Talk:Ford Thunderbird

The '67 Thunderbird pictured is mine; that egotism will be watered down as I add a few more pictures of different models. --Morven 07:25, 5 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Please see the discussion at talk:Thunderbird_(disambiguation). - UtherSRG 20:12, 10 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Trying sidebar style
I've put together a generational sidebar similar to what is being done for Cadillac articles, e.g. Cadillac Fleetwood. What do you think? I find it's a good way of summing up all the generations of a car with many different versions. &mdash;Morven 02:09, May 3, 2005 (UTC)


 * Looks great. I love those sidebars - make sure you use the colors from other Ford articles to keep a consistent look (see Ford Explorer).  --SFoskett 15:52, May 3, 2005 (UTC)

T-bird previously won the Motor Trends award in 1958, noting Ford’s new concept of interior packaging. It also won in 1987 and 1989.And it also won it in 2002, thus making it win 4 motor trends awards; not 3. The ford thunderbird has won more motor trends award than any other car.

Carburetion
I've read the 312 'bird in '57 intro the 4150 Holley, if anybody cars... Trekphiler 21:00, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

I'd like to add the following link:
All Ford Thunderbirds for sale Would this be appropriate?


 * Sorry, no way.Wikipedia does not allow advertising links - Adrian Pingstone 15:50, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

54
i read somewhere about a 54 thunderbird is this a joke (69.154.246.12 22:35, 27 September 2006 (UTC))

1989-1993, 1994-1997
For what it's worth, the 1989-1993 Generation of Thunderbirds are a different body-style than the 1994-1997 Thunderbirds. The 1994-1997 body-style changed dramatically, and introduced the 4.6L V8 Modular Engine that was not available in the 1989-1993 body-style. The only engine available in this generation was either the NA 3.8L V6 (Thunderbird, Thunderbird LX) and the Supercharged 3.8L V6 (Thunderbird Supercoupe). 71.193.185.162 09:58, 5 October 2006 (UTC)


 * It wasn't a dramatic change... The 1993 on had a different front bumper that included scoops. The original SC scoops on the 1993, and then newer slanted scoops on the 1994-1997, and 1994 on had a different hood and some extra flair added to the sides of the body gradually. Personally, I liked the looks of the 1993 the best, with the old hood and lack of body panel plastic, but with the original supercoupe scoops. The 4.6 wasn't around because they were still using the 5.0 Windsor. Your statement that only a 3.8 engine was in the cars until 1994 is patently false, it was 5.0 Windsor from 1989-1993, and 4.6 Modular from 1994-1997. Jo7hs2 (talk) 00:18, 19 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Externally they may have been similar, but the '94-'97 Thunderbirds had completely different interior styling relative to the earlier '89-'93s. Also, the 3.8 being the only engine is not completely "patently false". The MN12 generation Thunderbird initially came only with two different versions of the 3.8 Essex, one naturally aspirated and one supercharged. These were the only engines offered during the 1989 and 1990 model years, i.e. there was no V8 at all. The "5.0" was finally used, but not until the 1991 model year. After that, you're right. The "5.0" was used through '93 and replaced with the 4.6 in '94 which was used until the end of the generation.--MN12Fan (talk) 05:50, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

1978 351 Windsor Engine
I had a 1978 Ford Thunderbird, Jubilee Edition. According to a friend who used to work on the line producing them, the 1978 Jubilee Edition (for Ford's 75th anniversary) was standard equiped with a 351 Windsor engine, which is not mention in the 1977-1979 section. There might be something to add to the article about several design flaws inherent in the Jubilee Edition, which include:

- Faulty seal on the distributor cap (if it rained or snowed, moisture got into the distributor and drowned out the electrical system).

- The main electrical control box (located on the driver's side of the engine compartment) was not designed to handle the power requirements for the car, leading to an average life of six months.

- The alternator for this model was a higher output than the standard 1978. However, since it was not designed properly, its average life was one year.

- Ford never explained why the hydraulic system to raise and lower the headlight covers failed frequently, usually within two years.

- The caps for the wheels frequently broke and it was difficult to find replacements specifically for the Jubilee Edition.

I have not found a good website for this information. It is only from a friend who worked the line at the time. He owned one and fixed all the problems on his own. So, this may give you some place to start.

Super Bird
Wouldn't people confuse the Ford Thunderbird Super Bird with the Plymouth Roadrunner Superbird?

No. Thunderbird enthusiasts and collectors refer to each generation of Thunderbirds by a general characteristic of shape. This has nothng to do with formal model names. Watchdevil (talk) 11:39, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

Classic Bird
I've also seen it called the Baby Bird.

Retro Bird
I've also seen it called the Newbird.

4-cylinder turbodiesel?
Someone want to substantiate that one?

48 hours for a reply, or I delete it. --Bhtooefr 18:46, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

Length
Reading through this article, I thought it was a bit too long. I'm not prepared to change it without significant consensus, as this is only my opinion. Anyone agree with me that this article is a bit too long?? --SunStar Nettalk 18:03, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
 * No. Calvin Coolidge 02:42, 21 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I second the sentiment on excessive length. While all of these cars are Thunderbirds, the individual generations have enough info in them to warrant their own pages. I recommend a layout similar to that of the Ford Mustang article, which briefly summarizes each of the five Mustang generations in one article and has corresponding links to the main articles of each of those generations.--MN12Fan (talk) 05:50, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Give him the Retro Bird
I've seen Canadian Mark Conforzi credited with heading the design team. Can anybody substantiate? Trekphiler 02:42, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Fender Skirts
From 1955 - 1966 seems like the TBird basically had factory fender skirts, but sometimes the factory removed them - delete option perhaps? Anyone know the scoop?76.171.245.212 01:23, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

I know for a fact that fender skirts were an option for the 1961 to 1963 Ford Thunderbirds, albeit a very popular one. In fact cars that were equipped with the optional Kelsey Hayes Wire wheels came without fender skirts since the skirts would rub the wire wheel centers. The 1966 had fender skirts as options as well and would have a chrome piece in the wheel well if the skirts were not selected. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wklink (talk • contribs) 04:26, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

83 aero-bird body mods
i'm rebiulding and hot rodding an 83, but i need a few body parts(hood, deck lid, ect.)also looking for good front end custom ideas.

Super Birds V8
The Super Bird section mentions the 5.0L Windsor. This engine was (to the best of my knowledge) not able to fit in the 1989-1997 Thunderbird engine compartment, and the lack of a V8 in 1989 was because of no suitable V8 available. Correct me if im wrong. Ibinubu12 21:42, 10 September 2007 (UTC)ibinubu12


 * It appears that in 1989 there was no V8 option for the 1989 Thunderbird. See: http://www.fvn.no/amcar/brochures/ford/89t_20.html


 * But, there was a 5.0 Winsor option in 1992, and there was no major change to the engine compartment, so the initial lack of a V8 must have been for reasons other than size... See: http://www.fvn.no/amcar/brochures/ford/92th_12.html


 * This has already been discussed somewhat above... Jo7hs2 (talk) 00:22, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

There was a new intake manifold designed to make the 5.0 fit. Watchdevil (talk) 11:41, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:'80-'82 Ford Thunderbird.jpg
Image:'80-'82 Ford Thunderbird.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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BetacommandBot 05:31, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

2002 - 2005 Retro-Bird Odometers
I posted some info on the odometer system on the new retro-birds. When shopping around for these vehicles I noticed that the odometers didn't have a hundred-thousand mile indicator on the odometer. It wasn't until I found a Lincoln LS with over 100,000 beans on the counter to realize that the odometer system simply deletes the 1/10 mile indicator from the odometer after rolling past 99,999.9 by simply taking out the period and sliding the numbers to the right.

I felt it deserved a mention, as it is an oddball feature. You'd figure that on a car that cost about 40 grand they could afford to put an extra LED character in the dash. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.13.244.119 (talk) 08:46, 16 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Eh, I feel it is a silly thing to quibble over. My current car doesn't have a spot for 1/10th at all, so it could be worse. Besides, why on earth would you care about 1/10ths of a mile on a car with 100k+? You have a trip-meter for measuring distances. I'm not going to delete it, but I don't really think it is required. Jo7hs2 (talk) 00:15, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

91 Bird with 5.0
I own a 91 Bird with a 5.0. It is an LX so no SC designation as It has no turbo obviously. Can anyone out there tell me how I can find out how many 5.0's were made in 91 and what number in the production line mine was for a 5.0 built in 91? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.169.42.252 (talk) 09:17, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

what happened after 2005?
This article was written in such a way that there are no more production of this car after 2005. It that really true or just bad writing style that don't leave room for the article to stand the test of time. Kowloonese (talk) 00:02, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, '05 was the last 'Bird. Sometimes old names come back, but I wouldn't expect to see a new T-Bird.  The last generation was very unsuccessful, and Ford has too many financial troubles to risk another one anytime soon. RivGuySC (talk) 02:08, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Talk at the time was that Ford priced the revived T-Bird at too high a level. I think they cost about $40,000 and if they could have come in at about $25,000 Ford might still be making them.74.62.162.104 (talk) 18:54, 4 February 2016 (UTC)

The various different "birds"
Where do those nicknames come from? Is it a fan thing or something used by the production/design team? Alastairward (talk) 14:11, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't know, and some of them are dubious. I've heard the "Aero-bird" nickname before, but some of the rest... dicey. I can see where "Torino Bird" came from for 1977-79, but what the heck is "Birds of a Feather" supposed to mean? I'm removing that one.
 * For the record, I'd support removing all of those nicknames from the headings. The ones that are reliably sourceable can go in the prose. --Sable232 (talk) 02:30, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

Years of T-Bird History Deleted
In a previous copy of the Ford Thunderbird article, ALL generations were covered (72-76 Big Birds, 77-79 Torino Birds, 80-?? Fox Body Birds, etc.) and were quite accurate. Why were these eras deleted? They provide much more history of the vehicle as it was adapted to meet the changes in the automotive market than the overly long chapter centering on only the 87-99 era. If you were responsible for this deletion, or for the original information and photos used to create it, please restore it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.96.82.210 (talk) 19:35, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
 * It wasn't deleted, someone added some pictures but messed up the coding so it caused several sections to disappear from view. --Sable232 (talk) 02:33, 15 May 2009 (UTC)

Splitting of Ford Thunderbird article
Since there were no objections to my proposal in topic 11, in the interest of better organization I have proceeded to make individual pages for each Thunderbird generation and model the Ford Thunderbird article after that of the Ford Mustang and other vehicles with particularly long histories. The generational divisions I am going by are inspired from multiple sources, including an overview of the Thunderbird's history from Edmunds, http://www.edmunds.com/ford/thunderbird/history.html, which also has a wealth of information on each generation which could be added to the respective articles here in the future. The exception, relative to Edmunds' information, is the "1987-1988 generation" which, even by their admission though they list it as otherwise, is still very closely related to the 1983-1986 Thunderbirds (I combined the '83-'86 Thunderbird generation with the '87-'88s). To compare, it would be like considering the 2010 Mustang to be a new Mustang generation because of its different sheet metal or other superficial changes even though the car's platform and other critical parts remain the same as the 2005-2009 models. Based on Edmunds and other sources, there are currently eleven distinct Thunderbird generations, all of which now have their own wikipedia pages. Since all information in the main article (at the time of this writing) has been relocated to the respective Thunderbird generation pages with links, the entries in the main article can be condensed to brief summaries. --MN12Fan (talk) 03:38, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Miscaption on first image
The image at the top of the Ford Thunderbird entry page is incorrectly identified (on mouseover) as a '56 Thunderbird, but is a '55. This is a good resource for differentiating between these models: http://www.portholeauthority.com/thunderbirdETC/tbird/tbirddesc.html Bl4hand (talk) 00:02, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Sorry Boys
I screwed up on my edit on the 72 T-Birds and cut off half of the page. Woops Go ahead, put it back. I tried but it wont work Busceda (talk) 00:57, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

Ford Fusion as a successor?
How come there's no source regarding Ford's mid-size sedan replacing its full-size coupe? That would be like saying the Chevrolet Malibu replaced the Monte Carlo. 166.137.242.65 (talk) 18:41, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

The Ford Fusion is not a Thunderbird sucessor in any way, shape or form. Watchdevil (talk) 11:45, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

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Tenth Generation Section
In the 10th gen section on the supercharger: "The supercharger utilized was an Eaton M90 roots-style, designed for mounting atop the intake manifold. Boost pressure during hard acceleration under ideal conditions is approximately." Approximately what?Longinus876 (talk) 07:48, 7 February 2018 (UTC)

Cougar
A couple of editors have removed/restored the 1968 to 1998 Mercury Cougar as a variant of the Thunderbird. Reading at the Mercury Cougar article, the 1968-1973 Cougar was a redressed Mustang (albeit with some Thunderbird trim). The 1974-1976 Cougar was a variant of the Torino. For 1977 to 1997 (skipping 1998) the Cougar was a variant of the Thunderbird.  Stepho  talk 12:48, 10 September 2019 (UTC)
 * I don't think that statement was intended to mean that all Cougars of that period were, but it was confusingly worded and implied as much. I put the related models in chronological order for better clarity. --Sable232 (talk) 00:16, 11 September 2019 (UTC)
 * It's slightly better but I still read that as for 1968-1998 all Cougars, Continentals, etc were variants of the Thunderbird. Perhaps ending the sentence with 'for various years' or similar.  Stepho  talk 12:03, 11 September 2019 (UTC)

NASCAR
The second paragraph in this section should be deleted as it refers to hand-built race cars that resemble Ford Thunderbirds but in actuality, since about 1967 have very few parts in common with the cars for sale to the public. I suppose this info could be included in a separate "NASCAR" section but not here where the subject is clearly about cars produced by FORD. Thanks, Brian BrianAlex (talk) 02:10, 28 September 2023 (UTC)