Classic Mistake (30 page)

1958 Ford Thunderbird

For the 1955 model year Ford (US) introduced a beautiful new two-seater ‘sports car’ to rival its arch competitor, Chevrolet (with its ‘Corvette’). These two models were America’s answer to the British and European two-seater roadsters which were selling well in the US in the fifties. Ford’s version was called the ‘Thunderbird’ and continued in two-seater form through the 1956 and ’57 model years. Then Detroit’s evolutionary tendencies to ‘bigger, fatter’ struck yet again and, for 1958, the ‘T-Bird’ gained much weight and girth as a four-seater (but still two-door) model. Much as the earlier model was lamented, in fact the new version was attractive in its own right and has continued through various incarnations to this very day – the latest model being somewhat of a throwback to the original ’55–’57 two-seater models.

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