The US-based Thunderbird Registry lists 303 survivors from the 1962 model year and only 119 of the 1963 version. Second on the list of plus-points is scarcity. Thunderbirds of this shape and age are an enticing car in their own right and the Roadster top adds a further element to its attraction. Its spot in this company comes from a combination of attributes. Most companies would give the Roadster idea up as a bad joke but Iacocca’s influence kept it on the books until 1964. Just 1427 Roadsters were sold during 1962 – a lot of those probably going to dealers for posing at the Country Club – but sales for 1963 plunged to just 455 cars. The Roadster cost $650 more than a standard T-Bird convertible and buyers baulked at the idea of paying extra for a car that wasn’t fooling anyone. Kelsey-Hayes wire spoke wheels were included, as was a passenger grab handle and Sports Roadster emblems but the high-performance engines were an extra-cost option. Nothing about the Roadster was actually different from the basic Thunderbird convertible apart from a removable fibreglass cover over the back seat that included padded head-rests for the two front seat occupants. Lo and behold, for 1962 the Thunderbird range was expanded to include a Sports Roadster. Then along came Executive Row Golden Child and ‘father’ of the Mustang Lee Iacocca who suggested exactly that. The basic ‘Z Code’ motor with a single four-barrel carburettor delivered 224kW, a few ponies down on the ‘M Code’ with a trio of dual-throat Holley carburettors and rated at 298kW.īack in 1958 when Ford dumped its two-seat design in favour of a four-person layout, not many in management seemed to care that a ‘sports’ car really should be a two-seater. The only engine available to Thunderbird buyers was a 6.4-litre overhead-valve V8 but it came in two levels of potency. The new shape sat on the same wheelbase as the previous model but those spear-tip front guards added 50mm to overall length. Nicknamed ‘Big Bird’ when new but retrospectively dubbed ‘ Batmobile’, these T-Birds won no awards for elegance but their ability to turn heads was undeniable. Buick was fiddling with hidden headlights for its Riviera, Lincoln had already brought back the ‘suicide’ door and the frumpy 1958-60 Thunderbird was about to be replaced by a car that looked ready for the launch pad at NASA. Huge pointed fins were by this time well past their prime but new gimmicks were tumbling off drawing boards all across Motown.
Not many cars that rolled down North American production lines during the 1960s came with more presence and character than a 1961-63 Ford Thunderbird. Not many cars that rolled down North American production lines during the 1960s came with more presence or character than a '61-63 Ford T-bird
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