With an all-new size, all-new styling, and what could have been described as the "space age" look, the car grabbed a lot of attention.
Distinctive front and rear styling helped set the car apart from others. Up front, the grille inside the bumper was a new theme, also seen on the traditional passenger cars that year and the grille was made of honeycomb material. Quad headlights incorporating 5.5-inch diameter headlights as compared to the traditional 7-inchers with gullwing shaped surrounds. The rear of the car incorporated four large taillights and a split bumper theme, and the honeycomb theme continued on each side, surrounding the taillights.
The all-new body styling was sleek and the emphasis had totally changed from "personal sports car" to "personal luxury-cruiser." That turned out to be a winning formula as the sales were impressive and it basically invented a whole new vehicle segment in the American auto marketplace. The 1958 T-Birds had four "hash mark" chrome accents on the doors and "Thunderbird" identification script on the forward front fenders.
The overall shape of the car was not over-decorated, crisp and clean, and to say that you have to look at the era and how heavily styled the average American car was at the time. It had flowing lines and was some eleven-inches longer and nearly 1,000 pounds heavier, but it comfortably could seat four adults, which was the whole point. The wheelbase was now 113-inches, eleven inches longer than the 1957 model, and the interior now had incredible space, especially considering the designers reduced the overall height by nearly ten inches. Because everything was so low (they were able to lower the car's overall ground clearance to 5.8-inches), the driver and front passenger's fannies were just twelve-inches off the ground.
Introduced late in the model year (June 1958), there were were 2,134 1958 T-Bird convertibles sold, making them the rarest drop top second-generation cars. The top mechanism and hydraulics required to get the top to fold down into the trunk cavity added 200pounds of weight to the car (3903 pounds) and about $300.00 to the sticker price.
The design of the rear of the car is a continuation of the interior's emphasis on compartmentalization. Each side grille recessed behind the taillights, and the material used matched the pattern of the grille. Fuel filler cap was concealed behind the license plate.
The 1958 Thunderbird also featured an all-new powerplant. The design and engineering on the new, larger V8 (352-cid) engine was done largely by Ford's chief engineer in their Engine and Foundry, Robert Stevenson. It was called the "FE" engine family because it had versions specifically for Ford vehicles (332-cid and 352-cid) plus one exclusively for the Edsel, 361-cid. Stevenson's design included the continued use of a lower engine block that extended past the centerline of the crankshaft, for added strength(Y-Block layout). Other features included wedge-shaped combustion chambers, an intake manifold design that extended into the cylinder heads area with holes in it for the pushrods to pass through, which also eliminated the need for a separate tappet cover. As fitted into the T-Bird, the 352 engine featured a four-barrel carburetor and dual exhausts, developing 300 horsepower.
Heavily-padded "safety" dash was part of the Thunderbird interior, and center console on the second-generation wasn't a styling gimmick, it was a clever design touch to conceal the mandatory tall transmission/driveshaft tunnel of the uni-body construction. To the right of the speedometer a clock was mounted ,and no tachometer, a move to further reinforce that this new, larger T-Bird was not a sports car but a personal-luxury vehicle.
To facilitate the lowering of the roof into the trunk area, the deck lid was rear-hinged. While it did provide for a spare tire, the trunk space was pretty much totally consumed with the top assembly was in the "down" position.
Unit construction(welded, integral body and frame) was used and provided all-welded, rattle-free body and integrated chassis structure. Unfinished bodies were produced by the Budd Company and then shipped to the Lincoln assembly plant (where these Thunderbirds were assembled) for finishing. Note that the front fenders were welded into place and not removable. Without an actual frame, the design of the structure allowed for a low stance of the car, which was a key design element of the all-new 1958 T-Bird.
It was no accident that this factory publicity photo of the new 1958 Thunderbird featured four people in it, to further remind viewers that this second-generation T-Bird was a four-seater vehicle. The highly-sculpted body featured small fins (almost a mandatory design element for the era) and minimal chrome. The decklid shape was an extension of the bucket seat interior / center console design theme.
"The T's bird now," was the opening line inside the pages of the February 1958 issue of Popular Mechanics Magazine, which featured the new Thunderbird on its cover. e text went on to say: "There will be plenty of screaming over the new Thunderbird. Some will scream with delight about the roominess of the low-slung four-seater, about its big trunk space for vacations. Others will scream that Ford has destroyed their baby, the 'cute' little T-Bird of yesterday."
To say the four-seater1958 Thunderbird was a success is an understatement. 37,892 were sold that first year, an impressive number considering it was a year of economic recession in America, plus that it had the late introduction date. With the convertible model being delayed until mid-year, just 2,134 were built. Overall, the 1958 T-Bird had a 76-percent sales jump as compared to the 1957 Thunderbird models. Motor Trend Magazine named it "Car of The Year."
1959
The Thunderbird was equipped with the FE-based (Ford-Edsel) 352-cid engine as standard equipment, delivering 300 horsepower at 4600 rpm, with 395 lbs/ft of torque at 2800 rpm. It featured 10.2:1 compression ratio pistons, a four-barrel carburetor and dual exhausts. Transmission choices included the Cruise-O-Matic automatic, and a three-speed manual transmission, plus an overdrive-equipped three-speed manual .Column shift in all cases.
In 1959 a new, more powerful powerplant was made an option available to Thunderbird owners, a430-cid V8 from the MEL (Mercury, Edsel, Lincoln) engine family (Mercury versions 383-cid and 430-cid, Edsel version 410-cid). This was a physically larger engine (featuring 4.90-inch bore centers as compared to the FE 4.63-inchbore centers), while it also incorporated a front distributor and deep skirted engine block design.
The 430-cid Thunderbird powerplant (J-Code) developed 350horsepower at impressive 490 lbs-ft of torque at 2800 rpm. Like the 352 FE Thunderbird engines, came with dual exhausts, however these big-inch powerplants also had resonators. A Carter four-barrel carburetor was used.430-cid cars were not offered with manual transmissions, and these big-inch cruisers had 2.91:1 rear gears. Cosmetically very little was changed on the1959 cars, save for chrome added on the door spears and the Thunderbird script being relocated from the front fenders to the doors. Customers widely accepted the car, as is, and sales jumped to 67,456 (10,261 of them being convertibles).
The 1959 version hadthe Thunderbird side emblems moved to the door and As compared to nearly allother vehicles that were being sold that year, there was less chrome on thiscar as it relied on his basic styling without all the glitter.
Not until near the endof the 1959 Thunderbird convertible (pictured) model year run did the topmechanism actually become fully automatic, by use of a pushbutton, prior tothat it was a complicated operation. There were 10,261 1959 droptop T-Birdsproduced.
With the 1959 modelbeing basically a carryover from the '58 car, the advertising campaign focusedon the basic styling and luxurious elegance that it had. This color magazine ad clearly were directed at potential women buyers.
The ad promised fastcars and fast girls. What more could you want? The movie "T-BirdGang" was a crime drama from 1959 where a courageous high-schooler goesundercover to join a teen-age gang, but the real star of the movie was thevehicle, a 1959 Ford Thunderbird!
Driven by JohnBeauchamp, this independent 1959 Ford Thunderbird placed 2nd in a photo-finishto Lee Petty's Oldsmobile at the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959. This car wasone of six entered in the race, an independent Ford race program that was puttogether by John Holman and Ralph Moody, and it had a significant historicalsignificance in future Ford Motor Company "Total Performance" racingactivities.
While Ford MotorCompany had been out of racing activities since June of 1957, because of anagreement that they upheld with the AMA (Automobile Manufacturers Association),a privateer effort took place at the 1959 Daytona 500 which saw FordThunderbirds racing on the new high-banked superspeedway track, which had justopened. It was Holman-Moody, a then independent race car building shop thatbuilt the T-Birds, which happened as a result of John Holman making a trip tothe Ford assembly plant in Wixom, Michigan, where he was able to purchase at agreatly reduced price a great deal of "scrap" Thunderbird bodies,engines and assorted parts. There was enough to build a half-dozen race cars.
The big 430-cidengines powered the NASCAR Thunderbirds, and they were not exactly all-out highperformance engines, more like low-revving workhorse engines, and with lots oftorque. .
These six 1959 FordThunderbirds turned out to be rather historically significant, in the sensethat, because they were so professionally built, to a high standard ofpreperation. What had happened was, the top brass at Ford Motor Company, mostimportantly Robert McNamara himself noticed that these T-Birds (which averaged135 miles per hour on the 31-degree banked Daytona track) did a lot to show thepublic that a Ford automobile was fast. The positive responses prompted thecompany to hire Holman and Moody to head-up the stock car racing aspect of whatsoon became Ford's "Total performance" factory racing program.
Thunderbird proved it was no fluke as a large, four-seater as the hardtop sales for the 1959Thunderbird topped 57,000. Swirt-spoke design wheel covers were now used.
1960
The sunroof option was made available for 1960, at an additional cost of $219.49. With just 2,536Thunderbirds produced with that option in '60, designated model 63A, they are among the rarest of all second-generation T-Birds.
The 1960 Thunderbird was on its last year of the three model-year styling cycle, and Ford left the looks as they were in the first two years, save for a restyled grille and changing of two to three taillights per side on the rear. Optional Thunderbird wire wheels had a large center hub and had 56 stainless steel spokes. The optional Sports Spare Wheel Carrier was available all three model years, 1958-60.
"While the advertising copy declared: "Because no other car combines Thunderbird's compact size and handling agility with Thunderbird's mighty power'," it all actually was a bit optimistic as these cars that were ordered with the430-cid Lincoln engine were nose-heavy and certainly not a high-performance powerhouses. Rather, they were big, heavy engines that were low-revving, hitting peak power at 2800 rpm. Of course it is very accurate to communicate that the T-Bird did incorporate a lot of glamour and distinction all in one vehicle.
A steel company named Allegheny Ludlum built two stainless steel 1960 Thunderbirds, using the body dies at the end of the three-year styling cycle. The idea was to promote stainless steel as a means to possibly build car bodies with production cars. The two vehicles, built in July of 1960, were shown at car shows and the cost each was $25,000. The body and roof were stamped using T306 alloy and over 300other components on the rare Thunderbirds were constructed of stainless steelmaterial, heavier in gauge. The cars weighed in at 3,957 pounds, which was comparable with the standard steel production versions.
There was an obvious advertising angle on the 1958 Thunderbird that highlighted women as potential purchasers. George Walker was the head of design for Ford and he credits his chief stylist Joe Oros as the one who gets the acknowledgment for designing the 1958 T-Bird. "Compact asa charm" is how they promoted the car, that it was easy to park."Parking problems vanish...for your Thunderbird's a jewel of a car that slips into the smallest parking spaces as gracefully as a hand into aglove."
Very few changes were done to the car for 1959, the grille was revised and the rear suspension saw the change from coil springs to leafs. Under the hood, new for 1959 was an optional, more powerful J-code engine, Lincoln 430-cid.
A man, a a woman, the sunroof-equipped 1960 Thunderbird. This is one of the rare factory promotional images of a Square Bird that doesn't feature four people. Offering a factory-fitted steel sliding sunroof on an American car was a big deal in 1960.The sunroof was a design by Golde in Germany and measured 34-inches by19-inches, manually operated.
The Ford Thunderbird debuted in 1955 as a two-seater "personal car" and was Ford Motor Company's answer to the Chevrolet Corvette, and it easily outsold the cross-town rival (16,155 T-birds to just 674 Corvettes). Robert McNamara, who was one of the original "Whiz Kids" (a group of ten United States Army Air Force veterans that in 1947 had come to Ford with an offer to become part of the upper management, which was accepted by Henry Ford II) and he had become general manager of Ford. McNamara was not a "car guy" however he knew the numbers that went with the car business.
He directed his people to do market research work on the sales potential of American two-seater sporty cars. The data indicated that such a car that would seat four people would appeal to a larger potential buying group, plus it could be suitable for small families. After seeing the results of the research, and with no particular emotional attachment to the car (as a two-seater), he soon got the engineers and designers going on creating a larger Thunderbird, this took place in march of 1955. McNamara studied trends in the automotive world. In fact, the trend in the industry at this time, with regards to "dream cars" from the other automakers, was that the two-seater format was not being used, rather it was now being done with futuristic cars with front and rear seats.
While the Thunderbird, as Ford's flagship car, did wonders in helping provide an exciting way to get people into the dealership showrooms, the sales were not really enough to make a profit from. Chevrolet was barely selling their Corvette, which was marketed as a "sports car" and while Ford was selling their T-Bird in larger numbers, it was clear to McNamara that something had to be done, and quickly, as he was a "bottom line" guy and wanted the car to make the company money. Keep in mind these concerns were done early on in Thunderbird's existence, and sales were not beyond a "break-even" volume.
The 1958-60Thunderbirds might not have the same romantic love from collectors today as the two-seater T-birds from 1955-57 had, however, for Ford Motor Company and its dealers, the square birds more than proved that Robert McNamara's thought process that four was better than two, in regards to Thunderbird seating. While the Lincoln unibody car (the 1958-60 Premiere) totally bombed in sales, the1958 Thunderbird, along with the next two model years that followed, turned out to be fantastic sellers, and without having to do any styling changes (198,191total in the three model year run). History confirms that the second-generation angular-shaped Thunderbirds are considered true masterpieces of design.
