Where have ALL the T-BIRDS gone?

[crshann]

Re: Where have ALL the T-BIRDS gone?

Took a trip to Omaha in September (sorry, had to fly as it was too far to drive from Raleigh and back with the short time we had available) and did not see one Bird retro or otherwise during the entire five days we were there and we did a lot of driving during that time. Our yellow bird is part of our daily driving routine and wouldn't have it any other way. What's the use of having a truly cool car if you only drive it on the weekends or when the weather is good? But that's okay. When we purchased our 02 in January of this year it had only 22k miles on it, just broken in so it is a primo car. Get compliments on it every time we go out. My wife has always dreamed of one of these cars and now, not to be too cliche about it, she's living the dream!

[texasbird]

Re: Where have ALL the T-BIRDS gone?

A few Birds (including Texasbird) made it to Sherman's Homecoming parade. I wanted to meet the other owners but did not get the opportunity before they left.

[FEsTbird]

Re: Where have ALL the T-BIRDS gone?

I mainly bought mine as a result of two things: 1) emotion, recalling the days in 55-56 when I was young and envious of a couple of friends who had Tbirds then, and 2) I tried it out and found it comfortable. I also really like the removable hard top, which not to many roadsters had in the 2003 days.

Nowadays, even in Silicon Valley, I don't see many two seat cars, or even 4-seater convertibles as I did in the early 2000's. The most common is the Mazda, next are Boxters, then Corvettes. I probably see as many unknown retro-birds as Solstices or Solaras, maybe 1 every other week or so.

[FritsB]

Re: Where have ALL the T-BIRDS gone?

It's nice to have an exclusive car. But it keeps amazing me to hear that even in US the car is so rarely seen.

[eboose7]

Re: Where have ALL the T-BIRDS gone?

The answer to "Where have All the T-Birds gone?" is found in the production numbers. The production figures are as follows: 31,368 for 2002; 14,678 for 2003; 12,757 for 2004; and 9,295 for 2005. That is a total of 68,098 cars produced. Compare that with a popular model automobile like the Toyota Camry with production figures of 10, 613 cars per week (Automotive News Data) and the answer is clear. Toyota produces as many Camrys in 6.5 weeks as Ford produced Thunderbirds in nearly four years of production. The limited production numbers, together with the fact that it has been four model years since the last Thunderbird was produced, makes it very unlikely that you will see very many Thunderbirds outside major metropolitan areas.

[Lonestar]

Re: Where have ALL the T-BIRDS gone?

The wife and I took a trip to Branson & back last week – a total of just about 1000 miles. No Thunderbirds sited going or coming but saw 3 in Branson (a Red, a Black, and a Bronze) and all had Mo. License plates. Alas, I was in the SUV. I did see a '57 in the museum at Dick Clark's place.

[RETROBIRD]

Re: Where have ALL the T-BIRDS gone?

It seems from all who have taken part in my little (RANT) not my intent, that our cars are like one in three million. Hopefully these numbers will be beneficial to us all in the future. Thanks to all who have taken the time to not only read my thread but have taken the time and interest in replying. Walter

[Ski]

Re: Where have ALL the T-BIRDS gone?

I finally saw one, first since I got mine, I95 Southbound near White Marsh outside of Baltimore. It was about 6:30 am and dark so I couldn't see much of it.