Ford Thunderbird Fifth generation | |
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Overview | |
Manufacturer | Ford Motor Company |
Production | 1966−1971 |
Model years | 1967−1971 |
Assembly | United States: Wixom Assembly Plant, Wixom, Michigan |
Body and chassis | |
Class | Personal luxury car |
Body style | |
Layout | Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive |
Chassis | body-on-frame |
Related | Continental Mark III |
Powertrain | |
Engine | |
Transmission | 3-speed Cruise-o-Matic automatic |
Dimensions | |
Wheelbase | 2-door models: 115 in (2,921 mm) [1] 4-door Landau: 117.2 in (2977 mm) |
Length | 2-door models: 206.9 in (5,255 mm) 4-door Landau: 209.4 in (5,319 mm) |
Chronology | |
Predecessor | Ford Thunderbird (fourth generation) |
Successor | Ford Thunderbird (sixth generation) |
The fifth generation Ford Thunderbird is a large personal luxury car series, produced by Ford for the 1967–1971 model years.
This fifth generation saw the second major change of direction for the Thunderbird. The Thunderbird had fundamentally remained the same in concept through 1966, although the design had been revised twice. The debut of the Ford Mustang in early 1964, and subsequent introduction of the larger, more upmarket Mercury Cougar, to compete with the similarly larger Dodge Charger – Chrysler's more upscale answer to Ford and G.M.'s pony cars[2] – began to erode the Thunderbird sales and drove it to still get larger, with Ford even introducing four-door Thunderbird Landaus.
In fact, for 1969 the Continental Mark III was launched as a two-door only personal luxury coupé, that was based directly on the four-door, 117 in (2.97 m) wheelbase Thunderbird chassis, and from that point until the end of 1976, Ford Thunderbirds and Continental Marks were related cars. They would share commonality again later from 1984–1998.