(EXPANDED FROM 8/12/2022)
For 1972 the Ford Thunderbird brochure tried to get extra fancy with see-through paper. And on inside pages the text gushed that the only way to change the car was to “Make it more Thunderbird.”
How so? With a “new world of driving and riding ease” and a “world of new spaciousness and comfort.” The result was a car that was “More personally individual. More Thunderbird than ever.”
Welp, the all-new design may have been roomier, but this was arguably less Thunderbird than ever. Which raises the question: Why? Was this a parting shot from Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen during his brief stint as Ford Motor Company president?
Jim and Cheryl Farrell (2022) have written that Knudsen was heavily involved with the 1972 Lincoln Continental Mark IV (go here for our story). The T-Bird was based on the same body, and presumably was developed on a similar timeline. So if Knudsen’s preferred Mark IV design was approved for production before he was fired, then one might logically assume that this would have likely happened with the T-Bird as well.
Was the death of ‘Bunkie’s beak’ by suicide?
If the 1972 redesign of the Thunderbird had Knudsen’s blessing, that reflected a major retreat from its predecessor, which had a dramatically protruding nose. According to Jim and Cheryl Farrell (2014), he had sent the 1970 redesign into production without first clearing it with CEO Henry Ford II.
If this is all accurate, then that raises the question: Why would Knudsen allow the nose on the 1972 Thunderbird to be considerably toned down? He was fired on Sept. 11, 1969 (Wikipedia, 2022). That was at the beginning of the 1970 model year, so it was still unknown how the market would respond to the car’s styling.
Richard Langworth (1986) wrote that the 1972 Thunderbird’s design resulted from decisions made soon after Lee Iacocca replaced Knudsen as Ford president. This makes logical sense except that it doesn’t appear to align with the timeline presented by Jim and Cheryl Farrell (2022). In addition, I am skeptical about Langworth’s version of events because his discussion of the 1972 Mark IV’s development did not mention Knudsen’s role.
1972 Thunderbird looks similar to the Mark IV
Even more significantly, the 1972 Thunderbird’s overall styling was similar to the Mark IV’s. That was a big change from the past, when the T-Bird and Mark III looked admirably different despite sharing the same body.
Although the 1972 Thunderbird had unique sheetmetal, at first glance it didn’t look like it. The car’s side crease was similar to the Mark IV’s, as was the butter-knife front fenders, which jutted out beyond the headlight area and housed wrap-around turn signals.
In addition, little effort was made to differentiate the Thunderbird’s C-pillars aside from slightly smaller rear-quarter windows and the continued use of fake landau bars.
Meanwhile, Bunkie’s beak was flattened into a narrow radiator grille with horizontal bars that evoked the 1970 Lincoln Continental. Exposed headlights were housed in auxiliary grilles that looked surprisingly bland for a luxury car.
Previous generation was admirably differentiated
What was particularly striking about the 1972 redesign was that the previous-generation Thunderbird and Mark III were noteworthy for their differentiation. Indeed, I am hard pressed to point to a better example of a postwar automaker giving two entries such unique personalities despite sharing basic components such as a greenhouse.
As a case in point, one could laud the way that General Motors differentiated the 1966-69 Buick Riviera and Oldsmobile Toronado. However, they had more similarities — particularly in front — than the T-Bird and Mark III.
This is not to suggest that I think Bunkie’s beak was a particularly effective design. However, no one would mistake a 1970-71 Thunderbird for a Mark III. In addition, the Ford offered two body styles that the Lincoln didn’t have — a four-door Landau and a fastback version of the two-door hardtop.
Was the Thunderbird a victim of the brougham look?
The 1972 Thunderbird was arguably the most generic-looking car in that nameplate’s entire history. Previously, the Thunderbird had functioned as a halo car with trend-setting design. One theory for why is that the car was a casualty of the Ford Motor Company’s fixation with the brougham look. There were only so many ways you could vary the basic theme.
Thunderbird designers may have been further boxed in because the car was now full sized, which made it harder to avoid a bloated, latter-day Elvis appearance. In addition, the target market was narrower than in the past because the Ford lineup offered a number of luxury-oriented coupes.
For example, the mid-sized Mercury Montego MX Brougham arguably had more of a kinship with previous T-Birds than did the new 1972 models because it had more expressive styling and was somewhat smaller.
Was Ford more interested in selling Mark IVs?
The 1972 Thunderbird didn’t just look like a decontented Mark IV — it lost its unique four-door and fastback body styles and was lengthened to fit on the same wheelbase as its Lincoln sibling. Langworth (1986) wrote that a goal was to increase the T-Bird’s profitability by sharing more parts.
That may very well have been true, but I also wonder whether Ford reduced the Thunderbird’s distinctiveness in order to shift attention to the higher-profit Mark IV. If that was indeed a goal, it eventually worked — Mark IV output almost matched the T-Bird’s in 1974 and surpassed it the following two years.
The Thunderbird’s flagging sales brought Ford to move the nameplate downmarket in 1977 to compete against the mid-sized Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
In light of the success of both the downsized 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix and its corporate sibling, the 1970 Monte Carlo, it is surprising that Ford went in the opposite direction by making the 1972 T-Bird bigger.
Should the T-Bird have been Torino-based in 1972?
Here it can be useful to keep in mind that once upon a time the Thunderbird had a fairly mid-sized footprint. The 1967 two-door models were 206.9 inches long, 77.3 inches wide and had a 115-inch wheelbase. That was pretty close to the 1972 Montego, whose two-door models were 208.1 inches long, 78.6 inches wide and with a 114-inch wheelbase.
I grant you that Ford’s redesigned 1972 mid-sized cars were getting awfully close to full sized in their widths, but otherwise they were still a notch below the Thunderbird in footprint. For 1972 the T-Bird’s length increased to 216 inches, width to 79.3 and wheelbase to 120.4 inches. This was roughly the same size as a big LTD, albeit a bit lower.
It’s ironic how a car that had such a clearly defined niche for so many years could end up being squeezed from multiple directions due to product proliferation. Thus, we might empathize with Ford for punting in 1972. Even so, this was not one of its better ideas. The T-Bird’s 1977 downsizing would prove to be more successful both commercially and aesthetically.
NOTES:
This story was originally posted on Aug. 12, 2022 and expanded on Aug. 8, 2025. Specifications and production figures are from the auto editors of Consumer Guide (2006), Automobile Catalog (2023), Flory (2009) and manufacturers.
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- Auto editors of Consumer Guide; 1993, 2006. Encyclopedia of American Cars. Publications International, Lincolnwood, IL.
- Automobile Catalog; 2025. “Full detailed specifications listing and photo gallery.” Accessed Aug. 8.
- Farrell, Jim and Cheryl; 2014. “Eugene Bordinat Jr.: Durable Design Executive.” Collectible Automobile. October: pp. 76-83.
- ——-; 2022. “The Continental Mark IV—A Contest Of Wills.” Dean’s Garage. Posted June 29.
- Flory, J. “Kelly” Jr.; 2004. American Cars, 1960-1972. McFarland & Co., Inc.
- ——; 2013. American Cars, 1973-1980. McFarland & Co., Inc.
- Langworth, Richard; 1986. The Complete History of Ford Motor Company. Beekman House.
- Wikipedia; 2022. “Semon Knudsen.” Page last modified Feb. 28.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:
- oldcaradvertising.com: Ford Thunderbird (1968); Lincoln Continental Mark III (1971)
- oldcarbrochures.org: Buick Riviera (1972); Ford LTD (1972); Ford Thunderbird (1970, 1972, 1973, 1977); Lincoln Continental and Mark IV (1972); Mercury Montego (1972); Oldsmobile Toronado (1972); Pontiac Grand Prix (1970)
I only have a few connections to people whom worked for Ford, as I grew up in a G.M. family. My only thoughts come from the books I have read about Ford and about H.F.II. I have tremendous respect for Semon E. Knudsen. From Allisons to Pontiac to Chevrolet to G.M. Corporate, he would have made a great president of G.M., but Ed Cole got the job. Perhaps DeLorean’s proposal for reasonable downsizing of the G.M. full-size and intermediates after 1971 and 1973 respectively would have made a difference under a Knudsen-led car and truck regime. Then too, the G.M. board might have over-ruled him.
I get the sense that Knudsen had a vision for Ford’s cars, but I do not know how much input Bunkie had on the trucks; however, I do know know what vision Iacocca had for Ford’s cars. The Iacocca-approved Lincoln Mark IV was too stylized. Ford’s cars after 1972 were getting more massive in appearance (after the Lincoln and the Mercury), which trickled down into the intermediate Fords and Mercurys. I get the sense that the Ford vision for the future was pretty much on hold, which may have been why H.F.II grew dissatisfied with Lee. Does anybody know for certain when the idea hit Ford that they had to down-size their full-size cars ? The Ford Fairmont / Futura and Mercury Zephyr were the right cars, but should have been the replacements for the Maverick and Comet, with the Granada and Monarch the next step up as intermediates. As someone who bought cars in the 1970s, Ford’s marketing strategy was fuzzy to me, which again if true, one has to blame Iacocca and his product planners. The best example was the Ford Elite. To my mind, all it did was undermine the low-end of the Thunderbird market. In the end (or the front), the 1972 Thunderbird front end revision was to erase Bunkie’s influence from the Ford. While I did not necessary like the front end of the 1970 – 1971 Thunderbird, it was exciting and make the car stand out, like the Pontiacs of the 1960s. My wife’s aunt and uncle absolutely loved their four-door black over white 1970 Thunderbird and drove it until they passed away. The car embodied everything that I associate with a personal luxury car for its time. I later drove a colleague’s 1973 Thunderbird coupe. To my eyes and feel, it was a big step down from my experience with my in-laws 1970 Thunderbird four-door.
The 1972 T-Bird was a definitely a step backward and Ford’s luxury halo car forever lost its “unique in all the world” appeal after this as the corporate decision to take it downmarket left it as an afterthought. The resurrected 2-seat T-Bird did little to nothing to restore the T-Bird’s lustre. As for who influenced the design of the 1972 T-Bird, it seems that whoever was in charge failed to see or care about the Thunderbird mystique. Like many Ford products, Thunderbird was left to wither until eventually it died as a result of corporate indifference.
Dean’s Garage has some good information about the Mark IV design development and the politics of Knudsen vs Iacocca/Bordinat on this program. Knudsen was able to get his selection into production development prior to his ousting. The finalization of details could have continued post Bunkie depending on the dates. Since the Thunderbird was based upon the Mark IV it would logically mean that Knudsen was instrumental in its basic design approval but, again depending upon exact dates, the detailing could have been after his departure. Could that include the nose cap? Could that include the grill textures and trim surrounds – at least a chance of that. The Thunderbird side of the topic is not addressed on Dean’s Garage.
As Mercedes, BMW and all the luxury brands had already approved, expensive perfumes are into small bottles
The coupé Thunderbird could have been a big or even full sized halo Ford; maybe retain the sedan not as a halo car of course. Ford had the 4 door Thunderbird and the equivalent market position wise Galaxie or more accurate the full size Mercury (too much internal competition)
Thus, the Continental coupé could be smaller sized, to make the connection with the small perfume. Do you remember more favourably for instance, the Jaguar E- type or the XJ-S?
All the above get summarised at, what’s the positioning of Mercury since the late 1950s? The demise of the brand was too little too late
Regarding the toning down of the “Bunkie Beak” for ’72 – wasn’t that the year the front bumpers had to withstand a 2.5 mph impact? If so, then I could see Ford having to reduce the protruding front end much as Pontiac did that year with their full-sizers and Grand Prix. That picture of the ’70 T-Bird – it has a much more distinctive front end but wow it doesn’t even have a proper bumper, looks like it just has some skinny chrome or aluminum trim around the grille and headlight bezels.
My understanding is that the 2.5 mph rule didn’t go into effect until the beginning of the 1973 model year. Note how other new designs by the Ford Motor Company in 1972 didn’t pay much, if any, attention to forthcoming bumper rules (which were apparently issued by the NHTSA in 1971). For example, the Montego had a significantly jutting nose while the Mark IV’s faux-radiator grille reached unusually low into what would typically be the bumper area.