![]() ![]() Others referred to these automobiles as the “ Projectile Birds“. Many referred to the third generation Ford Thunderbirds as the “ Bullet Birds“. The body shell was all new with a prominent pointed front prow, modest fins above the Thunderbird’s large round tail lights. In fact the Ford Thunderbird was lower than just about any car on the road in 1961.The third generation cars came with many firsts. In 1961 the Thunderbird went through a complete redesign. The chassis design was similar to the second generation Thunderbirds, 1958-60, but was modified slightly to provide better handling and a smoother ride. It should be noted that Engel’s design did have a lot to do with the Lincoln Continental design. This was advantageous on a production standpoint since both the Thunderbird and Lincoln were able to share many aspects of their unibody construction and the cars were both built at Ford’s Wixom production plant. Ford President Robert McNamara saw the Thunderbird design and liked it so much he also turned it into the 1961 Lincoln. As it turned out, Elwood Engel’s design proposal lost out to the winning one by Alex Tremulis. There were several designs on the drawing board for the 1961 third generation Thunderbird. Chevrolet Corvette went the sports car route and never looked back. ![]() Ford called their Thunderbird a personal luxury car. The Ford Thunderbird was always considered somewhat sporty but in a luxurious way. After several years each model went their separate ways. Thunderbirds were the cars from Ford which in 1955 started out competing directly against the Chevy Corvette. The first Ford Thunderbird was introduced at the 1954 Detroit Auto Show. Ford of course wanted to follow suit and did so with it’s first Thunderbird. 1961 Ford T-BirdĬhevrolet was the first of the Detroit automakers to test the sports car market with the introduction of their Corvette. The 1961 Ford Thunderbird represented the beginning of the third generation Thunderbirds and they were sleeker than the ones before them. ![]()
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