Thunderbird, the Fugly Years

I'm going to cover two generations of Thunderbirds here. However, the later I find truely fugly and was the main reason for the post.

When the Thunderbird was born, it was a British ragtop and Corvette competitor. Basically a convertable, 2 seater grand touring car. However, in 1958 it morphed into a 4 seater coupe. Then back to a 2 seater coupe for 1961, and so on and so forth until 1967 - but always in a coupe form. 1967 saw the introduction of a sedan.

In the early 70's, Thunderbirds were again having a revolution. This time it was changed from a car with a sporting nature to a full size, 4 seat coupe with pure luxury intentions. This meant 1970's American luxury, which was chrome, velour sofas for seats, opera windows and soggy suspension. This generation of T-Birds was based off the Ford Torino. In 1977, Ford decided to "downsize" the car. Which was basically just cutting a few inches off either end, and still basing it off the Torino. This is the car of the first pic above.

The 1977-1979 I find to be the second fugliest of all Thunderbirds. Although it's an evolution of the previous generation, all it's styling seems to be exessive 10 times more. The multiple side windows and opera windows, the side vents, the massive grille, and the covered headlamps. And of course those unnecessarily huge and fugly taillights. However, it's only a piece of the fugliness to come.

I've already covered the Mustang II elsewhere. The Thunderbird that replaced the 1979 model followed the same horrible downsizing theme - you would think they would have learned.

The 1980 model was a true downsizing (with it's sister ship Mercury Cougar). How much you ask? It was 800Ibs lighter and 17 inches shorter. The body on frame construction was replaced with a unit-body, based on the"Fox Platform" used by the Fairmont - and ironically the Mustang (which replaced the Mustang II). Having their sports car and their more expensive luxury tourer on the same platform must have been a tough sell. Especially when it appeared to be nothing more than a fancy Fairmont with Thunderbird stying. Compare the 1977-79 Thunderbird with the 1980-82 model below it. Basically, it's a Fairmont coupe with the previous generations styling themes applied on top. And it looks even more awkward. Like 1970's excess on a smaller boxy 80's coupe.

Also, for the first time in it's history, a 4 cylinder and V-6 engines were available with the 5.0L as optional (remind you of the Mustang II?). 1981 and 1982 were essentially carryovers, except the 302 was dropped and replaced with a weaker 4.2L V8.

Although the Mercury Cougar shared this sad story, at least it looks better - even if it looked even MORE like a Fairmont. And even sadder - it was available as a STATION WAGON for some reason, which was even more of a Fairmont clone.

Were the 80's good for anything?