New For 1961

I’ve always considered the Thunderbird a sort of “tweener” car. From its inception, it was never really a sports car, wasn’t all that fast, and certainly wasn’t as luxurious as the price tag might have lead consumers to believe. It just sort of sat safely between all kinds of genres – good at some stuff, great at nothing.

Typically, this kind of moderation offends me. I’ve always been one to think and feel that things should have a defined purpose and a definite identity. To me, cars should be based around a singular purpose and should kneel to no compromises in order to do something, whatever that ‘something’ might be, as best as it possibly can. A race car is fast. A custom is beautiful. A luxury car is comfortable. And so on…

The Thunderbird falls outside this line of thought. Even so, I’ve always had a soft spot for them. Girl cars or not, I just like the way each generation progressed and the final look and feel that Ford always seemed to give the “little” car. My favorite is the ’61.