The 1958 Thunderbird was only 52.5 inches tall, nearly 9 inches shorter than an average American sedan the Thunderbird had only 5.8 inches of ground clearance. The intent was to allow the maximum interior space in a relatively small exterior package. The four-seat Thunderbird was designed with unibody construction, eschewing a separate chassis. The design was driven entirely by the styling department and approved before the engineering was considered. The new Thunderbird had a distinct new styling theme.
As a response, Ford executives decided to add a rear seat to the Thunderbird. Market research suggested sales of the Thunderbird were limited by its two-seat configuration, making it unsuitable for families. Wikipedia wrote:Although the 1955-1957 Ford Thunderbird had proved successful (in comparison to the Chevrolet Corvette), Ford executives, particularly Robert McNamara, still felt its overall sales volume had room to improve.
Just for some comparison fun, here's a link to the JL 1958 Thunderbird, run as COTD back on December 8, 2011: While this Thunderbird casting will never be as popular as a 1960's pony car or anything JDM right now, I still hold onto a faint hope of seeing JL re-issue it in some new colors and with some nicer wheel choices than it got during its relatively short original production run.
While the grille is unique compared to the '58 and '59, the larger bars designed into the grille on the real car are lost in translation into 1/64 scale. While the 19 versions saw a few releases each from JL, this 1960 version was only issued this one time. Yesterday's 10-year revival of the Hot Wheels 1958 Thunderbird inspired today's COTD. Johnny Lightning took the opportunity to make all three model years of "squarebird" with this casting, with three different front and rear fascias, and model-year specific side trim (as tampo print). With more trim changes, most notably the addition of a third tail light in the rear clusters, 1960's sales figures hit another record: 92,843 units sold, including 11,860 convertibles.įor more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Ford Thunderbird Over 200,000 units were produced in its three-year model run, quadruple that of the two-seater in its three-year span. As a result, sales soared and the new model dramatically expanded the personal luxury car market, winning the Motor Trend Car of the Year in 1958. In response to Ford-conducted surveys, two major changes were made to attract potential buyers: two rear seats were added and the level of luxury and features of a full-sized car were incorporated into a mid-size platform.
Wikipedia wrote: The second generation Ford Thunderbird was produced by Ford for the 1958 to 1960 model years as a successor to the popular 1955-1957 two-seater.
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