![]() ![]() The new Thunderbird arrived with the same 4.0-liter aluminum V-8 employed to propel the Lincoln LS, a destroked and slightly dumbed down (no variable valve timing, for example) version of Jaguar's 4.0-liter DOHC AJ-V8. We were discussing horsepower, as in more of it. In this sense, the revival Bird is faithful to the 1955-57 original, which the company characterized as a "personal car." Our own assessment, expressed in a T-Bird test in the June 1956 issue of C/D predecessor Sports Cars Illustrated, described the car as "best suited to turnpikes and drag strips."īut we digress. Ford prefers "relaxed sportiness" as a dynamic descriptor. You might have observed that whatever the resurrected Bird lacked in sports-car-ness it made up in style, and you'd get no argument from us. Revived after three years of suspended animation, this Lazarus of T-Birds came to the market in 2001 with an oversupply of hype, an undersupply of chassis, and a power supply that was only adequate. Ford's approach, in addition to boosting engine output, is to make the car more collectible by limiting production to "four or five" years. ![]() With sales lagging some 24 percent behind original forecasts-19,085 in 2002 versus a hoped-for total of 25,000-the Thunderbird does seem to be in need of some sort of showroom stimulant. Convertibles for $5000: Window Shop with C/D.
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