Motor Trend magazine’s 1974 road test of seven personal coupes may have been rather vapid in many respects, but it did offer one useful critique.
Writer Jim Brokaw complained that the largest models — the Ford Thunderbird, Buick Riviera and Oldsmobile Toronado — are perhaps “too big for their designed function” (1974, p. 48). He went on to note that the T-Bird had grown almost 20 inches since it became a four-seater in 1958.
“Is it really necessary to have that much machine to achieve the desired smooth ride and air of elegance required for a personal luxury vehicle?” Brokaw asked (1974, p. 48; original italics).
Motor Trend did not have a reputation for hard-hitting road tests, but in this case it may have been more willing to be critical because the U.S. had been navigating an oil embargo that resulted in gas shortages and spiking prices.
The road test even included a graphic titled “Test Data: Energy Crisis” that showed in big numbers the gas mileage for each test car.
The Thunderbird did the worst: only 11.6 miles per gallon. However, the top score wasn’t all that much better: 16.2 mpg for the Mercury Cougar, which for 1974 had been switched to a mid-sized platform to compete with the likes of the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Pontiac Grand Prix and Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme.
My, look how much you’ve grown . . .
If anything, Motor Trend understated how much the Thunderbird had grown since 1958. Whereas the original four-seater was about the size of a 1970s intermediate, the latest-generation models were almost as large — and somewhat heavier — than full-sized Fords.
The length of the 1974 Thunderbird — 225 inches — could partly be blamed on newly required 5-mph bumpers. However, the latest-generation models were still pretty large when they was introduced in 1972 — 214 inches, which was only two inches shorter than an LTD.
The 1972 Thunderbird’s shipping weight was also a hefty 4,420 pounds, which was more than 400 pounds heavier than the top-of-line LTD Brougham model.
This is not to suggest that the original four-seater was a paragon of compactness. It was 205 inches long, 77 inches wide and weighed 3,876 pounds. That was slightly shorter and narrower than a top-end 1958 Fairlane 500 but almost 600 pounds heavier.
Also see ‘How did Bunkie Knudsen influence the 1972 Ford Thunderbird?’
One could argue that the Thunderbird grew in tandem with the standard-sized Ford. But that begs the question of why Americans needed such a large personal coupe. If six-passenger room was so crucial you could buy a regular big car such as an LTD, Buick Electra or Olds Ninety-Eight.
Wasn’t Detroit merely giving people what they wanted? Not particularly. The 1971-76 Thunderbird did not tend to sell as well as earlier four-seaters or a downsized successor (go here for further discussion).
William Mitchell anticipates the U.S. car shrinking
An oil embargo began in October 1973 (Office of the Historian, 2024). However, even before then more fuel-efficient cars were becoming increasingly popular in the United States — and Detroit was starting to pay attention.
Even William Mitchell, General Motors’ head of design, acknowledged that large cars “will be getting smaller” in an interview with Motor Trend that ran in its September 1973 issue. Mitchell added, “They’re all going to be down [in size]. But we don’t have the need to make a car as small as they do in Europe — yet” (1973, p. 113).
Over the next six years the Thunderbird would shrink twice — first to a mid-sized body in 1977 and then to a compact Fox body in 1980. The latter size would have arguably been more appropriate for a personal coupe than the original four-seater’s footprint. Unfortunately, it took another energy crisis, a sharp recession and the advent of CAFE fuel-economy standards to get there.
NOTES:
Production figures and specifications are from the auto editors of Consumer Guide (2006), Flory (2004, 2009) and Gunnell (2002).
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.
- Brokaw, Jim; 1974. “The Personal Luxury Cars.” Motor Trend. March issue: pp. 47-50.
- Flory, J. “Kelly” Jr.; 2004. American Cars, 1960-1972. McFarland & Co., Inc.
- ——; 2013. American Cars, 1973-1980. McFarland & Co., Inc.
- Gunnell, John; 2002. Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1946-1975. Revised 4th Ed. Krause Publications, Iola, WI.
- Motor Trend; 1973. “Pro-&-Con Forum: Is Romantic Styling Dead?” September issue: pp. 86-87, 113.
- Office of the Historian; 2024. “Oil Embargo, 1973–1974.” Department of State, United States. Accessed Nov. 8.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES
- aacalibrary.org: Ford Thunderbird (1958)
- oldcarbrochures.org: Ford Thunderbird (1972, 1974)
Yes, the featured Thunderbird was obese and all that. But what it was in these years was the low price Continental Mark with which it shared the platform. I remember that an issue of Car & Driver even made fun of that fact at the time. It is possible that spreading the use of the platform for both the Mark and Tbird may have helped the corporate profits even with the less than stellar Tbird sales.
During this time Ford’sw corporate belief sure seemed to be that everyone wanted a Continental Markluxury no matter the model. SEE some of the Mustang II interiors with mini-Mark treatments.
By 1973 GM would already have the Cadillac Seville in late development for its mid 1975 introduction. The 1977 downsize would have been in at least early stage.
Well, both executive-level V.P.s, Bill Mitchell and John Z. DeLorean were over-ruled by the rest of the G.M. Executive Committee by this time to downsize the planned 1973 intermediates and to base the Riviera-Toronado-Eldorado on a trimmer platform, but Lee Iacocca was Ford’s president, so the bigger, heavier and plusher, the better. Ford did not have a better idea.