Does anyone know the Why of the number of Retros painted each color?

[steelblue5505]

Are there any Thunderbird historians out there that might know the Why behind the Retros paint colors for each build year Like why so few of one color & so many of another & then a thousand or so of another color. I ask because I know the build sequence was by dealer order but I find it hard to understand things like so few Inca gold or the PCRs.
Why would Ford want to limit some colors when Ford knew that the production would only be 100K & actually stopped at about 68K?
Anyone know?

[4LOWBIRDS+7]

The Nm, 007, PCR, and Cashmeres were limited by Ford as Limited Editions. The color design group decided which colors to offer each year, after that it was simply demand. Dealers ordered what they thought would sell or what a customer walked in and ordered.

[007Cruiser]

The special edition numbers were set to be a limited edition. Notice that more were made each year. Dealer told me that they simply flipped 007 to become 700. Can’t verify that but it makes sense. My assumption is that the others were a matter of demand. The Inca was a color that was added later in the production year and not in the 2005 promotional material. That undoubtedly helped keep the number down.

[4LOWBIRDS+7]

The special edition numbers were set to be a limited edition. Notice that more were made each year. Dealer told me that they simply flipped 007 to become 700. Can’t verify that but it makes sense. My assumption is that the others were a matter of demand. The Inca was a color that was added later in the production year and not in the 2005 promotional material. That undoubtedly helped keep the number down.

On the 007 Nancy Gioia also confirmed the 700 number was the reverse of 007.

[007Cruiser]

On the 007 Nancy Gioia also confirmed the 700 number was the reverse of 007.

Thanks. Now I can take it as gospel.

[Quickdraw]

Are there any Thunderbird historians out there that might know the Why behind the Retros paint colors for each build year Like why so few of one color & so many of another & then a thousand or so of another color. I ask because I know the build sequence was by dealer order but I find it hard to understand things like so few Inca gold or the PCRs.
Why would Ford want to limit some colors when Ford knew that the production would only be 100K & actually stopped at about 68K?
Anyone know?

Mike, Dot may be able to add more but there were so few orders for the Inca because the color was added late in the 2005 model year when overall demand for ANY color was in the toilet. Not long after introducing the Inca color to the line up, they canceled it but not before a few orders were received. When I was at Ford and Bruce (an early member of this site and infrequent poster the last few years) told me his Inca order was canceled I called Wixom and talked to Larry Fisher (Tbird production manager?) and urged him to honor those orders for the Inca, of course I had little to no influence on their reversal decision but they did in fact agree to build some inca units. Bruce's dealer was Tasca Ford in Roade Island, one of Ford's premier dealers and they had also called the factory and probably saved the color from extinction. Of the 82 Incas built, only four were ordered directly by an end retail consumer - mainly because so few potential customers even knew about the color offering. Sixty-nine of the 82 Incas built were ordered by dealers for their inventory stock - this 69 includes two ordered by the owner of Earl Tindol Ford for his personal collection. Seven of the 82 were Company Lease Plan vehicle orders (executives). One was an X-plan and one was a retiree purchase plan order. These last two can be classified with the first four retail orders mentioned above and the seven executive orders making probably a total of 13 vehicle orders by end users who knew about the color.

Somewhere on the Random Useless Facts about the Thunderbird thread http://www.thunderbirdnest.com/forum...5-thunderbirds I broke down the colors ordered directly by retail customers and those ordered by dealers for their inventory.

[4LOWBIRDS+7]

Mike, Dot may be able to add more but there were so few orders for the Inca because the color was added late in the 2005 model year when overall demand for ANY color was in the toilet. Not long after introducing the Inca color to the line up, they canceled it but not before a few orders were received. When I was at Ford and Bruce (an early member of this site and infrequent poster the last few years) told me his Inca order was canceled I called Wixom and talked to Larry Fisher (Tbird production manager?) and urged him to honor those orders for the Inca, of course I had little to no influence on their reversal decision but they did in fact agree to build some inca units. Bruce's dealer was Tasca Ford in Roade Island, one of Ford's premier dealers and they had also called the factory and probably saved the color from extinction. Of the 82 Incas built, only four were ordered directly by an end retail consumer - mainly because so few potential customers even knew about the color offering. Sixty-nine of the 82 Incas built were ordered by dealers for their inventory stock - this 69 includes two ordered by the owner of Earl Tindol Ford for his personal collection. Seven of the 82 were Company Lease Plan vehicle orders (executives). One was an X-plan and one was a retiree purchase plan order. These last two can be classified with the first four retail orders mentioned above and the seven executive orders making probably a total of 13 vehicle orders by end users who knew about the color.

Somewhere on the Random Useless Facts about the Thunderbird thread http://www.thunderbirdnest.com/forum...5-thunderbirds I broke down the colors ordered directly by retail customers and those ordered by dealers for their inventory.

Great information on the Inca Golds.

[Sealy]

I think they limited the Merlots to make everyone else jealous. Other than that, there are color forecasters that project which way the color choices are going to go. Sometimes, they're right and the color stays, but sometimes they're wrong and the color is quickly dropped.

[steelblue5505]

Harry, thanks very much for the answer. If I understand correctly, it is sales that drive or push the numbers to be painted the colors that the design group offers. Correct?

[5bird7]

Harry, thanks very much for the answer. If I understand correctly, it is sales that drive or push the numbers to be painted the colors that the design group offers. Correct?

Mike, Sales is a big part of the numbers ordered for the stock and 1 year only colors. Merlot certainly wasn't limited other than it was a one year color, the same holds true with the Thunderbird Blue 02s. High sales for both compared to the total numbers built for those two years.

[BLACK BEAUTY]

Dot another one year color Desert Sky Blue..Minty too

[5bird7]

Greg, there were two 1- year or "fashion" colors as Ford called them, for 2002 and 2003. There were three "fashion" colors for 2004 and 2005.

There were 3 "standard" colors for each year and 1 limited edition color for each year.

Scroll down the following page to the list of the colors with their production #s, from high to low. I mentioned the Thunderbird blue and the Merlot because those were the highest production "fashion" colors for their year of production..

I have this page showing all the colors with their production numbers: http://www.portholeauthority.com/thenewtbird/2005/photos.html

[007Cruiser]

Greg, there were two 1- year or "fashion" colors as Ford called them, for 2002 and 2003. There were three "fashion" colors for 2004 and 2005.

There were 3 "standard" colors for each year and 1 limited edition color for each year.

Scroll down the following page to the list of the colors with their production #s, from high to low. I mentioned the Thunderbird blue and the Merlot because those were the highest production "fashion" colors for their year of production..

I have this page showing all the colors with their production numbers: http://portholeauthority.com/thenewtbird/2005/photos.html

Link not working (at least for me).

[5bird7]

Link not working (at least for me).

Should work now. Added the www. to the code. Used to not be a problem when I've copied a page link in the past but things have changed on the internet.

[DaiUyTed]

Still not working for me, even with the "www".