Unsusal Thunderbird

[BirdWings]

A member of the forum has a very unusual Thunderbird. I asked him today to give me some background on his car. This is his response back..

"Yes, my car is a little unusual. She has a blue plaque in the glove-box that says "100th Anniversary Celebration" and "June 12-16, 2003 - Dearborn, Michigan" and she came with two chrome "Centennial Edition" badges with a sheet of paper instructing the dealership to install them on the sides (my car was delivered without the V8 emblems, too, for some reason, but I had a set installed and then I had the dealership put on the Centennial badges after that). She also has a leather case for the manual and such that says "Centennial Edition" with some signatures on the front and a license plate frame with "Centennial Edition" and "100th Anniversary" emblems on it. She also came with a hardcover book titled "The Ford Century," a pen, keychain, watch, and a letter from... I forget who... at Ford that talked about the car a little, all with Centennial markings.

The dealership told me that Ford made a bunch of Centennial models of different cars for 2003, but they didn't know about a Centennial Thunderbird until mine showed up off the train. I have no idea how many cars came with these accessories."

[luvbirdz]

Re: Unsusal Thunderbird

Interesting, where is Dot now that we need her infinite wisdom on the subject?

[Ol'Dave]

Re: Unsusal Thunderbird

Here is shot of the Badge that FORD put on Car's built in 03. (Lucky for that owner, that they only included them, instead of actually applying them). This one, I took off my 03 Mach1.

[00mustng]

Re: Unsusal Thunderbird

.....I think all the Centennial editions had a black exterior....is the T-Bird black?....

[Ms Mitchell]

Re: Unsusal Thunderbird

It is a black Bird but I am not sure about the interior. One other odd thing about this car, it had the wipers but no motors for them.

[5bird7]

Re: Unsusal Thunderbird

I remember him talking about no windshield wiper motors in his car.

My infinite wisdom recalls that Ford did not include the Thunderbird in their Centennial models produced for the public - think there were 5 vehicles with that designation and the Thunderbird was not one of them. However that wouldn't have stopped Ford from making one for show - particularly at the Centennial celebration.

[Ms Mitchell]

Re: Unsusal Thunderbird

Dot, if I remember right I think it was used for the Centennial Celebration. That might be the reason he has no wiper motors.

[5bird7]

Re: Unsusal Thunderbird

just odd that the badges weren't installed for the show. Need to know when he bought the car from the dealership.

[5bird7]

Re: Unsusal Thunderbird

I'm trying to contact Jim Youngs to see if he knows anything.

[SixPac]

Re: Unsusal Thunderbird

Maybe QD knows.

[5bird7]

Re: Unsusal Thunderbird

Received word back from Jim Youngs. Sorry but the news is not good for owner. Ford did not have even one Thunderbird that was considered a Centennial model. Badging would have been in place on the car at the Centennial if the car was there as a Centennial model. The blue plaque in the glove box was a dash plaque given out to those that participated with their cars at the Centennial show as I recall. I think there was a limit on who could officially participate in the show. The badging and paperwork would have been available to the dealer if he had other Centennial models coming in. The dealer or someone prior to the dealer may have put the items in the car. It's been known to happen.

[Brad]

Re: Unsusal Thunderbird

Why no wiper motors?

[5bird7]

Re: Unsusal Thunderbird

unknown unless someone took them out before the car was sold. J.Youngs said the wiper assembly with motor is installed as a unit at the factory. Someone probably needed the motors real bad.

[CarolinaTKE]

Re: Unsusal Thunderbird

Hey. The car is question is mine. I didn't realize this was going to be a thread or I would have given more details.

I don't know exactly why she came with all these accessories; I got a neat book and some nice Ford things, so I'm happy regardless of whether it was an accident or not. Thanks for checking in on the background details about her either way. As for the side emblems, they were on the car at some point before reaching the dealership. When I received the car, she had nothing on the side--no V8 emblem or anything, just like an '02. I asked about the lack of a V8 emblem and the salesman pulls two obviously used Centennial emblems out of the trunk--I say obviously because he said they should have blue tape on the back if they were new, which these didn't. There was also residue on the sides of the car that suggested that the Centennial emblems were installed instead of the V8 emblems, which doesn't make any sense to me. The dealership ordered a set of V8 emblems and installed them (without charge, of course) and I later had them go ahead and glue on the Centennial emblems since they match the license plate frame that she came with.

The dealership made a few phone calls to Ford with little success. The letter in the trunk that I mentioned earlier was a thank-you for purchasing a Centennial Edition vehicle and was (I think) from Bill Ford. I would scan a copy in the hope it might shed some light on this whole thing, but the letter is locked in my safe 500 miles away at the moment.

The only theory that the dealership had was that they used the Thunderbird as a temporary prop to take a picture, decided they didn't like it, and just didn't bother taking the equipment out. They had a Mustang delivered a few years before that with some non-standard equipment and that was the story they got from Ford--they used the Mustang to take some pictures for demonstration purposes and decided not to go with it. This is the same dealership that installed the wrong air filter for years and messed up my radio when they fixed the climate control module, so I take anything they say with a BIG grain of salt.