1967) was the last one to subscribe to this. Sadly, it was also the last Thunderbird range to offer a convertible model. Sales of earlier T-birds in the 1960s had demonstrated a clear buyer preference for the closed hardtop models, and sales of the convertible represented only a miserable 7.5 percent of the 1966 total. By now, the car was in any case very much a personal luxury model and any pretence at sportiness had been abandoned. From 1965, the new Mustang took care of demand for a sporty Ford, and the rather fussy styling of the contemporary Thunderbird made it appeal to a very different group of buyers. Even so, sales were strong, and the 1964 models posted a record 92,500. It was no great surprise to find the 1967 range with very different styling, with four doors instead of two on the Landau model, and with a bulkiness which would have been alien to the original T-birds of the mid 1950s. Big-block V8s were standard equipment, but tuned for refinement rather than performance, and from 1968 the old 428ci motor was replaced by a new 429. This lent itself to tuning for the increasingly stringent emissions regulations over the next few years. The 1970 models were face-lifted with a peaked nose, but sales continued to slide and finally collapsed in 1971 to a low of 36,000. So the 1972 sixth generation Thunderbird had the job of reversing this decline, and it did so. First year sales showed an increase of 60 percent over 1971 and although the oil crisis hit sales of big and thirsty cars like this one in the 1974 season, the Ford still managed to out-sell its rivals from Buick and Oldsmobile. One reason was that Ford kept interest alive with a number of special editions. Another was that for 1974 it standardised the Lincoln 460ci V8 which had previously been optional, though the main reason for this was that increasing weight and tougher emissions controls made the bigger engine essential. Yet Thunderbird still had a powerful image, and it retains one to this day. The fourth, fifth and sixth-generation T-birds still interest car enthusiasts, and this book will be a welcome addition to the shelf of anyone who wonders how the cars went down when they were new. This is a book of contemporary road & comparison tests, history & drivers impressions. Models covered: 390, Convertible, Landau, Sedan, 426, Cobra Jet, 429, Brougham, Hardtop & 460
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