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HomeThunderbird

Thunderbird

1964 Ford Thunderbird convertible
Editor's Note

Reader apparently doesn’t like something about our 1964 Thunderbird story

May 7, 2024 Steve 2

A reader I’ll call G stopped by to respond to our story, “Car and Driver playfully roasts a 1964 Ford Thunderbird convertible.” G wrote: “Supremely tired of hearing today’s auto ‘authorities’ comment on classic cars […]

1967 Cadillac Eldorado
Links

Even Motor Trend complained about the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado’s brakes

May 1, 2024 Steve 11

Motor Trend was hardly known as the toughest of the car-buff magazines, but it nevertheless complained about inadequate brakes on the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado. A road test found that the Eldorado’s stopping distances from 60 […]

1964 Ford Thunderbird
Links

Car and Driver playfully roasts a 1964 Ford Thunderbird convertible

February 13, 2024 Steve 4

Car and Driver’s road test of a 1964 Ford Thunderbird reminded me of what I enjoyed about the magazine in its heyday. Although it threw in a few bits of fawning praise, that struck me […]

1976 Buick Riviera
Design Notes

Did Wayne Kady screw up the 1974-76 Buick Riviera?

February 2, 2024 Steve 13

(EXPANDED FROM 11/19/2021) In a recent story, Hagerty described Wayne Kady as “the most well-known unknown designer in the history of General Motors” (Seaman, 2024). Among the designs that the article shed light on is […]

1972 Ford Thunderbird
Ad Nauseam

How do you sell a Thunderbird that lost its Thunderbirdness?

January 31, 2024 Steve 8

Henry Goverti was a huge fan of the Thunderbird. He had owned three of them — and still drove a 1966 convertible to work in the summer. It had a certain flair that epitomized the […]

1966 Oldsmobile Toronado and drivetrain
Design Notes

1966 Oldsmobile Toronado: Just another shiny thing from General Motors

January 19, 2024 Steve 20

(EXPANDED FROM 6/18/2021) In selecting the 1966 Oldmobile Toronado as its Car of the Year, Motor Trend (2005) took out its pom-poms and gushed that “never in the 14-year history of this award has the […]

1968 Ford Thunderbird
Data Dive

1958-76 Thunderbird: The rise and fall of the Ford that shook up GM

November 17, 2023 Steve 6

(EXPANDED FROM 10/1/2021) The four-seater Thunderbird was a surprisingly pivotal car for the Ford Motor Company during the postwar period. The T-Bird showed that the No. 2 automaker could better compete against mighty General Motors if it pioneered new […]

Avanti II windshield
Design Notes

Why was the Studebaker Avanti’s windshield so odd?

May 30, 2023 Steve 2

(EXPANDED FROM 2/8/2022) Why was the futuristic-looking Studebaker Avanti given a tall, flat and small windshield? That windshield ranks with the 1964-66 Imperial in looking terribly mismatched with the rest of the car. The most […]

1971 Cadillac Eldorado
Media Analysis

1971-78 Cadillac Eldorado: Collectible Automobile tells only part of the story

February 24, 2023 Steve 50

(EXPANDED FROM 4/30/2021) A big reason Collectible Automobile has survived longer than the late, great Automobile Quarterly may be because it is less — how you say — highbrow. For one thing, Collectible Automobile‘s presentation […]

1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk
Design Notes

1955-56 DeSoto Flight Sweep could have challenged the Studebaker Hawk

May 23, 2022 Steve 21

Dean’s Garage has a new post that displays a variety of Virgil Exner’s concept cars (Exner, 2022). The design I am most drawn to is the 1955-56 DeSoto Flight Sweep I and II. These are […]

Posts pagination

« 1 2 3 4 »
  • Is Jaguar smart to run away from its design heritage?
    October 8, 2026 21
  • AMC Pacer clay model
    Why does Joe Ligo’s PBS series sanewash AMC’s mid-70s recklessness?
    October 6, 2026 20
  • 2026 Ram pickups
    A pyrrhic regulatory rollback and how poorly the 1978 Matador coupe sold
    October 2, 2026 12
  • 1962 Chrysler 300
    Did the 1962-65 Chrysler 300 ‘dilute’ the letter series?
    September 29, 2026 7
  • 1968 Ford Mustang
    Three rules led to a stultifying level of conformity in 1960s U.S. car design
    September 24, 2026 12
  • 1976ish Toyota Corolla
    Data on imports sheds light on their dramatic gains from 1964-80
    September 18, 2026 5
  • 1974 Chrysler New Yorker
    1974 Chrysler New Yorker was a tragedy that played out on four levels
    September 16, 2026 16
  • Internet problems reminded me of U.S. automakers in the 1970s
    May 2, 2026 1
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 141
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