(first posted 10/10/2012) Since we’ve been talking a lot about oddball Cougars and T-Birds lately—Fairmont Birds, Cougar station wagons, and all sorts of other automotive marketing craziness—I just have to share this four-door ’71 T-Bird Landau sedan. It was posted to the Cohort by whitewall buick, who’s known around these here parts as GG. So here it is: The Fabulous Bunkie Brougham ‘Bird.
The four-door ‘Bird was designed to fill the gap left by the departure of the last Flair Bird convertible, in 1966. Convertible sales for that year had dwindled to a mere 5,049 units, and Ford hoped that a new sedan model would prove to be a satisfactory replacement for the drop top. Its success in that role would be debatable, but for now a very Continental-like T-Bird sedan was available to buyers so inclined.
By 1970, T-Birds wore Bunkie-mandated rhinoplasty that left them looking rather Pontiac-like up front. The Pontiac-esque look was most certainly intentional, considering that Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen, the soon-to-be-departed FoMoCo president and son of former GM President William “Big Bill” Knudsen, had come to Ford from Pontiac Motor Division. In combination, the absence of hidden headlights and the pronounced beak made for a virtually all-new appearance, at least on the coupes. All in all, it was a rather sleek affair.
While the coupes sported new rear quarters and a revised roof line (CC here), the sedans were far more similar to the 1967-69 models. Do those wheel covers look familiar? If so, it’s because their run lasted all the way to the 1987 Mercury Grand Marquis, although they weren’t seen as frequently as the de riguer wire wheel covers optional on ’80s GMs.
As you’d expect, there were lots and lots of options available, including a power sunroof, which was then an unusual option for an American car. Another, even more unusual option was the high-mounted rear lights (shown bottom-row center on the left page). I’d never even heard of that one. Perhaps it’s where Oldsmobile got the idea for the auxiliary brake lights on the 1971-78 Toronado?
image: artandcolour.blogspot.com
Nineteen seventy-one was largely a carryover year, and only a new grille and changes to some minor fillips differentiated the ’71s from the previous year’s models. The four-door Landau had never been a huge seller; its best year had been inaugural-year 1967, with 24,967 sales. Sales dwindled further in subsequent years, totaling 8,401 in 1970; and a mere 6,553 in 1971, the final year for the four-door Landau.
As you might expect, the 1971 T-Birds included lots of standard features, among them a 429 cu in, 360-hp V8 that breathed through a Motorcraft four-barrel carb. Other standard equipment included power front disc/rear drum brakes, SelectShift Cruise-O-Matic transmission, AM radio, electric clock and teak wood grain interior accents.
While regular Thunderbird coupes wore a steel top, Landau coupes and sedans (all sedans were Landaus) came with a Cayman-grain vinyl roof. The vinyl top and landau irons played an especially important role on the sedan, on which they partially concealed the cut lines of its reverse-opening doors.
Part of the Landau’s door, complete with vinyl covering and chrome trim, blended into the roof (as would Chrysler’s M-body Fifth Avenue a decade later). Frankly, a steel-topped T-Bird sedan would have looked pretty strange.
In the end, a four-door T-Bird just didn’t (pardon the pun) fly. Although Ford may not have built as many of them as they’d hoped, it was nevertheless an interesting idea–and love them or hate them, these certainly are interesting Thunderbirds, .
Despite the Broughamtastic interior trim and simulated wood everywhere, Thunderbirds still had full instrumentation, including ammeter, oil pressure and temperature gauges.
If that instrument panel looks somewhat similar to the Mark III’s, it’s because the Bunkie Birds shared the same chassis. Actually, the T-Bird came first, and later was adapted to become the personal-luxury Connie. The lower instrument panel with the A/C vents looks almost identical; so does the steering wheel, with a Thunderbird applique in place of the Continental star.
According to GG, he came upon this pastel green ‘Bird at an estate auction in Hill City, Kansas. It appears to be well-loved and cared-for, as it should be considering its rarity. I may be in the minority, but I’ve always liked the four-door T-Birds. This one was awfully nice, as indicated by its $5,350 selling price–which actually isn’t all that far from the original MSRP of $5,516. Here’s hoping it went to a good home!
Related reading: CC 1970 Thunderbird Sportsback: What Bunkie Took With Him On His Way Out The Door (Laurence Jones)
I must admit, trying to disguise a four-door to LOOK like a two-door really puzzled me, but something about the design has always intrigued me. Suicide doors just adds to its mystique.
A daring design, to say the least. Can daring, unconventional design like this still be attempted? Doubtful, unfortunately…only in prototypes at car shows. Sigh…
It’s well-known I’m not very much of a Ford fan, but I give this one a lot of credit. I never got an opportunity to ride in one of these, but I’m certain the ride was pillow-soft!
Four doors were a sure sign that Thunderbirds had lost their way. And things would only get worse as the ’70s progressed, when T-Birds became virtually indistinguishable from other FoMoCo models.
Indistinguishable from what other Ford products exactly?
I wouldn’t put blame in the 71 Bird. 71 may have been the last unique Bird.
The 72-76 Birds started the Generic Ford Face that went across the board from 73 on.
Think Elite or Cougar. Too many styling similarities, IMO.
Think mid-’70s Elite or Cougar. Too many styling similarities, IMO.
Maybe, but the point of the Elite was that it was a mid-sized T-Bird.
The Cougar has no excuse, though.
I don’t think any of them have a good excuse, they all clearly use a 2 door Montego bodyshell. The mid 70s Cougar does have the excuse that it’s Ford face was essentially just an adaption of the 71-73 nose(those which have no excuse). The Elite nose simply looks like they took the Thunderbird nose and put Monte Carlo lights where the quads went.
These look better than the 67-69 4 Door birds, and pull off the “Look Like A Pontiac” look better than the concurrent coupes. They’re still odd, and I wouldn’t spend my money on one, but on a whole, these are probably the most pleasing of all of the 1967-71 T-Birds.
I’m with you, Laurence. There’s just something about the ’70-’71 sedans…
It would look even better with color-keyed wheel covers, as shown in the brochure pic.
Dear Tom,I lived in Vermillion South Dakota in 1971,my dad had purchased a new t-bird,white,four door and it was a real cream puff.My dad died soon after we lived their,but the memory of cruising to Yankton for the day,of Souix Falls for an auction in it makes me think of him.I got even a bigger kick when I saw your name.My name is Walter Klock and I’m now 57 and living in Pell Lake, Wisconsin, this pictured car really brings back great memories. Thank you.
I guess I’ll take the “con” position. While I think the 67 (one of which I owned briefly) was the beginning of the very long end for the T-birds, I liked it better than this one. The full width grill with hide-away headlights was a still pretty unique and I also think the interior was a little more “out there” compared to the subject Bird, not unlike the 66’s.
I owned a 1967 Fordor ‘Bird. Great, fast, ground-hugging car. Rode like a dream. Backseat looked like reserved seating at Las Vegas. Great car, mine had the fly-away steering wheel, too.
The swanky four-door sectional sofa rear seat is a reason in itself to own one of these cars.
+1. I knew a girl in high school who had one. The back seat looked like reserved seating in a Vegas lounge…
I never thought the Beak look good on the 4 door Birds. The coupe was cool, esp. w/ the driving lights.. Love the 67-69 4 doors! It was sort of a baby Lincoln………..with the price of suicide door Lincolns these will eventually do well.
I have to ask… What’s with the vent cut out behind the rear window? Is it a rear defogger?
Why haven’t I noticed this on other cars (except the Corvair, where its use is obvious)
It’s for flow-through ventilation, just like the similar vents on 71 GM products
Yup. The Thunderbird and four-door ’65 LTD hardtop were among the first U.S. production cars with flow-through ventilation.
My first car bought in 1973, a 65 Galaxie 4 door HT, had the flow through vents in the back. There was a pull knob on the dash to operate it. The car was hit (while parked) in front of my parents’ house two weeks after I bought it.
As a friend said at the time, I was getting the kinks out of the car, while the other guy put the final one in.
Someone bought the car (from the tow shop) for the 289 V-8, although it had a slight lifter tap. The interior was immaculate in spite of the faded general condition of the car.
Guilty pleasure I guess, but I’ve always liked these. Probably for the rarity factor. Never thought about it until now, but the “4 door coupe” look so in vogue now started here?
Good point . . . with the friendly amendment that the T-Bird four door seems to have been an attempt at recapturing the sedan-coupe quality of the 1961 Continental. The latter was exceptionally close quartered for a luxury sedan — to the point where Lincoln eventually increased its wheelbase.
I suspect that the four-door T-Bird would have done better if Ford had given it more marketing attention. This was an interesting alternative to the usual big-barge luxury sedan.
The point about Ford ignoring the sedan is interesting. There were quite a few people who didn’t know about this car.
My mother was pretty car-conscious, but my father basically viewed cars as “transportation” and not much more.
In the late 1970s, I remember my father saying that there had never been a four-door Thunderbird, while my mother said, yes, there was one a few years ago. I had to explain to dad that mom was right…which was usually the case when it came to cars!
In re: the Continental — which is fitting, I suppose, since the ’61 Continental was conceived as a Thunderbird proposal. (The original clay model was a two-door hardtop, which got the rear suicide doors when Bob McNamara suggested making the proposal a Continental, rather than a T-Bird.)
I wonder how enthusiastic Ford Division was about the four-door Thunderbird concept. I’ve unfortunately never found a copy of Bill Boyer’s Thunderbird styling book, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some Ford executives considered the four-door heretical. A lot of the ads I’ve seen that did mention the four-door version seemed like they were trying to emphasize that it was still a Thunderbird, first and foremost, and just happened to be available with some extra doors.
A high dollar four door with a Ford badge just doesn’t make sense to me during the era of this car. Ford had a place for customers to buy $5000+ four doors: they were called Mercury dealers and Mercury probably could have used a distinctive car to enhance their image as just a tarted up Ford that followed the brand up until the final Mercury was built. Lincoln-Mercury dealers also could have given customers more of the experience that buyers of expensive cars were looking for than Ford dealers.
Ahh, but Ford and Lincoln-Mercury were different divisions, managed by different people, and usually separate dealer networks, as well. If you were a Ford executive or a Ford dealer, you didn’t want to send customers to a rival (even a “friendly” one) when you could sell them a more upscale product yourself.
Since the 61 Continental was “Compact Luxury” and it was getting larger as the decade wore on, and the Thunderbird already shared a home with Lincoln at Wixom and their original designs, a 4 door seems almost natural. Add in that Lincoln would phase out the suicide doors after 1969, this would seem to play into the the original Continental concept that Lincoln was leaving behind.
I don’t see how anyone could say the 4 door looks like a coupe. One is “formal” and the other is a fastback.
Didn’t Lee Iaccoca see the preliminary drawing in Dark Cherry and approve it on the spot? That’s the legend I’ve heard. As for it being heretical, there have been 4 door concept Mustangs since the very beginning!
Hey, glad you featured the T-Bird. I really considered buying it, but in the end, decided I’d rather keep saving up my money for a paintjob on the Cadillac.
It was a pretty nice car, but in person the repaint job doesn’t look as good as it does in the photos. There was lots of overspray on the trim and windows, and you can tell that they painted over some rust.
Both front seats were really wrecked, you can see bare springs if you pull back the seatcovers
On the plus side the vinyl top looked great, not faded or ripped at all. I would hate to try and find that color or pattern in reproduction vinyl, it’s probably impossible.
I expect that this one will be showing up in some area car shows again.
Thanks for posting it to the Cohort! Since writing the post, I’m even more interested in the ’70-’71 Landau sedans. Now I’m on the lookout for the 1970-71 T-Bird brochures to add to my literature collection.
41 years later, the word “coupe” is being used to describe high-end 4-door sedans from BMW and Mercedes.
Was Ford simply way ahead of the times?
If the internet had been around back then, we would have had multiple proclamations about the “end of the T-bird.” Funny how it managed to continue to exist in some of the most successful versions for years after this one.
Speaking of ahead of the times, I taught of the same thing, when Pontiac introduced a 4-door Grand Prix in 1990, almost 20 years after a 4-door T-bird.
$5500 seems awfully expensive for a car in 1970. No wonder they didn’t sell many. How much was a Mark III?
Average new car cost in 1970: $3,708.
$5350 is a 44% premium.
A Cadillac Eldorado in 1970 was $6903 and the Mark III was comparably priced.
My friend’s parents had a 70 four door Bird loaded with many options. I remember my friend bragging the car cost over $6,000 plus CDN. It was brown with a dark cloth brown interior and really a nice car for what it was. The T-Bird was still in the family when I drove it in a wedding procession in 1976. A whole lotta steel, rubber and plastic but a nice highway car.
And what’s this? High mounted brake lights as an option? I doubt many buyers who factory ordered checked that one off.
It was on the pricier side, but the T-Bird was really competing in Buick territory and the list price included a lot of equipment for which you paid extra on most contemporary rivals, including power steering, automatic, and so forth.
By the way, I love how the windshield washer switch takes up a gauge spot. That is hilarious! Who thought of that?
Adjusted for inflation, how much would $5.5K be today??
It would be about $31K.
Ugh. Wouldn’t have been worth it. Ungainly-looking and a complete 180 from T-bird’s original purpose.
I never liked the 1970-71 Thunderbird coupes, but the four-door sedans from those years aren’t too bad looking. I’d still prefer a 1967-69 version in any body style over this car.
I’m with you Geeber on that. I prefer the 67-69, with I think the 68 or 69 best of the three, mostly due to the rear detail treatment (twin backup lights).
Man, that whole package just comes off as awkward in my eyes.
“Bunkie” has his name on some great designs. I’d put this one low on the list right below the RecTrans Discoverer.. (http://goldenrod-garage.com/DETAIL.ASP?DT=2&CI=4&UI=769&MI=&DH=-517)
Whoa! That Discoverer looks like a Chinook that had too many Big Macs…
I never thought of it that way!
With the suicide rear-doors, this looks like the ultimate ’70’s successful realtor’s car.
The rear tails look like the 1967 Pontiac Bonneville’s, except being full width across! More GM’ness added by Bunkie.
I knew they made a 4-door T-Bird possibly before I knew they made the 2 door. I grew up in the 80s in a small New Zealand town, population about 4,000. Vehicle fleet was mostly British or Japanese small cars/family cars. There were interesting variations of course, and one was a 4-door T-Bird. Its owner used a Borgward Isabella as his daily driver, so must have been quite a character! As I grew older and began reading and collecting car magazines, I quickly learnt that the 4-door was the T-Bird exception, not the rule. Interesting car, and I’m glad it was around all those years ago.
At least one of these made to Australia.
Sorry, but “Bunkie Beak” and “sleek” are mutually exclusive terms…
I would always be scared parking near a wall…
Yeah its awful and vulnerable tp parking damage insurance companies must’ve hated them, they sure liked the big bumpers their lobbyists got mandated.
Tom , Thank you for a great write up on one of my guilty pleasures, Glitzy T-Birds. I Love Your Description of The Back Seat “Private Vegas Seating” for High Rollers No Doubt While the help drives your Tbrd.
These Were nice As a Sonny n Cher Lincoln.
To me they looked The same Coming Or Going, Yes, 4 Door Suicide Doors Worked on This car, though Entry/exit To back seat left a lot to be desired.
One thing I should note for the record regarding Bunkie Knudsen is that he did not come to Ford directly from Pontiac. Knudsen left Pontiac in 1961 to become general manager of Chevrolet, succeeded at Pontiac by Pete Estes. In 1965, Knudsen became a group vice president, with Estes replacing him at Chevrolet and John DeLorean taking over Pontiac. Knudsen was promoted to executive vice president in 1967, then went to Ford in early 1968 after being passed over the for the presidency of GM in favor of Ed Cole.
As a group VP and executive VP, Knudsen naturally would have known what was going on at Pontiac and might well have continued to take a personal interest in it, since Pontiac was what had really put him on the map. But it was more like Harlow Curtice and Buick a decade or so earlier.
(Yes, this is hairsplitting…)
I think “Bunkie” just had a thing for beaks and split grilles.
The prototype for his post Ford venture even had a Pontiac looking nose.
(Pic from detroityes.com)
Oops!
That actually looks a lot better than the stock Dodge van grille they went with.
I think The Diamond Green in 1969 was Almost Dayglow compared To This, Or Am I Remembering it Better in Hind sight? ILoved THe 123 Taillights on these,but having loved the 66 TBird, This Was Hard To accept as its predesessor.
I absolutely love this car and have loved this design ever since I was about four years old actually. My childhood dream cars included the ’67-8 Mustangs, ’67-70 Cougars, and ’71-’72 Thunderbirds. Life is strange: thirty-seven years later, my vehicle collection is about 2% Ford-based.
I’m totally blown away by those high-mounted taillights though. I never knew these existed — did they actually make it to production? Were they offered on the 2-door cars? Has anyone ever seen a car so-equipped? Stuff like this usually doesn’t slip by me…especially for 30 plus years.
On another note, The “SportsRoof” ’71-’72 Bird is one of the sleekest designs in my eyes. This is one of the very few vehicles I would love to build a hotrod out of: Black, midnight blue or purple metallic… a googolplex horsepower 460, slightly jacked up in the rear with Centerlines…nothing would be badder…. 😛
If I’m not mistaken, the 4-door suicide-sedan Bird appeared in 1967 – two years before Bunkie made himself Hank the Deuce’s whipping-boy.
With the 1968-era grille on it, hidden headlights inside an elongated giant scoop of a grille…it looked pretty fair. Now a four-door pimpmobile Bird has no sporting pretensions…but, let’s remember, the Bird got blown a decade earlier. They were years pretending to a lineage the chassis never knew…this just made it official.
Ford missed out on a chance to make a legend, however: Suppose they’d abolished the B-post between the two doors…had the rear doors fasten to the roof and floor sill, and have the front doors fasten directly to the rear doors? Like the Honda Element; or some extended-cab pickups today.
I love Nixon-era Detroit kitsch, and FoMoCo was a fine purveyor of its most conservative, baroque incarnations.
Ugh, tragic. Thunderbird started it with the fake landau irons in ’62 (’63 CC here). Ten years later it came to this.
Door seams in a fake convertible top are a Deadly Sin! Eye injury!
Is it a thundering jet-powered bird or a lumbering horse-drawn coach? Sadly the latter.
These days, the 1967-71 Sedan Birds are the affordable choice in postwar suicide door motoring — usually noticeably less than the Continentals.
I like these more than I should. I always thought that the Bird had jumped the shark by 1967. While the 67-69 coupes never looked right to me, the longer wheelbase sedans looked better. I would never be interested in a 67-69 2 door Bird, but a sedan could get my interest.
The 70-71 is better than the previous 3 years, in my view, and I like the 2 and 4 door cars about the same. That mint green color was a 1971-only color as I recall. I don’t hate it now as much as I did then. You remind us that the cars here often look so much better in photos than they do in real life.
Whenever I’ve gotten into discussions over what the classic Bird really was, I freely acknowledge that ’66 was the last of the breed. The ’67 & later are basically a slightly lower slung and closer coupled Galaxie, with a bunch of period geegaws tacked on. Clearly not in the same league as the ’58-’66.
Guess what, I love ’em anyway.
I remember my next door neighbor taking delivery of a ’68 2-door Landau. First time I ever saw AC. He was a bit of an eccentric who still lived at home, even in his 40s then. He had his own floor covering business and had lots of dough. The bad news was that personal vehicle usually ended up as the job schlepper. I still remember seeing that poor car loaded down with rolls of carpet on the roof, samples in the trunk. He turned it into junk in 4 years.
I’m going to channel my inner Syke here…
This thing is everything bad about the Big Three back then, without much good that couldn’t be found more cheaply and attractively somewhere else. Cynical concept, bizarrely executed. And those rear suicides don’t seem to open wide enough. How elegant m’lady looks barrel-rolling into the back seat of my large, expensive sedan!
I’m going to go look at that sensible Integra to calm down.
Actually, I’d love to help a lady into the back seat of a four door back then.
Remember what the average skirt height was in 1970-71. I believe every woman under the age of 50 (most noticeably Jackie Kennedy Onassis) was wearing mini skirts. And there’s no way you can get into that back seat without inadvertently teasing. Or, more likely, inviting – given the social behavior of that era.
I always liked the basic lines of the 67-69 for it’s overall weirdness. It’s the addition of the landau irons, vinyl roof, etc., etc., etc. that made it absolutely nauseating. The four door is a car I’d street rod – strip it down to as plain as possible. The two door too, although the effect wouldn’t be as noticeable.
Well to me this car is a textbook case of a good idea gone wrong (ie., “let’s take a good, famous 2-door car and turn it into a luxury sedan just for the hell of it”). In other words, it’s the Panamera of its times. But back in 1971, even bad ideas could be fun it seems, while in 2012 bad ideas are just boring. Because when it comes to glitz, fun potential and sheer presence, this beast will beat a Panamera any time, and for a fraction of the price at that. These landau irons! These suicide doors! And high-mounted taillights on top of it! What were the guys at FoMoCo smoking? I love it. Make mine candy apple red.
“This thing is everything bad about the Big Three back then…”
“But back in 1971, even bad ideas could be fun it seems…”
The T-Bird four door was introduced in fall 1966*, not 1971. Model years 1967-71,a total of 5. So, no it’s not another “1970’s Malaise idea”.
*To most car fans, the 60’s is the zenith of good old days.
Yup, point taken! “Back in 1966”, then. Still love it anyway. I wonder how many of these are still on the road.
I really want a car like this. I love the uniqueness of it. It’s like a 1971 Riviera, wildly impractical but boy I want one.
In the 1970s – while sure they had lots of problems – the cars were so unique. You never thought a Ford was a Chevy.
Googling “landau irons” I made a horrifying discovery. Fake landaus go all the way back to the dawn of the steel body era. Here is Harley Earl’s 1926 Chevrolet Series V Superior Landau sedan. (Photo from IMCDb)
The first faux-brougham??
Don’t know why all the negativity about Landau bars. It was a retro touch even then, a bit of detail and eye candy. Imperials had fake spare tires and free standing headlights/tail lights. Grand Prixs had boat tail rear ends, Toronados had Cord elements.
“S” bars were hugely popular since introducing them in 1962. Thunderbird was the leader in it’s field the entire time. it was a product of it’s era. I celebrate such idiosyncratic things! It’s like the two tone aqua cars from the 50s………..without it, it just seems too plain and just not right.
It’s just a matter of personal style. Landaus? Broughams? Space Age? Classic or baroque? Simplicity or ornamentation? Love ’em or hate ’em, it’s all fun. Especially in our current age of lookalikes. I’m lively with my opinions, and hope I don’t offend.
I love two tone aqua and wish it would come back.
I like these 4 doors better than the 67-69 T-bird 4 doors. I think the “beak” on these cars flows better than the “jet scoop” front of the 67-69s. I do like the coupes much better though. I think that the sports roof 70-71 T-bird coupe is a very smooth, clean car.
What do you think of the 71 going back to the 69 wide formal roof coupe, in addition to the fastback?
I’m not really a fan of the formal rook coupe. It looks fine on the 4-door. For me the coupe is sports roof or nothing.
The hood on these things was longer than my entire Fiat 128. I really loathed these turds.
Here’s my ’70
I own a ’70 and ’71 four door t-bird. In the process of restoring the ’70 with dreams to build a custom with the ’71? These cars are a dream. I have owned the ’71 for over 22 years from Ft. Worth, TX. The ’70 is a recent purchased from Cheyenne, Wyoming. Both blue cars with white tops…..one with Brougham package and one stock. They both reside in Missouri today. “Have seen any of these Fords lately?” Other than on line? I never do…..
I use Hemmings Motor News for parts searches….any other leads?
Mine was sky blue with diamond tuck interior. I bought it for $350 in 1980 off the side of the road. The owner thought it needed a new transmission. My Dad and I took it for a test drive, he put some transmission fluid in it and it was fine. We drove back to the owners house and I gave him the cash, I was 16. A year and a half later I joined the Air Force and sold it for $400. I’m 49 now and still pining away for that car. Dumbest thing I ever did, except for a few boyfriends. I wish I would have kept that car.
I got a 1970 four door currently being built with some modifications. Got 1971 four door in the garage. Can’t wait to roll the ’70 out next spring. Been my dream for 25 years.
I have a ’71 coupe that was my parents car. They bought it brand new & ordered all options. They paid about $8500 for it. I got it 23 years later in good condition. A bit of rust repair & a fresh paintjob handled the outside. New suspension all around handled under the car. The 429 was bored & stroked to 557 ci with over 500hp at the pavement. an AOD trans was installed to get overdrive. Very fast with of & 2.78 gears. Had AM/FM cd put in with speakers in the doors for a total of 8 & redone in leather. Has power sunroof. Many hours of detailing makes for one sweet driver!!!
Sounds like a great car! Is it a Landau with the upright rear pillars or the hardtop with the smoother roofline? Either way, I really like the 1967-71 T-Birds. They are rarely seen, even at car shows.
As soon as I discovered these T-bird sedans (via a Ford history in the early 90’s, I’d never seen one on the road) I liked them, even though they clearly fell under the “cars that should never have existed” rule. Though I just don’t love the “Knudsen nose” on the 70-71 models. Give me a ’67 with that full-width hidden-lamp jet intake any day. Though it does inspire a question–I’ve heard the grille of the ’67 was actually inspired by a jet intake, particularly that of the F-100 Super Sabre (though the F-8 Crusader may also have been in mind). And it was a sleek car other than the formal roofline. But how does a jet intake grille harmonize with landau irons??? I’d love a ’67 sedan, but the landau irons would be gone in a flash. (Carefully removed and stored, mind you.)
The ’67 to ’69 coupes have never worked for me. The formal roofline on the coupe was too much. A ’67-’69 grille/fenders with the semi-fastback ’70 roofline would be an interesting custom exercise though!
I have a 1971 Coupe that my parents bought new. They paid about $8200 for every option. I had it restored doing as much as I could. Black Cherry with black top & interior redone in leather & leather headliner. Inside of ALL panels are Rhino Lined as is the floor in & out. Trunk has been carpeted & interior has been soundproofed. Motor bored & stroked to 557ci with a built AOD & 2.75 gears. Motor is dressed Cobra Valve covers & air cleaner changed to ‘Thunderbird’ Powered by Ford. Disc brakes out back & upgraded in front. Lowered new factory springs 2″ & slightly heavier shocks. Factory power sunroof. Only other non stock item is a nice stereo set up with upgraded speakers in the factory locations & speakers in the doors. Just gave the description to show that these cars can be built, handle well & make great sleepers
Also, I used 15X8 white spoke wheels powder coated body color with factory hubcaps & 275/60 tires
The 4-door T-Birds have always been difficult for me to form an opinion on. On one hand, adding four doors to a famed “personal luxury” car could be considered blasphemy. Yet on the other hand, the 2-door Thunderbirds had gained so much mass and over-the-top Broughaminess in a few short years that even they had deviated greatly from the original T-Birds.
The modern generation of four-door suicide coupes are truly and fully pillarless, which was never quite accomplished by the versions of the ’50s. The Eldo Brougham came close but still had a short B-pillar.
And yet the modern ones don’t bother to LOOK pillarless or “convertible-ish”. The doors include window frames.
I have a 2000 GMC extended cab truck with suicide rear doors and it is a royal pain in a parking lot when loading groceries or children. I can’t imagine how bad these would be with the larger rear door.
I like this ’71. As a package it is no doubt a unique car, and not easily mistaken for any other.
Some of the details on the ’67 – ’71 Bird never worked for me. It sounds like a nit-pick, but one ’67 detail that bothered me was the lack of chrome wheel lip mouldings. You have to go back to the time to understand: By about ’65, every middle trim line car and up had these mouldings. For a luxury car to omit them was very unusual. I was never much of an expert on this gen T-Bird, but for years, if I saw one without the mouldings, I assumed rust repair and a repaint. These mouldings are frequently the first thing to end up in the trash when repairs are done.
So, to me, the ’67 cars look used right out of the showroom.
The detail changes that came by ’71 work for me. The car looks complete, and a little less heavy handed than the earlier versions.
The subject car is in pretty good shape in one respect: The front and rear details on these cars are quite delicate. It’s hard to find one that is as clean and intact as this one. This may be the car that encouraged the Feds to come up with the 5 mph bumper standard!
Lastly, wow! The dealer was quite ballsy putting that dealer tag on a horizontal surface (top of trunk lid). That looks like the type that attaches with screws, putting holes in a bad place. It also looks bad, I’m sure especially if you are standing behind the car looking down on it.
These screw on dealer tags were quite common before 1980 or so. Usually placed prominently on the trunk somewhere. Pretty ballsy indeed, as it was now there for the life of the car.
Recall that when my Dad ordered his 1963 Olds Dynamic 88 he specifically requested that no deal tag be applied. Of course when we went to pick up the car 6 weeks later there it was. Boy was he pissed. I guess he could have refused to take delivery but I think he got the dealer to throw in floor mats or something. Todays plastic dealer tags are glued and can be easily removed if you do it soon. Dealer license frames are also popular.
My father got a new 68 Camaro as a company car. The dealer installed one of those screw on nameplates and apparently slipped with the drill leaving a deep curlicue gouge extending past the nameplate by about an inch. Being a company car, dad didn’t worry about getting it fixed and traded the Camaro for a new 70 Skylark before rust became an issue. Being a 13 year old counting down the days till my 16th birthday (driving age), I thought that dealer applied scratch was the worst injustice one could do to a car. Of course that was in the era before 22in donk wheels
I would have made them fix it on principal.My motto, never give a dealer a break, ever.
Agree on all points. I think the bumpers that really irked the insurance folks were the tiny blade bumpers that had become popular on small and pony cars around that time. Heck, Mustang bumpers were actually bolted to the fenders up until ’71! T-bird bumpers were fairly sturdy compared to those. I think it’s cool how they made it look more delicate and detailed by leaving only the rims under the headlights and grill exposed chrome and painting the rest. Looks almost like there is no bumper at all.
I prefer the 1967-69 Thunderbird. They have a way better looking front end than that of the 1970-71 Thunderbird.
The mentioned wheel trim turned up down under too. Furd Australia used ’em on the
Falcon/Fairlane based LTD of the mid ’70s.
Somewhat appropriately I kind of relate these Tbirds to the LX Chargers – They’re 4 door executions of a loooong established and iconic 2 door nameplate and the taillights of the 2011 are shockingly similar to the 67/68s and 70/71s(I know they’re supposed to evoke the 69/70 Charger but I see way more Tbird in the way they light up).
The 67-69 looked more appropriate as a sedan than the bunkie beaked ones did I think, there was something oddly appropriate and even appealing given the weirdness of the whole package over the 2 door. That 70 nose, while infamous for that obnoxious beak, was an otherwise very sedate and generic front end treatment, almost Buickish really, the suicide door landau barred body just seems so disconnected from it, especially when you consider how heavily reworked the 2 door hardtop was that year.
A fabulous car. So unique, nothing like it on the road at the time. Three different interior styles not to mention the different colors they came in. Fantastic.
as much as I loved the big powerful vehicles built in the 60’s/early 70’s I wasn’t too fond of the 4 door T-Bird’s of this era, I however loved the 2 door T-Bird’s and thought they were nice cars, I prefer the 1970-71 styling over the 1967-69 due to the exposed headlights.
Having owned two,(a 70 & a 71 which I still have) I can say I love these cars. They are roomy, very comfortable and look like nothing else on the road. I moved from Minn. to Ca. in my 70 loaded with everything I could fit in it and got 19.2 mpg out of the big 429. Not bad for a 1970 car. The 71 I own now I purchased from the Towe auto museum in northern ca. It still wears its original paint and top.
I currently own a 71 Two Door Sport Coupe.
Triple White with the Vinyl Top Delete
429 Thunder-jet punched out from stock 360HP to 425HP with 3.50:1 Posi.
Also 73 Triple Black rare 429 Thunder-jet.
Power Sun Roof, Bucket Seats and Center Console.
And a 79 Heritage Edition with the 3. 5.8 L (351 CID)
27.5 Fuel Tank. AM/FM/Quad Eight Track/ Factory CB Radio
Always asked “which one you like the best….always reply…depends on which one I am driving.
I purchased a 1971 Ford Thunderbird, 4 door from the company I was an accountant with. Kelsey Hayes, Inc. At Kelsey we manufactured an anti-skid system to Ford for the Thunderbird and the Lincoln Mark III. Few people knew about this option that was available. My car had it because it was a test car for this anti lock system. I used to test it when we would have a fresh snow fall. Slam on the brakes and the car would remain perfectly straight. The only way to know if your Thunderbird or Mark III has this system is to feel under the glove box and see if a black plastic box is attached. It will be about 9 inches long about 4 inches wide and 3/4 of an inch thick. This is the computer for the system. Not too many cars were equiped due to this being a $1,200.00 option and unnecessary for an owner in the south. In Detroit it was a nice feature to have. I also had the brougham interior with high back seats and dual 6 way power and I had climate control also.
I am now restoring a 71 Laundau 4dr ,it is hard ti find parts for these cars .The door seals no one has them.It was sitting from 2006 until now but slowly comming back to life.Everyone has not seen one of theses for years would like to get it back on the road again.