

In the 1957 model year, the exterior of the Thunderbird was altered somewhat, with a new front bumper and larger tailfins and lamps offering a refreshing restyle. Instead, Ford decided to target a more upscale market, leading to the development of a unique class of automobile called the personal luxury car. Despite its appearance and capabilities, it wasn't marketed as a sports car like the contemporary Corvette. The History of the Ford Thunderbirdįord released their first Thunderbird model in 1955 – a two-seater convertible featuring a sporty design. The Thunderbird is perhaps best known for creating its own niche in the market for personal luxury cars. From 1955 to 2005, the Thunderbird went through eleven generations, with popular models such as the 1963 Ford Thunderbird making an impact on customers.

No matter what genre you nail your flag to, this beautifully made, realistically priced reissue is a perfect choice for those ready to look beyond the usual rock guitar suspects.The Ford Thunderbird is a sleek and stylish automobile that was introduced towards the end of 1954, becoming an instant success as sales reached 16,000 for the first model year.

The message here is, don't dismiss the T-Bird as some quirky surf guitar. When it's time to get mucky, you can kick in some overdrive for classic rock rhythm a la AC/DC's Malcolm Young, or beast the gain to evoke Tony Iommi's early Sabbath stuff, or Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, whose brutal tone was achieved on a similarly spec'd SG-style Guild S-100 Polara. Of the various knobs and switches on offer, the low-cut tone capacitor is the most noteworthy.Īs its name suggests, this switch sucks the bottom-end out of the circuit to offer more of a single coil tone for added versatility. There's plenty of sparkle and clarity on a clean setting, and that even extends to the neck position, where the pup's low vintage output conspires with the natural brightness of the mahogany body. Plugging in, the bright-sounding mini-humbuckers pull bags of sustain from the T-Bird's 1.5-inch thick carcass.
