General Motors built the first American sports car: the Chevrolet Corvette, released in 1953. Despite a delayed start (hardtop production didn’t begin until January ’58, with convertibles following in June), the Squarebird sold 37,892 units its debut year, then 67,456 more in ’59 and a dizzying 92,843 in 1960-a number that would stand for 16 years as the high point in Thunder-bird history.The last Thunderbird, Ford Motor Company’s iconic sports car, emerges from a Ford factory in Wixom, Michigan on July 1, 2005.įord began its development of the Thunderbird in the years following World War II, during which American servicemen had the opportunity to observe sleek European sports cars. Sales-wise, McNamara had backed a winner. While that car seemed to pack way too much power for its inadequate chassis, the ’58 is an entirely harmonious package-no sports car, but no wallowing barge, either. The Thunder-bird rides softly and rolls noticeably in turns, yet without the unsettling bobbing and floating we recall from the triple-carb ’62 Sports Roadster we drove for the Jan. The power steering is utterly numb but responds smoothly and predictably. On the road the T-Bird feels at once plush, substantial and handy: Cadillac-grade comfort in a Rambler-size package. Even so, the 300-hp 352-cid V8 accelerates eagerly, its sound more a rush than a rumble. The gear wand feels light and handy as we slip the Ford-O-Matic into D2 (for more gentle, second-gear starts). Dazzling brightwork surrounds small but legible gauges.
It’s mostly decorative, containing only ashtrays, a radio speaker and the power window controls. The wide console promotes a sense of intimacy with the car, rather than with one’s companion. The front bucket seats are flat but firm, higher off the floor than they appear and rigidly bolt-upright in posture. Slipping in past the radical windshield dogleg isn’t difficult, as long as you remember it’s there. By 2002, it looked good enough to earn an AACA Senior Grand National. Keller bought it and, in late ’97, shipped it to WW Motor Cars & Parts in Broadway, Virginia. Keller was showing the hardtop at Macungie (Pennsylvania) when a New York man offered him a matching convertible-in sorry need of restoration. Norm Keller inherited a very nice, all-original ’58 T-Bird hardtop from his wife’s parents: white, with a cheery interior trimmed in Fiesta-Ware turquoise. Flamboyant and fussy beside the clean two-seater, the so-called Squarebird showed considerable restraint compared to a ’58 Buick or Oldsmobile-or, for that matter, a ’58 Corvette. The convertible top itself disappeared into the trunk, leaving no visible trace-and very little baggage space. He carefully coordinated interior and exterior design, visual-ly splitting the ’Bird into right and left modules from dashboard to taillights. To do that, however, the body engineers had to drop the T-Bird’s passengers down low between relatively high doorsills and a massive driveline tunnel.īoyer contemplated this situation, then decided to hide the driveline tunnel inside an aircraft-style console-a cliché today, but a fresh idea in ’58. 118) and nearly four inches lower from road to roof, yet surrendering only a quarter-inch each of ground clearance and rear-seat headroom. Its unibody was a model of efficiency, five inches shorter in wheelbase than a full-size Ford (113 inches vs.
Still, the incubation of the four-seater swallowed some $40 million. An all-new, four-seat unibodied ’Bird, on the other hand, could share components with an all-new, unibodied Lincoln and Continental-at an all-new facility in Wixom, Michigan. It was McNamara who saw the numbers wouldn’t add up: Build- ing Little Birds required parts from a full-size Ford body that had been replaced for ’57 and was hampering big Ford production at overcrowded River Rouge. While product manager Thomas Case was still investigating the cost of a ’58 two-seat- er in February ’57, Bill Boyer’s design studio had been pushing clay for a four-seater since mid-’55. McNamara could see even greater potential for a four-seat variation on the theme. Yet almost from the Little Bird’s birth, Ford division general manager Robert S. The two-seat T-bird of 1955-57 sold far better than anyone expected, topping 21,000 units in what would prove its final year.
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