Quote:
Originally Posted by wescoent
You have the right idea.
The last Thunderbird was killed by two factors:
1) It was a cobbled-together architecture, whose structural bracing made it a pig (DEW98 was the only suitable platform at the time), and combined with the detuned Jaguar V8 under the hood, performance was horrible.
2) The Mustang Mafia and Jaguar Mafia within Ford refused to allow it to get the SC Jaguar V8, which would have improved performance and made it worth the price. However, this would have made it faster than the Sacred Cow Mustang GT and Sacred Cow Jaguar S-Type R and XKR.
However, this time around, we have a suitable architecture AND lessons learned from the prior experience.
The point of this new Thunderbird will to have a smaller, lighter sports car in the Ford showrooms more suitable to high performance than the Mustang, while at the same time being able to share parts with the Mustang. I have not seen the new Thunderbird, but I've heard it's closer to Aston Martin than '55 Thunderbird.
The ghist of what I've heard is that the Thunderbird will return once Ford is profitable again. Until then, development money will continue to go towards more neccesary projects (Fiesta, Focus, and such).
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Hmmm. What I've seen and heard about this car thus far is similar to what you have posted, but there are a couple of interesting differences.....
1: As you state such a T-Bird would be Mustang based, but I think the info I've seen and heard thus far indicates a car perhaps a bit more closely related to the Mustang than we see above. How I've heard it.....take the Mustang, remove about six inches of real estate from the area between the doors and the rear wheels wells, reskin it in a body that isn't particularly retro but which does have some cues from the past, throw in a 'premium' interior and bevy of luxury features, cover it with a retractable hardtop and there you have it. In the recent past I have heard rumblings about both a retractable hardtop Mustang and a revised Thunderbird, now I am convinced that the point of the Thunderbird, should it actually happen, is to be both.
2: Also,based on what I have hard the car will indeed be a bit smaller than a Mustang, the retractable hardtop will add enough weight to negate any weight advantage that might bring to the table. In fact I have gotten the distinct impression that while this is intended to be a powerful, fast car the goal isn't to be more performance oriented than the Mustang. The idea for the car genuinely seems to be a return to the personal luxury car roots of the original tri-five models. That would indeed make it very similar to the cars now being peddled by Aston Martin so I too can see a connection.