Vintage T-Bird & Thunderbird Name

[Lindy]

Hi all! Enjoyed a wonderful air show over the week-end, which featured among many birds: a vintage T-33 "T-Bird." The T-33's were said to be produced in the time period of 1948 through 1958 near the dawn of the "jet-age," a time when Detroit took it's styling cues from the jet air-craft industry. Which got me wondering just how much of an influence was this aircraft, if at all, upon the naming of the Ford Thunderbird personal luxury car, a/k/a the "T-Bird." Or did the Ford Thunderbird influence the nick-name of the T-33? ...Or was the T-33 dubbed "Thunderbird" or at least "T-Bird" well before Ford's naming of the 1955 two-seater? I never saw mention of the matter in any Ford T-Bird history books, nor have I ever read any documentation of what date the Ford Thunderbird nick-name: "T-Bird" was coined. Anyone got the dope on this conundrum?

[Lindy]

Re: Vintage T-Bird & Thunderbird Name

...one more shot of the T-33...

[tbird6t4]

Re: Vintage T-Bird & Thunderbird Name

According to information I have read in many books and Ford published books the name Thunderbird came about as a result of a contest that Ford ran for it's employee's in about 1952 - 53 to name the new two seater car.

An employee who had lived in the south western U.S. offered up the name Thunderbird which was a native American Indian mythical bird the would appear in the night skies which usually was accompanied by thunder. Obviously, it was the thunder associated with an oncoming storm.

After going thru many names the name Thunderbird was selected and the employee's prize was a new suit with two pairs of pants valued at the princely sum of $100 which in those days would have been quite expensive; about 1 months salary for a Ford white collar employee.

I have paraphrased this from memory and it is not verbatim but you get the gist of the story. The Thunderbird plane I believe was a precision flying group like the Blue Angels, Snow Birds etc. The jets appear to be what I remember as the Sabre jet......but then again I am no expert on planes either.

Hope this helps a bit.

[bronzebird]

Re: Vintage T-Bird & Thunderbird Name

The T-33 was the training version of the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star and I believe the two seat trainer was also known as a Shooting Star.

The Thunderbird(s) plural on the fuselage would tend to suggest that is not the name of the plane but the name of the group who flew it.... The Thunderbirds.

They were formed in 1953 representing the USAF. I thought they flew F-84's, F-86's and F-100's but it could be that they used a T-33 somewhere in their shows.

By the way, their name came from the area where they were formed in Arizona, taking the name from local Indian culture just like the guy who won the Ford contest did.

Bronzebird

Bronzebird

[Lonestar]

Re: Vintage T-Bird & Thunderbird Name

Gord - your description / explanation of how the name Thunderbird came to be is correct.

As Rick noted, the F80 / T33 was the Shooting Star. The F86 was / is known as the Sabre.

[Lindy]

Re: Vintage T-Bird & Thunderbird Name

Thank you, Please keep in mind that the aircraft in question is the T-33 (Tee-Thirty Three) Shooting Star; however, according to some sources, it also has the nick-name "T-Bird." My contension is how such a nick-name, if in fact it was already coined before 1954 or not, might have been also a contributing influence upon the mind of the man who came up with the name Thunderbird for the car, moreover, I'm questioning also as to which thing had the "T-Bird" nick-name first?

[Lindy]

Re: Vintage T-Bird & Thunderbird Name

According to this website:

http://thunderbirds.airforce.com/history.html

The "Thunderbirds" name was adopted by the USAF shortly after its' inception on May 25, 1953, said to be named so by influence of the native american Indian legendary bird. What's more, the USAF did use T-33's which were also dubbed "T-Bird" or "Thunderbird." You must concede that the dating looks awfully suspicious, wouldn't "Thunderbird" have been a very popular catchward in the news in 1953? Then there is the matter of the T-33 Shooting Star itself, I wonder how soon after its 1948 production run began, was it also nick-named "T-Bird" or "Thunderbird?"

[Peterfurlan]

Re: Vintage T-Bird & Thunderbird Name

My two cents for what its worth. The USAF Thunderbirds never flew T-33's their first
planes were F-84G Thunderjets. I believe the person who restored the T-33 pictured took
some liberties with the Thunderbird color scheme thus the plural Thunderbirds on its side.
I do believe the T-33 was dubbed T-Bird/Thunderbird before the flying group or the car.
The story of how the car got it's name is correct a $250.00 suit was the prize. The winner
was a designer by the name of Alden R.Giberson.

[tbird6t4]

Re: Vintage T-Bird & Thunderbird Name

My two cents for what its worth. The USAF Thunderbirds never flew T-33's their first
planes were F-84G Thunderjets. I believe the person who restored the T-33 pictured took
some liberties with the Thunderbird color scheme thus the plural Thunderbirds on its side.
I do believe the T-33 was dubbed T-Bird/Thunderbird before the flying group or the car.
The story of how the car got it's name is correct a $250.00 suit was the prize. The winner
was a designer by the name of Alden R.Giberson.

Well lets hope he got 3 pairs of pants with that jacket.......a lot of money in 1952. My dad worked for Ford during that time and I am pretty sure he made about $35 per week. So as you can see that was a ton of money for a suit back in the day.

At any rate we are now down to which came first, the Thunder chicken or the egg?

Great topic and story regardless.

Gord

[Lindy]

Re: Vintage T-Bird & Thunderbird Name

IMHO, the 1957 Ford Thunderbird commercial in the following URL link, reveals a hint of the real influence behind Ford's naming of the car, despite the real and true story of the naming contest!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjlcAfuBN7I

So the commercial is like a true "time-capsule" as it were, reflecting the mind-set of the times in '57

Also I couldn't resist posting a picture of an "aqua" 1958 from a recent local car show:

[jayred1]

Re: Vintage T-Bird & Thunderbird Name

Regarding the T-33 and Thunderbird association (thanks to Wikipedia), the first Thunderbirds did fly the F-84G Thunderjet. However, the Thunderjet was a single-seat aircraft. So they used a T-33 Shooting Star two-seater as the narrator's plane (and also for VIPs to fly with them). The Thunderbird title is associated with the Demonstration Team (not necessarily the plane) and all their planes have used the Thunderbird wording. Also, their second jets were F-84F Thunderstreaks (swept wing aircraft).

[rdlinger]

Re: Vintage T-Bird & Thunderbird Name

The T-33 was a two seat version of the F-80, and was used for training. The T-38 was the two seat version of the F-5. The Thunderbirds did at one time fly the F-5.
The T simply designated them as trainers. There was usually a student in the front seat, and an instructor in the back. I'm not positive, but as I recall the T-33 was the first jet to have an ejection seat.

[gonoles]

Re: Vintage T-Bird & Thunderbird Name

I had my first T-Bird (T-33) flight in 1965, and by then the planes were ancient. I next flew in a T-bird in 1971. These were the AF's first jet trainers. They were a 2 seat modification to the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. The aircraft was known in the flying community as the "Lockheed Racer", - obviously a tongue in cheek nickname. Top end was around 500 kts, down hill in a tail wind. The T-bird moniker was more than likely simply a reference to the "T" in its name which stands for trainer. The T-33 came about around 1948-49 and was the first AF fighter in the Korean conflict. THey are still flown in some foreign air forces, but have been retired from the USAF inventory. The ones in the photos at Dearborn are privately owned. Al Stearns, LtCol USAF (ret).

[snowbird]

Re: Vintage T-Bird & Thunderbird Name

IMHO, the 1957 Ford Thunderbird commercial in the following URL link, reveals a hint of the real influence behind Ford's naming of the car, despite the real and true story of the naming contest!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjlcAfuBN7I

So the commercial is like a true "time-capsule" as it were, reflecting the mind-set of the times in '57

Also I couldn't resist posting a picture of an "aqua" 1958 from a recent local car show:

Now that is one fine looking '58 Bird. Looks like my convertible but in a H'Top.
Thre was one of these '58 convertibles at the Dearborn show. Quite rare to see one as there were only 2134 made back in June of '58. Just at the end of production.
Ironically, this one was painted "Monarch blue" which was the color of mine when i purchased it about 20+years ago. When restored, I painted it "Gulf stream blue" like the one you show in your picture. Oh, the memories. Did I paint mine the correct colour or should I have stayed with the "Monarch blue" ?

Picture 1 and 3 are of mine before and after. Picture two is the one from last weekend 's show at Dearborn.

[Peterfurlan]

Re: Vintage T-Bird & Thunderbird Name

I had my first T-Bird (T-33) flight in 1965, and by then the planes were ancient. I next flew in a T-bird in 1971. These were the AF's first jet trainers. They were a 2 seat modification to the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. The aircraft was known in the flying community as the "Lockheed Racer", - obviously a tongue in cheek nickname. Top end was around 500 kts, down hill in a tail wind. The T-bird moniker was more than likely simply a reference to the "T" in its name which stands for trainer. The T-33 came about around 1948-49 and was the first AF fighter in the Korean conflict. THey are still flown in some foreign air forces, but have been retired from the USAF inventory. The ones in the photos at Dearborn are privately owned. Al Stearns, LtCol USAF (ret).

I'm with you Al except for the T Bird moniker was in reference to the
"T" which stands for trainer. As far as the first jet in the Korean War it was
the P80 Shooting Star soon replaced by the F86 Saber. I don't believe a
trainer ever saw combat duty. Prior to Thunderbird there was a fighter from WWII called a Thunderbolt (Republic P47) no "T" there. Now to really
churn up this subject how many of you remember a 1964 Ford Thunderbolt.