Cats have nine lives, Thunderbirds have eleven
The original Thunderbird, or ‘T-Bird’, was released in 1955, in part as a reaction to the Corvette two years earlier, though with an emphasis on the luxury over the performance aspects of the model. Marketing referred to it as a ‘Personal Luxury Car’, and eventually, that established an entire new niche in the market.
The tenth-generation Thunderbird was retired in 1997, and it looked like that was it for the nameplate, but then in 2002, the Thunderbird flew once more in its eleventh iteration. Sadly, that flight was brief, and only a few years later, in 2005, it was finally put to rest for good. Today’s example is from that first-year resurgence, and it’s still in tip-top shape!
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Back like an echo, soft as a Whisper
The color on the body of this T-Bird is called Whisper White, and it looks almost light brown against the snowy backdrop of the photographs. There is a body-matched removable hardtop that features small porthole windows on either side for a bit of style and flair. There is also a powered black soft top, adding a nice bit of contrast. Up front, a downward-sloping egg-crate grille sits between two slightly inset round headlights, with two small fog lights integrated into said grille.
The hood features a mild hood scoop with a cut-away inlet before it, and both front and back have slender winged Thunderbird badges, as well as the name scrawled onto the side fenders. Two exhaust outlets poke out from under the bumper. Rounding out the look, seven-spoke 17″ Premium chrome wheels with Thunderbird-branded hub caps are shod in 235/50 Michelin Premier A/S tires.
In the Midnight hour
A pair of power-adjustable bucket seats is done up in Midnight Black leather, showing its age a touch but still in very good condition. The rest of the interior is either charcoal grey or a lighter grey accent and trim color, from the door panels to the full center console and dash to the carpeting. There is a dual-zone climate control for keeping both passenger and driver comfortable, regardless of their respective preferred ambient temperatures.
The dash has an in-built AM/FM radio with a six-CD player, while a quad-spoke steering wheel is wrapped in more Midnight leather, each stubby spoke leading to a wide central hub with a small Thunderbird wing logo at the top. The gauge cluster behind the wheel features a 0-160 mph speedometer, a tachometer that redlines at 7,000 rpm, as well as auxiliary gauges for coolant and fuel.
A great V8 to round out
Under the hood lies a 3.9L (238 ci) variant of the Jaguar AJ35 V8 with two dual-camshafts, one over each cylinder bank, capable of producing 252 horsepower and 267 lb-ft of torque under ideal conditions. All of that power is sent to the rear wheels by way of a five-speed automatic transmission. Each wheel has independent suspension, and all four corners have ventilated disc brakes. A routine oil change was performed in preparation for the sale, and despite the car’s age, the odometer reads only 7,000 miles!
Final thoughts: Thunderbirds are Go[ne]
While the eleventh-generation Thunderbird brought new life into a classic nameplate, it only delayed the inevitable. Some blamed poor sales on a lack of any marketing at all, while others felt the nostalgia for earlier Thunderbirds did not offset the competition of other, more modern luxury car offerings that outclassed the car at the time. However, it still remains a fine-looking car, with good bones and reasonable power to make a great day driver, if not exactly the central feature of a car show. We think they’re pretty neat, and if you agree, why not check out the auction before it’s over?
