2024 Tbird Concept ... If only!

Would be nice!

Joe
 
Wait, what? This just looks like a marginally modified Mustang to me. The grille shape is Aston Martin. The roofline lacks the formal appearance of an American car.

It does nothing for me. I'm not saying it's ugly, but it doesn't give me a Thunderbird vibe at all.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Wait, what? This just looks like a marginally modified Mustang to me. The grille shape is Aston Martin. The roofline lacks the formal appearance of an American car.

It does nothing for me. I'm not saying it's ugly, but it doesn't give me a Thunderbird vibe at all.
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Yes. Very Aston Martin looking.

Here's the link to where I found this picture. See the article for details.

 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Wait, what? This just looks like a marginally modified Mustang to me. The grille shape is Aston Martin. The roofline lacks the formal appearance of an American car.

It does nothing for me. I'm not saying it's ugly, but it doesn't give me a Thunderbird vibe at all.
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I like the idea of it being an altered mustang, I wouldn't even mind it being a mustang Thunderbird or something like that. I do like the Taurus concepts a lot as well
 
It’s literally a heavily photoshopped (or AI altered) Aston Martin Victor concept based on this very photo.

1733106715843.jpeg


Besides which, I’m sure it would cost $220,000 if Ford offered it based on their pricing of V8 Mustangs and Trucks the last few years. Who’se actually clamoring for new junk?
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Well, there's the small matter of it being on the wrong platform. But yeah, overall I like a large, formal coupe look.
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Wrong platform and it looks exactly like the car it was supposedly meant to be based on. That didn’t do the 1980 Fairmont Birds any favors 🤮(and just to clarify I think Fairmonts are cool)
 
I think the worst thing Ford could do at this point is resurrect the nameplate. There's no way they can make every Thunderbird enthusiast happy. Whatever compromises they make, they're certain to be heinous. IMHO Ford, as a strictly SUV/Truck (or Mustang) manufacturer, hasn't done anything in the last 5 years for me to justify looking at their lineup.

Let me remember the T-birds of old as they were, without tarnishing their legacy any further. Does anyone truly want a computerized, drive-by-wire glorified iPhone with a 22" touchscreen infotainmentnavigationcenter with no buttons and a horribly inefficient UI that takes up the entirety of the dash? Seems like that's auto interiors 101 these days. :zpuke:
 
theterminator93 said:
I think the worst thing Ford could do at this point is resurrect the nameplate. There's no way they can make every Thunderbird enthusiast happy. Whatever compromises they make, they're certain to be heinous. IMHO Ford, as a strictly SUV/Truck (or Mustang) manufacturer, hasn't done anything in the last 5 years for me to justify looking at their lineup.

Let me remember the T-birds of old as they were, without tarnishing their legacy any further. Does anyone truly want a computerized, drive-by-wire glorified iPhone with a 22" touchscreen infotainmentnavigationcenter with no buttons and a horribly inefficient UI that takes up the entirety of the dash? Seems like that's auto interiors 101 these days. :zpuke:
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A freakin men. You just know if the Mach E was actually a success that would be the only Mustang Ford would be making other than the S650, which frankly looks like a Honda Accord/Camaro now, chock full of LCDs inside.

I’m no fan of the final generation Tbirds but at least it was an attempt at the spirit of the original in spite of its very obvious compromises. Need any proof of how Ford handle’s model names? SVT Lightning is now a crew cab EV pickup, Mustang Mach is a soccer mom EV Crossover, Maverick is a compact pickup truck. The people running Ford today clearly aren’t running the company in the best interests of those of us who aren’t trying to mine profit out of the brand for theoretical short term gains. As the guy who played Herman Munster said in Pet Cemetery; “sometimes dead is better”.

The 2000s was the last time faithful attempts at model revivals were made by manufacturers; the retro Tbird, Ford GT, Charger, Challenger, GTO etc, some worked some didn’t but at least they tried then. Now? They’re not even attempting to match the spirit of what came before, just plunking on names they have rights to onto totally random vehicles. Hell remember just a mere less than a decade ago the fresh exciting ST badge meant something on hot hatch Fiesta/Focus’s? Now it’s only found on the tailgates of big heavy Exploder SUVs 🙄 How about Dodge Hornet? They held onto the legendary Hudson Hornet name for 70 years just to plaster it onto a POS badge engineered crossover literally nobody wants?
 
I agree 90% with the suggestion to leave the Thunderbird name in the past.

The remaining 10%, as I mentioned before, would be the idea to resurrect just the name  Bird, preceded by a letter. It would be a whole model line, including the T-Bird, the S-Bird, the X-Bird, the C-Bird, the R-Bird, the F-Bird, or whatever car makers' favorite letters are. A sub brand of sorts, a new Mercury.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
I agree 90% with the suggestion to leave the Thunderbird name in the past.

The remaining 10%, as I mentioned before, would be the idea to resurrect just the name  Bird, preceded by a letter. It would be a whole model line, including the T-Bird, the S-Bird, the X-Bird, the C-Bird, the R-Bird, the F-Bird, or whatever car makers' favorite letters are. A sub brand of sorts, a new Mercury.
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I really think there is something historical to this thought. Does anyone know if the Thunderbird was originally a “Ford”, or was it it’s own line like Mercury (and Edsel)? I believe that it wasn’t until the early sixties that the manufacturers were producing multiple different sedan platforms instead of just different trim levels.

I will post a picture of an NOS Ford bearing in a factory box tomorrow that makes me think that the Thunderbird was it’s own division and not directly a Ford itself.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
I agree 90% with the suggestion to leave the Thunderbird name in the past.

The remaining 10%, as I mentioned before, would be the idea to resurrect just the name  Bird, preceded by a letter. It would be a whole model line, including the T-Bird, the S-Bird, the X-Bird, the C-Bird, the R-Bird, the F-Bird, or whatever car makers' favorite letters are. A sub brand of sorts, a new Mercury.
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That to me just perverts the whole thing like the Mustang Mach… Eeeee….ww.

I perhaps hold a somewhat anti-capitalist opinion on this but, if a company abandons a name for 20 years, sorry but it’s no longer yours. As far as I’m concerned I and everybody else who has an old one kept alive have more stakes in say the Cougar name than Ford does in 2024 and future, no matter what the lawyers have to say. Trying to create these sub brands undermines the consumer only to placate the executives and fickle shareholders as if the people paying out their ass for their junk are meaningless. Screw them.

Here’s what a lineup of Tbirds and Sbirds and Xbirds and Cbirds and Rbirds looks like

1733199148233.jpeg
 
I think they were kind of trying to establish the Thunderbird as a brand (to use a current term). For example you could get a "Thunderbird" engine in other vehicles, but I don't think it ever existed on its own.

I think some of the concepts are cool. I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I think the '89-'97 T-Bird/Cougar and '93-'98 Mark VIII were some of the best looking cars Ford ever made. I don't know if they could ever make something that I like as much as these cars. I still walk into my garage every night when I get home and take a long look at the Thunderbird as I walk into the house.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
That to me just perverts the whole thing
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Kinky!!!

I see your point though. Fun fact: in Germany, the Escape is called the "Kuga".

And to the concept of us enthusiasts quasi owning the nameplate at this point, I actually felt that way when Ford came out with the last SHO, and the term Personal Luxury Car made it into their marketing material. It seemed misplaced on a trim level of a 4-door rather than a standalone model.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Wait, what? Minority? Here?

Read the room. We're obsessed with these cars.
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I get that, but there are a lot of other Fords throughout all of the years. I'm talking 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's ( :sick: ) and 80's. I honestly can't think of a better looking car (again in my opinion) that they have made. I still like some of their other stuff (along with plenty of other big three rigs), but nothing holds my attention like the MN12/FN10 cars. Especially not these SUV/CUV things everybody drives these days.
 
KevinVarnes said:
I think they were kind of trying to establish the Thunderbird as a brand (to use a current term). For example you could get a "Thunderbird" engine in other vehicles, but I don't think it ever existed on its own.

I think some of the concepts are cool. I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I think the '89-'97 T-Bird/Cougar and '93-'98 Mark VIII were some of the best looking cars Ford ever made. I don't know if they could ever make something that I like as much as these cars. I still walk into my garage every night when I get home and take a long look at the Thunderbird as I walk into the house.
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Here I think that’s the majority point of view. I think despite the retro Tbirds there’s still a vocal faction of Tbird enthusiasts who want yet another 55-57 reattempt, and dislike any Tbird from 58-97.

Truthfully I think retro styling doomed any chances for anything like a MN12 Bird ever again. These were practically the antithesis to looking backward in their designs, other than badging and some really minor details. The biggest point these cars made is they were still coupes still trying to push the envelope, which they unquestionably did. It absolutely cannot be understated that there would be no Hellcat today without the Roots supercharged SC paving the way back then.

1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Kinky!!!

I see your point though. Fun fact: in Germany, the Escape is called the "Kuga".

And to the concept of us enthusiasts quasi owning the nameplate at this point, I actually felt that way when Ford came out with the last SHO, and the term Personal Luxury Car made it into their marketing material. It seemed misplaced on a trim level of a 4-door rather than a standalone model.
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To me if Yamaha isn’t involved it’s not a real SHO, it’s as simple as that. Ford had had half a dozen Ecoboost vehicles like the fourth gen Taurus SHO, what makes those Tauruses special at this point? Hell the lighter EB Fusions outperform them and look better to boot, yet no SHO badging, in fact they fly completely under the radar.
 
KevinVarnes said:
but nothing holds my attention like the MN12/FN10 cars.
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I still love Panthers and various generations of Continentals, but I'm with you on this!

The only thing that I could hold against MN12/FN10 is that they don't look entirely obviously RWD. The front axle could have been pushed a few inches forward. I'm nitpicking though; I mean the important thing is that they are RWD.
 
I never considered myself a “Ford guy” until MN12s, I mean I liked Fox Mustangs and some classic stuff but I loved various Mopars Pontiacs and Chevys of the past more than most Fords outside the exceptional ones.

This platform and it’s styling to me embodies the very last of the American spirit of car design; pushing boundaries, taking inspiration from the exotic, not looking towards the past, nor surrendering to the perceived “future”. Both the 3.8 and modular engine aren’t particularly beloved engines today, yet the 4.6 is a direct ancestor to the 5.0 and industry wide OEM positive displacement superchargers owe their modern applications to the SC 3.8. Beyond hell the S550/650platform is in the lineage of the MN12 if there’s any truth to the DEW98 platform being derived off it… of which the S197 was off it, then the S550 off that etc.

These Mustangs may be well and dandy performers but they all look fat for Mustangs, as they’re not really Mustangs, they’re MN12 platform successors with Mustang styling outside. This perhaps shows my age if nostalgia plays a part but to me the last true Mustangs were the new edges (99-04); good looking, cheap, simple, crude and light(ish). Mustangs circa 1989 were far from world class performance cars, they existed for the sole purpose of being the last of their kind along side F bodies on a changing world, MN12s otoh showed an alternate route, one that acknowledged modernity yet also acknowledged the relevance of the past in superchargers and slightly later V8s, one whose styling was less to keep it slightly up to date like late Foxbody Mustangs were, but to push the boundaries even further than the then-revolutionary 1986 Taurus had.

Retro styling(which isn’t even all that retro anymore) just perverts the realities of what the Mustang(challenger/Camaro/Charger) of the past into a mutilation of ideologies that don’t truly jive. The MN12 had its faults but ironically it’s biggest weaknesses were it’s holdovers of prior eras, from the AOD, to the 3.8 to even the 5.0s limitations when backed by an AOD.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
I’m no fan of the final generation Tbirds but at least it was an attempt at the spirit of the original in spite of its very obvious compromises. Need any proof of how Ford handle’s model names? SVT Lightning is now a crew cab EV pickup, Mustang Mach is a soccer mom EV Crossover, Maverick is a compact pickup truck. The people running Ford today clearly aren’t running the company in the best interests of those of us who aren’t trying to mine profit out of the brand for theoretical short term gains. As the guy who played Herman Munster said in Pet Cemetery; “sometimes dead is better”.
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I think the worst example of this, might be the bronco. The new bronco is cool and everything, but it just doesn't seem like the broncos of old. That's not even including the god awful bronco sport, which is just an escape.
 
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