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Williams Autographed

17
May/090

Williams Autographed

The Ford Thunderbird - An American Classic

The Ford Thunderbird has been hailed as an American icon, preserved in film and song. The Beach Boys, the group folk rock of the 60th, put the Thunderbird to music in his song, "Fun, Fun, Fun"

"And she'll have fun, fun, fun
til your daddy takes the T-Bird away "

One of the Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson, originally owned the 1955 T-Bird. Now the Stars Motor Museum Hollywood in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, completely restored with the Beach Boys' autograph on the hood.

The T-Bird is also remembered for her debut film American Graffiti.

The T-Bird was originally designed to compete with the Chevrolet Corvette. The years following World War 2 saw the return of many veterans of the European front. While Europe had been in love with European sports cars. The U.S. industry has taken note of this and marketing of the Chevrolet Corvette. So Ford was challenged to produce a competitor.

Three men were more decisive in creating the original T-Bird. Lewis D. Crusoe was a retired GM executive, however, Henry Ford II was tempted to join Ford. George Walker was the chief stylist and a Ford vice president. Frank Hershey was a designer for Ford.

Crusoe and Walker were visiting in Paris when Crusoe saw a sports car at the Grand Palais. They were impressed Walker for the design and then called Frank Hershey in Dearborn. Hershey began working on the design. Would be an open car that the seat two passengers. It would be equipped with an Interceptor V8 engine and capable of reaching speeds over 100 mph.

Although designed to compete with the Corvette, which was not a real car sports. Ford conceived it as a personal luxury car.

For some reason, they encountered difficulty in creating a name for the car so Crusoe offered a prize of $ 250 demand, to anyone who submitted an acceptable name. A stylist, Alden Giberson, entered on a list included with Thunderbird.

The idea behind the name is controversial. Some sources say his name is the Native American god of rain and prosperity. Palm Life Magazine said the name comes from an exclusive Ultra residential neighborhood. It was also reported that Giberson got the idea when he saw an illusion of a bird struck by lightning during a storm.

The Thunderbird for the first time the American public at the Auto Show in Detroit in February 1954. However, it was available in dealerships until October 1954. This model was a two-door convertible equipped with a V8 engine that could cruise between 110 and 120 kilometers per hour. The standard top is a fabric of fiberglass, but hood was an option. With four seats so fed interior doors and pushing the button, the T-Bird was actually a little personal luxury car, not a sports car.

However, definitely appealed to the American public at the time and in the first ten days of sale, the dealers received 3500 orders. Total sales for 1955 amounted to 16,155 as Ford realized their goal of overcoming the Corvette.

Later, however, the owners of the 'Classic' complain about the lack of a back seat and small trunk. This would result in modifications and a new generation of T-Birds, however, "Little Bird" remains an American icon.

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