The 1960s was an unusually good decade for automotive styling. Were Ford’s planners and designers reacting by suddenly tacking towards the GM vision of personal luxury? Whatever happened, the magic seemed gone, or at least greatly diminished, when this car hit the showrooms. But Suddenly, the Thunderbird couldn’t just be the Thunderbird any more. But each, in its own way, turned more towards luxury than sport (as was the GM way in that era).

None of these was like the Thunderbird, exactly. Studebaker threw its final two darts at the T-Bird but missed with both. For years, Thunderbird had the market for personal luxury coupes virtually to itself. It cannot be coincidence that T-Bird sales dropped off substantially in 1968. But many of those buyers would desert the Bird for the Continental Mark III when it hit Lincoln showrooms in 1968, making the Thunderbird something it had never been before – the Ford luxury coupe that you bought if you couldn’t afford the Mark III. T-Birds shared garages with a lot of Continentals back then, or were bought by those who could afford a Lincoln but wanted something more sporting. The Thunderbird was aimed at Lincoln buyers. The Thunderbird had never really been meant for Fairlane customers or Galaxie customers. Maybe the Thunderbird was doomed because Ford’s product planners were finishing up on the car that would doom it. But while 1967 eventually ended late in December, this Thunderbird had to stick around for a few more years. So, in a way, this Thunderbird and 1967 were made for each other. Not bucket seats and floor shifts nor fat side moldings and opera windows. It wasn’t Bryll Cream, but it wasn’t a blow-dry either. It wasn’t Rat Pack yet it wasn’t Woodstock. 1967 wasn’t so much a year, as a transition between other years, other eras even. This Thunderbird, however, was something different. This car and all that came after it for most of the next decade made it perfectly natural for high-income buyers to park a Ford in the garage. After the initial 2 seaters, the Thunderbird really hit its stride with the first 4 seater in 1958. The Thunderbird was the car that began Ford’s move up the social ladder. If you had told someone in 1950 that someday it would be socially acceptable to be driving a Ford to the country club or in the more exclusive suburbs, you would have been laughed at. This car just lacked that certain something that made a Thunderbird. Even though this car made the cut for the original lineup of Hot Wheels cars in 1967, I was not fooled. A Thunderbird, you see, had a certain flair, dash, savoir faire. Sure, it had that wrap-around back seat and sequential turn signals, but the car was NOT a Thunderbird. I mean, just what was it, exactly? Even though I was 8 years old when the 67 Bird came out, I knew what the car was NOT. And, like the Admiral, the 67 T-Bird never really came up with the answers.

And the 67 model asked the very same questions. What has Admiral Stockdale got to do with the 67-68 Thunderbird? Like the Admiral, the Ford Thunderbird came to us with a very impressive history. The Admiral had a distinguished record, but chose to introduce himself to the American public in a debate by asking: “Who am I? Why am I here?” The Admiral got through the debate and the campaign without really answering those questions. He chose as his running mate Admiral James Stockdale. ( originally posted ) In 1992, Ross Perot mounted a 3rd party run for president.

67 thunderbird length