The Ford Thunderbird has been hailed as an American icon, preserved in film and song. The Beach Boys, the popular rock group of the 60 's, put the Thunderbird to music in their song, "Fun, Fun, Fun" "And she 'll have fun, fun, fun til her daddy takes the t-bird away" One of the Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson, originally owned a 1955 T-bird. It is now in the Hollywood Stars Cars Museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, fully restored with the Beach Boys ' autograph on the hood. The T-bird is also remembered for her film debut in American Graffiti. The T-bird was originally conceived to compete with the Chevrolet Corvette. The years following World War 2 witnessed the return of many veterans from the European front. While in Europe they had seen and fallen in love with the European sports cars. American manufactures took note of this and Chevrolet marketed the Corvette. So Ford was challenged to produce a competitor. Three men …show more content…
Crusoe and Walker were visiting in Paris when Crusoe saw a sports car in the Grand Palais. They were impressed by the design and Walker then called Frank Hershey in Dearborn. Hershey started working on the design. It was to be an open car that would seat two passengers. It would be equipped with An Interceptor V8 engine and be capable of attaining a speed of over 100 miles per hour. Although designed to compete with the Corvette, it wasn 't a true sports car. Ford conceived it as a personal luxury car. For some reason, they encountered difficulty in creating a name for the car so Crusoe offered a prize, a $250 suit, to anyone who submitted an acceptable name. A stylist, Alden Giberson, entered a list with Thunderbird included. The idea behind the name is controversial. Some sources say it was named for the Native American god of rain and prosperity. Palm Life Magazine stated the name came from an ultra exclusive housing district. It is also reported that Giberson got the idea when he witnessed an illusion of a bird struck by lightening during a