Henry Goverti was a huge fan of the Thunderbird. He had owned three of them — and still drove a 1966 convertible to work in the summer. It had a certain flair that epitomized the peak of the sixties.
How times had changed. Now it was the spring of 1971 and Henry was struggling with a new assignment. He had to come up with ad copy for the redesigned 1972 Thunderbird. He drove some prototypes and absolutely hated them. Way too big and boring. But he was considered the T-Bird guy, so he was stuck with the job.
In desperation, Henry borrowed his favorite words and phrases from past ads — particularly the 1961-66 models. One problem was that the graphic designer he was paired with came up with a pedestrian page layout. But the biggest issue was that the new T-Bird was utterly lacking in features that would make it stand out.
Henry’s boss asked for a complete rewrite — and offered one piece of advice: Pretend that the car wasn’t a Thunderbird. Call it the LTD Landau while writing the ad and then, when he was done, switch the name to Thunderbird.
That worked. Sort of. Henry was embarrassed by the final version of the ad but the Ford managers were really happy with it. Of course they were.
NOTES:
This post is a parody. For further discussion about what is real, go here.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:
- oldcaradvertising.com: Ford Thunderbird (1972)
The T-Bird’s day in the sun was first hurt by the advent of the 4-door. Then came the Bunkie beak, then this, and of course, the final insult, the 1980-82 Fairbird. It never again had the allure and aura of being unique in all the world.
To this day, I do not understand why Ford (Iacocca) did not try to create a 1973 Thunderbird that was sporty with four bucket seats and front-clip styling that did not emulate a de-contented Ford L.T.D. A co-worker had a 1973 T-Bird and it was seemingly huge and handled terribly. I understand the gas-mileage was horrendous. I guess Ford wanted to preview the new Granada in coupe form !
The Thunderbird is an interesting study in mutation. It started as a near sports car. Grows a back seat and is still sporty. Bullet bird grows some more but tries to sell more sporty with the molded rear seat cover version. Next iteration sells stylish with a hint of sporty. But the next iterations sell luxo to ultimately being just a budget Lincoln Mark.
The downsized version tries to at least attempt no longer being a bargain Lincoln. Horrible ham fisted design lacking subtlety. We finally get to the aero bird which finds style and there are some real sporty versions.
After a while we get a throwback 2 seater chasing the original concept.
My father was a Ford dealer in the 60’s and had many ‘demo’s’. My favorite was a 66. Silver with red interior. To this day I remember the sequential tail lights. After he sold the dealership he had a 72 and 76. Pretty cars that were tanks.
I loved my 1972 T Bird. 429 ci. I bought used in 1977. Motor was bad but bought warranty for $250. A couple months later the engine was completely rebuilt. I always felt privileged driving it.
The 1972 Bird I liked OK – even though it was conservative as all hayle. I was a T bird Guy ! I owned 4 of them. MAybe becuase my father was a pilot in WW2. I purchased an 81 T bird – yes that one – that the press loves to malign. I loved it like few others with its white paint and red landau roof. One drive with the 302 V8 – no other car would do for me – my college roomates were astonished to hear me say that. It was a popular prestige car at the time. My apartment building had 3 birds like it. And all were white ! My Bird was littler fancier than the rest – with its decor group package. No car made me feel that exact same way. Cruising down toney Miami streets I felt that there was nothing finer. At the very least my car was just a typical 2 midsize coupe – like any other Cutlass Regal etc – which were the midsize standard then. At best I saw it as a classic well in the TBird tradition – its profile similar to the 64 and 65 Birds. Its rather large greenhouse just added to the prestige image.As stated so many times and to my unimpressed friends especially – My car is a Thunderbird . Something the others cars werent – and could never be.
The 1980 Thunderbird debuted a year after HF II fired Iacocca. I would be surprised if the 1980 Thunderbird and probably the 1981 Granada were the last Iacocca influenced cars at Ford. The 1980 Thunderbird was highly criticized, but I miss the classic Ford styling that ended (except for the Panthers through 1991) with the introduction of the 1983 Thunderbird.
Poetry. Will anyone write anything about their Toyota Camry like this in 40 years?