The Thunderbird lost its original sporting pretense in steps, the final one (for decades) being in 1960. That was the last time a customer could walk through the doors of his Ford store and emerge with a manual-transmission Thunderbird until the introduction of the 1983 Turbo Coupe.
The sadness among enthusiasts was palpable when the Baby Bird said goodbye in late 1957, but the new “Squarebird” was clearly the correct business decision. They sold like crazy.
Furthermore, the Squarebird could still stake its claim as a performance car, with its optional 350-horsepower 430 Lincoln V8. The T-Bird’s standard three-speed manual transmission was unfortunately only available with the base 352, although its column shifter and lack of synchromesh on first wasn’t very sporting. Supporting the Squarebird’s racing pedigree was its NASCAR presence. The picture above shows Johnny Beauchamp’s 430-powered 1959 Thunderbird almost winning the inaugural Daytona 500; after much deliberation, however, Lee Petty’s #42 Oldsmobile was declared the champion (the Chevy in the top lane wasn’t on the lead lap).
Even today, you’ll see an occasional Squarebird getting its elbows out; here’s an example driven by LeMans hero Tom Kristensen at the Goodwood Revival.
The Squarebird was also the last Thunderbird that was apparently designed to be easy on mechanics; just look at the access to the engine. After removal of the reverse-opening hood, this might be the easiest engine removal/installation in automotive history, a far cry from the cramped engine compartment of its successor.
Unfortunately, without the optional 430, the Squarebird didn’t quite live up to its flagging performance image. Road & Track tested a Lincoln-powered convertible in June of 1959, and they found that it could accelerate to 60 in 8.2 seconds before finishing the quarter-mile in 16.2 seconds at 84 miles per hour. However, the CARS test of a 1960 T-Bird with a 352 and Cruise-O-Matic (shown above) was more representative of the average car, with a 0-to-60 time of 10.1 seconds. (By the way, automatic-equipped cars used a 3.10:1 rear axle ratio.)
Hot Rod Magazine strapped a 352-powered ’58 T-Bird to a chassis dyno in its June 1958 issue, and they reported a mere 144 horsepower to the rear wheels, a time-zone away from its advertised 300 gross horsepower, leading writer Bob Russo to comment that horsepower ratings among all brands had more to do with the marketing department than the dyno cell.
Yes, the 430 car was the one to have if a buyer was interested in performance; however, it’s quite possible that a 352 car with the rare standard three-speed manual could perform a lot better than its automatic-equipped brethren. I found this original three-speed 1960 Thunderbird at a car show in Dearborn, Michigan, and its original data plate information tells us that it had the 3.70:1 axle ratio that was standard with the manual transmission. While that is a steep gear for highway cruising, especially in a car that was considered a personal-luxury car, it would have certainly cut a fair amount from the Squarebird’s acceleration times.
The third pedal is just visible in this picture, but the location of the gear selector is right out in the open. One might wonder why the stick-shift ‘Bird didn’t benefit from a floor shifter, and the answer is surely cost. Few T-Birds were so equipped, and the column shift mechanism could be shared with more mundane Fords.
By 1960, you’d think that the Thunderbird’s “inspired by the 1958 Ford” styling would be showing its age, but buyers certainly disagreed: 1960 turned out to be the best sales year of the decade.
While the Squarebird’s exterior is sometimes fodder for disagreement among modern car enthusiasts, there can be little argument about its interior. The 1958 model ushered in what would be a Thunderbird tradition for several years, interiors that were as style-forward as the T-Bird’s exterior. Individual coves in the dashboard, bright trim, bucket seats, a console, and a high transmission tunnel to accentuate the personal-luxury theme all became cues for other manufacturers to copy.
The little details are the most fun, such as the little round climate control bezel at the top of the console; it wasn’t the most convenient in terms of reach, but it looked as chic as anything. Also notice that this car must have been ordered by someone who either could barely afford it or who simply liked the T-Bird’s looks but didn’t need the optional amenities; it has manual windows in addition to its manual transmission.
While four-seat T-Birds are fairly affordable today, many fans seem to prefer the styling of the T-Bird’s successors, the Bullet Bird of 1961-63 (my 1963 model is shown above) and the Flair Bird of 1964-66. When new, the numbers suggest that the buying public didn’t see it that way. Aside from the new 1964 model, sales never came close to that last year of the Squarebird, 1960. Sales took a huge hit for 1961; see the sales numbers for 1961-66 below.
Additionally, the standard manual transmission disappeared for decades in 1961. Ford rightly saw that almost nobody ordered it, and the new Bullet Bird did away with any last vestige of the T-Bird’s NASCAR image. The Lincoln 430 was dropped, leaving the new-for-1961 390 as the only available engine, and it was no faster than the outgoing 352-powered T-Bird. It wasn’t until the introduction of the Turbo Coupe in 1983 that a Thunderbird buyer could get a manual transmission again.
While road tests of stick-shift-equipped Squarebirds are thin on the ground, it’s fair to say that a zero-to-sixty time in the high-eights wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility, even with less than 150 horsepower making its way to the rear wheels. And while the styling of the 1960 model might seem outlandish to some eyes today, that’s what makes it great; it’s a product of its time and an innovator in its field. For its engine accessibility alone, I’m kind of wishing I would have picked one of these up instead of a 1963 model, and a rare manual transmission example like the Kingston Blue car above would make it that much better.
Related Reading
Vintage Review: 1960 Ford Thunderbird – “There’s Nothing Quite Like It” (by Rich Baron)
Curbside Classic: 1960 Ford Thunderbird – Fancy Meeting You Here (by JP Cavanaugh)
The console disguised the high transmission tunnel, which was a consequence of the low body. The 1958 Thunderbird was several inches lower than the standard Ford.
A year ago or so, one of the online auction sites offered a 1973 Buick LeSabre with a 3 on the tree. I was surprised to learn that Buick offered a manual transmission on a full-size car in 1973. I’m nearly as surprised to learn that Ford offered a stick shift T-bird in 1960.
It had to have been at the latest an early. 1971. The THM was standardized i all B-Body BOP cars in mid-year 1971.
Of course, the C-bodies had standard autos much earlier.
Love it! With that short axle ratio, I wonder if this could have been a 3 speed with an overdrive? That would have been a great drivetrain on this car. (Edit – the brochure says that ratio was available on both OD and non-OD 3 speeds.) I had completely forgotten that a manual was ever available in the Squarebirds.
It is interesting that Ford bailed on the manual in the T-Bird just the year before Studebaker offered a bucket seat/4 speed option in the 61 Hawk. While the Hawk was neither fish nor fowl (despite its name), Ford knew exactly what the Thunderbird was by then, and it was not a bucket seat and 4 speed kind of car.
Now you have me wondering just when was the last time I saw a Squarebird anywhere, whether at a show or out on the wild. I cannot remember. And of those I can recall seeing, I don’t ever remember seeing one painted in this color of blue. I like it!
According to Ford’s materials, the 3.70:1 axle was standard with or without overdrive, but if you’re getting the manual anyway, why not splurge?
What transmission was used with the 430s used on the track. Was it a truck box?
https://www.hotrod.com/features/1959-thunderbird-stock-car
This example from Hot Rod Magazine has the stock three-speed! When you think about it, it makes sense. They were never really shifting out on the ovals.
I strongly suspect that a main the reason the three-speed manual was available on these is in order to make it NASCAR-worthy. Up through 1960, the 352 was the biggest V8 available, so the 430 in the T-Bird had a distinct advantage in terms of displacement against the competition. But an automatic would absolutely not have been good for stock car racing.
By 1961, big Fords had the very hot and competitive 390 Thunderbird Special FE V8.
The only thing I question is why the three-speed wasn’t available with the 430 in the production cars.
Nascar had some flexibility in its rules. As long as the 3-speed was a stock transmission, I suspect they didn’t care which engine it was attached to. And who would actually order the 430 with the 3-speed?
Actually there was a high performance version of the 352 that was used in standard Fords for NASCAR
I am a fan of the square birds and they were very stylish in their day. We lived in San Francisco and Mom bought a new 1960 convertible, white w/turquoise interior that I remember clearly. It was highly optioned but doubt if it had the bigger engine as those are rare. The interiors were like no other American cars at the time. I have a 1966 T-Bird convertible and you can clearly see the design influences from the square birds.
Aaron, thank you for bring this rare bird to us. Your 63 is a stunner. Any reference to Squarebirds must include the late, great Dr. Alexander Sosiak and his Squarebirds.org site. Alex lived and breathed 58 to 60 Tbirds and drove his beloved 58 a daily for many years. I was lucky enough to have him ask me to drive it in his wedding procession.
Squarebirds.org is a great website with a ton of information; I was actually looking something up on it today!
My mother bought her Squarebird in 1960 and kept it a long time. It was two-tone with a sunroof and continental wheeI, which actually fit nicely in the design of the taillights. I learned to drive in that car!
A familiar driveway! Nice car to learn to drive in.
I used to be firmly BulletBird in my top ranking of the 4 seaters but I’ve really come around on the SquareBirds, the front end looks great, the rear end is wild looking but in a spacecraft sort of way I can’t help but admire and the interior is excellent and copied to this day. I think my biggest grievance is the body side sculpting is too busy(I’m not sure if it’s the lower rocket shaped spear or the downward dip in the door I hate more), a more restrained approach should have been appreciated with the 61
What I really admire is Ford did the name proud. The 55-57s were in essence a 55-56 Ford chopped channeled sectioned and tailored into a smallish sports car(at least in image). They could have cynically done just that for 1958 as well, but instead they brought the public this unibody motorama car, and still tried to tie it to Motorsport in stock car and street performance with the 430, and though I find the 61 more beautiful it lost some of that remaining spirit of the 2 seaters even if it wasn’t particularly good at it. I don’t know if it’s true or not but I have heard from numerous seemingly credible sources that the squarebirds are considerably lighter than its successors(like between 500-1000lbs lighter!). I always imagined all were very heavy but I’ve also heard claims of the 58-60s generally being in the 3800lb area while the bullet/flares are firmly in the mid 4000s at a minimum
The video of one being flogged at the track is a hoot. It’s absolutely ridiculous but that looks like the most fun car to be driving hard in the entire group.
They did gain a bit of weight. The ’60’s base shipping weight was 3,799 lbs. The ’61 was 3,958, and by ’63 it was up to 4,195.
I’ve always had some mixed feeling about aspects of the styling of these, but I was quite impressed the first time I saw one after moving to the US in 1960. It did look like a dream car that one could buy. I was utterly mesmerized by the interior.
To my mind, there is one pure Thunderbird, and that’s the 1st-gen. I can’t argue with Ford’s decision to enlarge it in ’58 from a business perspective, but that started a long, downhill slide that would lead to all pretense of sportiness being sacrificed – the ignominy of four doors and brougham land barge status of the late-60s and 70s. No thunder left in this birds by the mid-70s; might as well call them the LTD-bird. At least they got a little more on track in the 80s, but the styling is more inoffensive than classic.
So with that, my ideal T-bird would be a 55-57 with a third pedal (and please hold the continental kit). The inclusion of a stick shift option for the 58-60 must have been for the purposes of NASCAR (like somebody mentioned); otherwise it seems incongruous and like an oversight. Like the people who made the decision to add the back seat and a bunch of weight never talked to the people who chose the powertrains.
So, from the up-sizing of ’58 until the downsizing around 1980, the stick-shift made about as much sense as a handling package on a Town Car – the people who’d appreciate it were never going to buy one anyway. That said, if I came across a square bird with the three-on-the-tree, it’d be as interesting to me as any T-bird could be, outside the 1st-gen – and I prefer the look of the bullet bird and even the Landau/Flair bird.
It’s strange that 1960 would be such a sales success, while the Lincolnesque bullet bird slumped – I always figured the overwrought styling of the late-50s had overstayed its welcome with buyers even by ’59. Maybe it was deferred interest – people who couldn’t afford one because of the downturn that helped kill the Edsel had recovered enough in ’60 to make it happen. It’s the only explanation I can think of for why sales grew so much year-over-year for the 2nd gen.
I never knew these came with a sunroof ! in my younger days I had many a sunroof equipped car .
Watching the racing where the T-Bird drifts around the corners occasionally lifting the inside tire is great .
It’s able to lap the other, smaller cars to boot .
-Nate