The last Thunderbird will roll off the assembly line in June 05. With sales of only 11,999 units in 04, Ford has pulled the plug on the bird.
Ken

 

bummer..well the '05 (67) mustang will live on ...zap!

 

I'm surprised it lasted this long. It's over priced and under powered. It needed a V8. Plus it was ugly.

 

Uh, it HAD a V-8

 

It needed more interior room. Nice platform (LS based), cool retro styling... just too high a pricetag. And FYI, it also shares the 3.9L V8 from the LS as well.

 

Oh. I thought it only had a V6. Don't mind me I'm not that bright.

 

Sales of all niche vehicles took a hard hit after 9/11. Lightning sales went from over 6000/year to less than 4000 by '04. But yes, the T-bird was about 5K bucks overpriced.

 

Uhhh.. Make that 10K overpriced. It should barely top 33K FULLY LOADED.

 

is that why you have a F-7? just bustin'...zap!

 

Uh, no way in hell Ford is going to price the Mustang GT convertible competitively with the Thunderbird. Not to mention with the T-birds' expensive hard top.

 

Steve, Frank said 'hell' and I think he's been drinking.
I am using the code I sent you so no one else can read this.

Damn it, the code ain't working.

 

That's why it was doomed... Folks who wanna get a convertable Mustang GT are not looking for a bloated T-bird. T-birds are for the middle-age & baby boomer crowd. Most don't have 45K to drop on an impracticle car... they are buying Crown Vics and such... and 45K can get you a entry level Town Car... big and safe to protect your old bones.... Young folks can't buy it 'cuz the price. Ford screwed everybody with it.

 

Yeah, that was too retro (borderline ugly)- and impractical..

If Ford wanted to build a 2-seat niche car, and name it "Thunderbird"- they should have made it what the Thunderbird was initially intended for (Corvette beater) or what the last great Thunderbirds were (Thunderbird SC)- powerful, 2-door sports car that can seat 5.

Overpricing is what killed the Trans Am, Z-28, the Nissan 300ZX, Mitsubishi 3000GT and the Supra.

Do these guys do their homework?

It's a darn shame that a 1991 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo costed more than today's 350 ZX. Nissan learned, Toyota has a new Supra on the drawing board, so it seems they learned too. Poor styling, planning, marketing and poor pricing killed the T-bird.

It's dead for sure now.... That Phoenix has flown for the last time...

 

We couldn't GIVE the darn things away.

The TBirds got labeled as an "old folks car",
and that was all she wrote.

Hopefully there will be a run on them now.
The Motor Company has been calling them
"collectible" lately.

 

Middle-aged, baby boomer, almost-geezer here, checking in. Here's my perspective on the T-Bird...

1) Ford teased us too long before they released it.
2) The dealers marked them up way over list for a long time.
3) The styling was about 90% there, just a little too round.
4) There were no performance options.
5) They could-have, should-have changed all this with a revised '06 model.
With today's prices...6) It takes premium gas.

I hate to see the T-Bird go, it still makes me turn my head when I see one. My wife wants one...maybe in a few years we can snag a nice used one. Premium gas prices might rule the Bird out though for Mrs. MR. She wants a two-seater in a couple of years. We can't afford a Vette or XLR. Do the Solstice, Sky and Miata's take premium?

MR