Here’s a little-known but interesting vehicle from the Ford Motor Company’s extensive show car fleet for 1968: The Thunderbird Saturn.

We don’t know how many special vehicles Ford built to send out on the bustling U.S. car show circuit of the late ’60s. All we can say is it was a bunch. Some were created in Dearborn, while others were the work of custom car builders including George Barris, Gene Winfield, and the Alexander Brothers.

And some of  these show cars were combinations of both, designed by the Ford studios and then executed by independent contractors. The 1968 Thunderbird Saturn was one such collaboration, according to Ford’s publicity materials. Designed by the Dearborn stylists, it was modified from a stock ’68 T-Bird by a California shop that, for whatever reasons, was left unnamed.

In production form, the fifth-generation ’67-’71 Thunderbird coupe, designed under the direction of Ford styling chief Gene Bordinat, was a fairly sleek piece as it was. The Saturn achieved an even lower look with a dramatic two-inch chop in the roof, while the sail panels were extended well past the rear glass to provide a fastback side profile, an effect also seen on Ford’s full-size ’69-’70 XL coupes.

Front and rear bumpers were integrated into the body, while a pair of large rectangular headlamps replaced the hidden lamps of the production Thunderbird. The hood and front fenders were lengthened four inches, pushing the nose well out front, while the show car’s paint was a familiar California classic: Candy Apple Red. Inside were a pair of shell-type bucket seats and a center console reportedly stocked with electronic gadgets, including a tape recorder and an intercom.

The Thunderbird Saturn made its debut at the 1968 Southern California Auto Show at the Pan Pacific Auditorium, and it also appeared at the Detroit Auto Show and in a two-page spread in the January 1968 issue of Rod & Custom magazine, where many  factory customs of the time won some ink. The Saturn’s career spanned just one season, however, as in 1969 it was replaced by the Saturn II. Naturally, that’s a story for another day.