2024 Tbird Concept ... If only!

Little Ice-Cable said:
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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The Bronco Sport literally is an Escape under the skin too, and ironically the previous gen Escape before it’s jellybean restyle looked like a Bronco Sport!

How well is Ford’s killing off sedans move paying off 5 years later btw? 🤭
 
That thing would be $150k if it was real lmao
 
XR7-4.6 said:
It’s literally a heavily photoshopped (or AI altered) Aston Martin Victor concept based on this very photo.

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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?
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I like the Tbird render's headlights better.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
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?
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Yeah those Hornets are some kind of ugly. First one I saw was at the police station near my office. I was there on business and saw it in the lot and I checked it out. Had a California tag and I was like get that fruit fly out of my sight. Looked it up online and laughed out loud.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
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.
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When I ordered mine in April 1997, I told the salesman who met me as I exited my 84 Mustang GT I am looking for a RWD, V8 car that was fun to drive with 2 doors. He said well that is either a new Stang or a Tbird. He let me drive the pearl white sport they had on the lot and I was sold. Paid a deposit and completed an order sheet w/ options the next day. Ford has admitted they are out of the car business other than the Mustang and the Police interceptor(Taurus).
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
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.
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Funny story. When my mom got her new (to us, it was a few years old) '89 Cougar LS I just assumed they were FWD. I admittedly didn't know much about them at the time. It wasn't until I crawled under it that I realized it was RWD. A couple of years later my dad got a new (to us) '92 T-Bird V6. I had no idea how good I had it with both parents driving MN12s.
 
I didn't know anything about Ford products until a friend of mine was selling his wife's 95
Cougar. Being an Air Force vet, I instantly fell in love with the wrap-around cockpit look. It being a rear wheel drive V8 just made the love deeper. Then I found the forums and the mods began. I couldn't believe how, relatively, cheap it was to make upgrades. An MN12 has been my main transportation for 20 years now!

I have several friends and relatives who are ready to snatch it up if I ever put it up for sale.

The new cars are cool looking, but I cannot bring myself to pay that much for a "disposable" car. Non-serviceable transmissions and such. Hell, my brother has a BMW that doesn't even have a dipstick to check the engine oil???????
 
girdnerg said:
my brother has a BMW that doesn't even have a dipstick to check the engine oil???????
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This is a huge point of contention in the BMW community. But considering that 99% of BMWs are bought (leased) by people who never look under the hood, an oil level sensor actually makes sense. They design their cars for the initial owner, not for owners 2, 3,...

Personally, I wouldn't mind a sensor in addition to the dipstick. But I wouldn't trust it enough to eliminate the dipstick altogether. Plus, during oil changes it must be extremely tedious not to have one.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
This is a huge point of contention in the BMW community. But considering that 99% of BMWs are bought (leased) by people who never look under the hood, an oil level sensor actually makes sense. They design their cars for the initial owner, not for owners 2, 3,...

Personally, I wouldn't mind a sensor in addition to the dipstick. But I wouldn't trust it enough to eliminate the dipstick altogether. Plus, during oil changes it must be extremely tedious not to have one.
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Mark VIIIs had both 30 years ago! And you could actually trust it would still work 30 years later because it’s simple circuit wasn’t filtered through a dumb body control module that will brick the car eventually.

Only new car that looks any good to me is the upcoming Charger… note: *looks* good… leave it to the French to kill off the V8s when the Charger finally became a coupe again. Stylistically it reminds me of the MN12, seriously squint at the profile, the sloping hood the drooping tail are familiar. They even are making the same mistake the early MN12s had with 6 cylinders only outside the overpriced, and rumor has it extremely troublesome, EV version (which might be the modern SC lol)
 
KevinVarnes said:
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.
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Well, for me, top looks goes to the '70-'71 Ford Torino (GT or regular), that thing looks evil, like a Mad Max Falcon on steroids. 2rd would be the '69 Mustang. 3rd would go to probably the '70 Mercury Cougar. Then there are other years of the same, like the '68 Mustang or '67 Cougar.

But for anything Ford after around '72, I'd definitely go with the '94-'95 Thunderbird (the other years aren't quite as good). They have their visual faults, I've always hated the melted cheese front and rear caps replacing valance panels and actual bumpers, the nose is too wedgey, but I can see what the MN12 should look like if it had come out in 1970. I really like the interiors, too, along with the more modern drivetrain.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
Mark VIIIs had both 30 years ago! And you could actually trust it would still work 30 years later because it’s simple circuit wasn’t filtered through a dumb body control module that will brick the car eventually.
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Like my 2000 Continental. Every 1,500 miles, like clockwork, it would alert me to top off the oil it had burned.
 
rampagingsloth said:
Well, for me, top looks goes to the '70-'71 Ford Torino (GT or regular), that thing looks evil, like a Mad Max Falcon on steroids. 2rd would be the '69 Mustang. 3rd would go to probably the '70 Mercury Cougar. Then there are other years of the same, like the '68 Mustang or '67 Cougar.

But for anything Ford after around '72, I'd definitely go with the '94-'95 Thunderbird (the other years aren't quite as good). They have their visual faults, I've always hated the melted cheese front and rear caps replacing valance panels and actual bumpers, the nose is too wedgey, but I can see what the MN12 should look like if it had come out in 1970. I really like the interiors, too, along with the more modern drivetrain.
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See to me the Australian Falcon was what the 70-71 Torino AND/OR 71-73 Mustang should have been. That car fixed every fault both of those cars had IMO, and it was in fact designed in Dearborn by the same designers.

Ford in the US lost their design sanity after 1973, seemingly creating the ugliest crudest unnecessary large battering ram bumpers to meet the 5 mph crash standards of 73-74. 72 Torinos were kinda bloated but I love the looks, 73 not so much. You want to know how unnecessary those awful 70s 5mph bumpers were? Our MN12s still had them! The US relaxed regulations with Reagan but not Canada which these cars were certified for, all MN12s have 5mph bumpers just like a 75 Gran Torino but they don’t look like a highway girder was hung off each end!
 
Those aren’t bumpers, they’re battering rams!

ramming-door.gif
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Fun fact about that car: It has an actual shifter, meaning when you shift to D, the physical shifter actual stays in D. That's something special nowadays!
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You think that's special, how about a modern car with numbers on the top of the shift knob? :rofl:
 
That is my thing with post '72 70's Fords (and most other big three to an extent, but not as bad). The big bumper cars just don't do it for me at all and all of the razor sharp edges and corners. I'd say the pinnacle of that is the LTD II. Look at that front bumper. You could have a picnic on the flat surface between the headlights and the bumper itself.

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It wasn't until the Fairmont, '79 Mustang, and '79 Panther cars came out that styling at least started getting a little better.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
I love Ford/Lincoln 70s design! These are gorgeous!

View attachment 8944View attachment 8945
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I hate those Model-T looking grilles (I much prefer full-width grilles like the old Chargers had) and those bumpers are disgusting, but I love the proportions of the green one. You scale that car down a bit, to "merely" MN12 size or smaller, that would be a cool car. Just fix the nose and tail (get rid of the spare tire hump). I would remove that landau vinyl top (or whatever that abbreviated thing is called) along with the useless opera window, too, just have a normal rear passenger side glass there.
 
rampagingsloth said:
I hate those Model-T looking grilles (I much prefer full-width grilles like the old Chargers had) and those bumpers are disgusting, but I love the proportions of the green one. You scale that car down a bit, to "merely" MN12 size or smaller, that would be a cool car. Just fix the nose and tail (get rid of the spare tire hump). I would remove that landau vinyl top (or whatever that abbreviated thing is called) along with the useless opera window, too, just have a normal rear passenger side glass there.
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Not these old Chargers lol

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This reminds me of an ongoing conversation in the 80s S-Class community. Could be a case of the grass being greener on the other side, since I grew up in Germany.

Euro S-Class:
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US S-Class:
K1GxNGyG-et7h0-ibfO9-UvFu-5WEtF.jpeg


I always preferred the US version, but people in that community actively "Europeanize" their cars.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
This reminds me of an ongoing conversation in the 80s S-Class community. Could be a case of the grass being greener on the other side, since I grew up in Germany.

Euro S-Class:
View attachment 8985

US S-Class:
View attachment 8986


I always preferred the US version, but people in that community actively "Europeanize" their cars.
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Fun fact. Freightliner used the same front corner markers as these Mercs on their class 8 trucks for two decades.
 
Derphound01 said:
Fun fact. Freightliner used the same front corner markers as these Mercs on their class 8 trucks for two decades.
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I’m not a truck guy to know the model/class but there’s another Feightliner that used(uses?) first gen Mercedes M class headlights long after those turds went out of production.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
I’m not a truck guy to know the model/class but there’s another Feightliner that used(uses?) first gen Mercedes M class headlights long after those turds went out of production.
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That would be the Freightliner Columbia.

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