"What's the word? -- Thunderbird. That advertising ditty for a cheap wine has nothing to do with the cars, but seems part of the spirit of the time. It appears as a second-hand memory, courtesy of an alcoholic I worked with on construction jobs in the 1970's. |
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| The two-passenger Thunderbird, produced by Ford from 1955 to 1957, were some of the most beautiful products of American automobile engineering. Sound like I suffer an excessive lust for them? Like I want one? Well, I was impressed by them ever since I saw a green 1955 or '56 on a residential street in Clarksburg, West Virginia, back in my childhood. They just struck me as neat-looking cars. I didn't know about their oversized engines, Ford's "horsepower race" with the equally memorable Chevrolet Corvette, or any of the other reasons they stood as an exercise in excess and silliness. I didn't even think about the impracticality of a car that seats two until Ford's brief, ill-fated resurrection of the 2-seater T'bird, a car I admired at the local dealer and declared outside both my budget and familial transportation requirements. The 1955 and 1957 are both built from AMT kits. The 1955 kit (above) offers a bit more opportunity for good detailing than the '57 kit (below). | |
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