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You might well ask what a classic
American muscle car and the Great Australian shed have in common?
Besides doubling in many cases as a garage for the car, the most
obvious link is the third generation Ford Thunderbird. The
manufacturer of Titan garages and carports uses a red-third
generation T-Bird as key marketing tool for their line up of sheds in
Australia ... along with a couple of knockabout blokes.
As the TV commercials have been on air
for what seems a lifetime we can only assume the T-Bird is not only
pulling it's weight, but pulling in customers. We found the car at a
Cleveland Bay, Brisbane classic car show last year, as usual touting
for Titan only this time it was in the flesh not on the small screen
... or for that matter a Plasma.
Thunderbird took it's name
from the mythical North American creature fabled by the Indian
people. It was launched in the heart of the Yank-Tank era, 1955 as a
two seater convertible. This was no sports car but rather a boulevard
cruiser. Ford marketed the vehicle as a Personal Luxury Car to
differentiate in the buyers mind away from high-performance oriented
sports Chevrolet Corvette.
From its launch until 1960
the Thunderbird evolved through two generations from a two seater to
a four seater and captured the hearts, minds and wallets of the
American motorists. By 1960 sales had grown to 92,843 in a year and
Ford once more decided to proceed with a re-design for the third
generation.
That design was cleaner and
sleeker doing away with unnecessary design
cues that complicated the second-generation Thunderbird. Under the
bonnet was a new engine, a 390 cubic inch or 6.4 litre V8. This was a
substantial engine that put out 220 kW and linked to a three speed
auto transmission. Some 73,051 were sold in 1961 and was that year
used as an Indianapolis pace car.
As a kid growing up in
Melbourne I can still recall seeing plenty of T-birds. We marvelled
at the size of these cars and the fact there were only two doors. In
this era we understood the concept of sports cars having only two
doors, but these were mainly British cars that were small, the MGs,
Triumphs and Healeys.. To have a car the size of the side of a barn
and only two doors was to us a little bewildering. The era of
motoring extravagance had arrived.
In the US the third
generation Thunderbird was known as the `bullet' bird. The side view
of the car explains away this description with the pointed front of
the car and the angles tapering towards the rear with the purity –
lack of design cues - of the shape highlighting the bullet-like
appearance. Turn the car vertical, theoretically, and it looks like a
rocket ship ready for take-off. This was, after all, the era of the
space race with the goal to be first man in space and then first man
on the Moon. USSR won the first leg (Yuri Gagarin) and the US the
second (Neil Armstrong).
The Thunderbird was sold
both as a hardtop and a convertible and we have examples of both here
with the two white cars 1961 and 1962 hardtops and the Titan car a
convertible. Also available was a Thunderbird Sports Roadster package
that included a fibreglass tonneau cover for the rear seats,
returning the car, in looks at least, back to an early-model
two-seater.
In 1964 the fourth
generation Thunderbird was launched after being re-styled with
sharper features.
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