Ford Thunderbird

The Thunderbird was a sports car introduced in 1955 by Ford to compete with the Chevrolet Corvette. Initial models were roadsters, but it quickly evolved into a sedan. Early models were noted for having a porthole behind the rear passenger windows. After becoming a sedan, the Thunderbird became popular in the Grand National stock car racing series and continued to be used into the Winston Cup Series until it was replaced by the Ford Taurus in the nineties. In the seventies the Mercury Cougar became the Thunderbird's twin and it remained that way for decades until the Thunderbird was discontinued in 1997. A Thunderbird was the subject of the Beach Boys hit Fun Fun Fun. Ford attempted to revive the T-Bird in 2002, but due to an expensive price from sharing parts with Lincoln, the model was discontinued in 2005. This revived Thunderbird was based on early generations. This included a return of the iconic porthole. The Thunderbird competed in the International Motorsports Association's Grand Touring Championship in the eighties and nineties, placed in the high-displacement IMSA GTO category. It was also used in the Sports Car Club of America's Trans Am Series at the time, which was using the exact same cars. The Thunderbird was named after an Indigenous American deity. During the fifties, the Thunderbird received the external spare tire option nicknamed the "Continental kit" by many, after the Lincoln Continental. In the late seventies the Thunderbird formed the basis for the Ranchero. The early sixties models are known as the "Bullet Bird" generation because of their aerodynamic design.