The original Ford Thunderbird of 1955 has much to its credit, and everyone knows it. It more or less invented the personal luxury car and gave Ford a dissimilar but much-needed and successful alternative to Chevrolet’s Corvette. Aside from that, it was the epitome of elegance and class – one of the single greatest examples of Fifties American automotive design. It tends to get overlooked, but elegance and class equally abound in the 1964-66 Thunderbird. Its arrow-sharp profile perfectly captured the zeitgeist, of crisp Ivy League tailoring and low, angular designs which would now be termed ‘mid-century modern’. On the highway, it looked like one of its namesake Gerry Anderson rockets, streaking through the stratosphere at hypersonic speed.
Notwithstanding an entertainingly acerbic review by which dismissed it as “205.5 inches of steel and chrome with one purpose: gratification of the ego… a massive assault in achieving all that is frivolous and was out on a limb; it was not meant to be driven as a sports car, but with the gentle grace of a luxury car, relaxed and comfortable under all conditions.
