Thunderbird Automobile

Rows and rows of newly minted Ford Thunderbirds stand idle, swathed in protective film and ready for delivery--but going nowhere for now. Ford Motor Co. hoped a flawless launch of its $40,000 T-Bird would help restore a reputation that has been battered over the last year by troubled model launches and allegations about the safety of its Explorer sport-utility vehicle.

The mementos of George Watts' love affair with cars -- particularly classic Fords -- fill his daughter's Villa Park garage. There are folders full of car ads and magazine articles about cars. There are albums stuffed with pictures. One shows Watts with Jay Leno at a car show. There's one of Watts with a group of Ford executives. Countless snapshots of Watts posing next to and inside of several generations of Fords.

Ford Motor Co.'s continuing efforts to persuade American car buyers that it is more than just a truck company takes another step forward today when it unveils a preview edition of its long-awaited 2002 Thunderbird. The lukewarm consumer acceptance in recent years of some of its cars had industry watchers believing that Ford, like the other domestic auto makers, had lost the ability to make and market small cars.

A year ago Ford exiled the Lincoln Blackwood, and now it has issued walking papers to the Thunderbird. The 2001 Blackwood was dumped a year after going on sale, while Ford waited two years after bringing back the '02 Thunderbird before saying it will depart after the '05 model run. Ford insists that it never intended to sell either model indefinitely. Yet no one, including company insiders, remembers being told the Blackwood was an 18-months-and-out or Thunderbird a four-years-and-out model.

Ford Motor Co., its image tarnished by the continuing flap over the safety of its best-selling Explorer sport-utility vehicle, is preparing to hit the market with two new models intended to polish the corporate logo. One is an interpretation of a mid-20th century icon, the Ford Thunderbird, now presented as a modern two-seat cruiser that pays sleek but subdued homage to the original roadsters of 1955-57. The other is intended to become a 21st century icon for Ford's domestic luxury division.

* Neiman Marcus Group Inc. said it sold all 200 of its Limited Edition 2002 Ford Thunderbirds in about two hours, faster than any other car it has ever offered, after releasing the 2000 Christmas catalog. The upscale Chestnut Hill, Mass.-based department store chain, which sells items in its catalog ranging from a $34 pearl bracelet to a $20-million submarine, listed the new two-seat, rear-wheel-drive, V-8 convertible for $41,995. Tags, title, license and registration weren't included.

Grounding one of the best-known nameplates in automotive history, Ford Motor Co. announced Monday that it will stop making the Thunderbird and three other tired, slow-selling models at the end of the 1997 model year. But the fun won't end forever, as Ford insists it isn't taking the T-bird away for good. It said a revamped Thunderbird--the car celebrated by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit "Fun, Fun, Fun"--will return someday.

George Watts discovered what turned out to be the first Ford Thunderbird ever made gathering dust outside a Santa Ana body shop in 1965. The convertible had sat outside for a year since the shop owner had claimed it to satisfy a debt. At this weekend's Long Beach Auto Show, the restored gem sits in a place of honor just inside the doors of the Long Beach Convention Center. Ford borrowed the 1955 version from Watts to publicize its newest T-Bird.

And didn't we have fun. When we were in Vietnam, my fighter-pilot buddy talked with more passion about the white 1961 Thunderbird convertible he left back home than the girl he left behind. Could be that's why the marriage crashed and burned, and 30 years later he is sometimes sleepless in Torrance--and rebuilding a second white, 1961 Thunderbird convertible. I also knew this bloke in England who considered a 1956 T-Bird his mechanical love object.

Bird Watching: The long-awaited 2002 Thunderbird was formally unveiled last week and, in an unusual move, Ford Motor Co. said it is taking orders for the two-seat roadster immediately, well in advance of the first deliveries this summer. The T-Bird carries a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $34,595.

Rows and rows of newly minted Ford Thunderbirds stand idle, swathed in protective film and ready for delivery--but going nowhere for now. Ford Motor Co. hoped a flawless launch of its $40,000 T-Bird would help restore a reputation that has been battered over the last year by troubled model launches and allegations about the safety of its Explorer sport-utility vehicle.

Ford Motor Co., its image tarnished by the continuing flap over the safety of its best-selling Explorer sport-utility vehicle, is preparing to hit the market with two new models intended to polish the corporate logo. One is an interpretation of a mid-20th century icon, the Ford Thunderbird, now presented as a modern two-seat cruiser that pays sleek but subdued homage to the original roadsters of 1955-57. The other is intended to become a 21st century icon for Ford's domestic luxury division.

Bird Watching: The long-awaited 2002 Thunderbird was formally unveiled last week and, in an unusual move, Ford Motor Co. said it is taking orders for the two-seat roadster immediately, well in advance of the first deliveries this summer. The T-Bird carries a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $34,595.

* Neiman Marcus Group Inc. said it sold all 200 of its Limited Edition 2002 Ford Thunderbirds in about two hours, faster than any other car it has ever offered, after releasing the 2000 Christmas catalog. The upscale Chestnut Hill, Mass.-based department store chain, which sells items in its catalog ranging from a $34 pearl bracelet to a $20-million submarine, listed the new two-seat, rear-wheel-drive, V-8 convertible for $41,995. Tags, title, license and registration weren't included.

Ford Motor Co.'s continuing efforts to persuade American car buyers that it is more than just a truck company takes another step forward today when it unveils a preview edition of its long-awaited 2002 Thunderbird. The lukewarm consumer acceptance in recent years of some of its cars had industry watchers believing that Ford, like the other domestic auto makers, had lost the ability to make and market small cars.

And didn't we have fun. When we were in Vietnam, my fighter-pilot buddy talked with more passion about the white 1961 Thunderbird convertible he left back home than the girl he left behind. Could be that's why the marriage crashed and burned, and 30 years later he is sometimes sleepless in Torrance--and rebuilding a second white, 1961 Thunderbird convertible. I also knew this bloke in England who considered a 1956 T-Bird his mechanical love object.

A year ago Ford exiled the Lincoln Blackwood, and now it has issued walking papers to the Thunderbird. The 2001 Blackwood was dumped a year after going on sale, while Ford waited two years after bringing back the '02 Thunderbird before saying it will depart after the '05 model run. Ford insists that it never intended to sell either model indefinitely. Yet no one, including company insiders, remembers being told the Blackwood was an 18-months-and-out or Thunderbird a four-years-and-out model.

The mementos of George Watts' love affair with cars -- particularly classic Fords -- fill his daughter's Villa Park garage. There are folders full of car ads and magazine articles about cars. There are albums stuffed with pictures. One shows Watts with Jay Leno at a car show. There's one of Watts with a group of Ford executives. Countless snapshots of Watts posing next to and inside of several generations of Fords.

Grounding one of the best-known nameplates in automotive history, Ford Motor Co. announced Monday that it will stop making the Thunderbird and three other tired, slow-selling models at the end of the 1997 model year. But the fun won't end forever, as Ford insists it isn't taking the T-bird away for good. It said a revamped Thunderbird--the car celebrated by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit "Fun, Fun, Fun"--will return someday.

George Watts discovered what turned out to be the first Ford Thunderbird ever made gathering dust outside a Santa Ana body shop in 1965. The convertible had sat outside for a year since the shop owner had claimed it to satisfy a debt. At this weekend's Long Beach Auto Show, the restored gem sits in a place of honor just inside the doors of the Long Beach Convention Center. Ford borrowed the 1955 version from Watts to publicize its newest T-Bird.