Glamour is the theme in this original two-minute promo for the 1960 Thunderbird, Ford’s personal luxury coupe.
In 1960, the Ford Thunderbird was on a third-year facelift of the original four-place T-Bird introduced in 1958. And although this rarely happens in the Motor City, sales of the second-generation Thunderbird actually rose over the three-year product cycle: nearly 38,000 units in 1958; 67,000 in ’59, and 93,000 in 1960. (More often, the opposite occurs as demand tapers off.) Clearly, the Ford product planners were onto something with the Squarebirds, as the 1958-1960 ‘Birds are known today. Though it wasn’t quite clear at the time, they had essentially invented the personal luxury coupe.
The T-Bird is given the lifestyle-glamour treatment in this 1960 commercial: Note the gated mansion, the jet airliner, the cool jazz soundtrack. Actually, the changes for 1960 were minimal: mainly, there was a new eight-segment grille up front and six tail lamps out back instead of four. One interesting option available in 1960 and prominently displayed in this spot is the sliding metal sunroof, a rare feature in Detroit iron back in those days. Produced by Golde Schiebedächer in Germany, the sunroof added $212.30 to the Thunderbird’s $3,755 list price. Video below.
I noticed that the marquee featured a genuine movie of the day. I wonder if Ford had paid to have their cars featured in it and were promoting it. The Squarebird isn’t my favorite, that would be the generation that followed. But it sure looks good in this commercial, even in b&w.
The ‘60 Bird was the first American made car to feature sequential rear turn signals.
To quote Automotive Mileposts
” First introduced as a standard feature on the 1965 Ford Thunderbird, sequential rear turn signals were originally planned to appear on the newly designed 1964 Thunderbirds, but were delayed for one year while the governing bodies of a few locales passed legislation making them legal, coast to coast.”
A steel sliding sunroof was offered for the first time in 1939 on Cadillac, Buick, Oldsmobile, and mid year 39 in a Pontiac Deluxe Eight.
Chevrolet was excluded.
1959 square bird is my favorite, especially the front grill which many people when first seeing it thought the grill had been done by a customizer.
My step-dad fondly recalled the 1960 t bird he had while in school in Detroit in the early 60s. His was white with the sliding sunroof. He had traded in his 57 Fury for this car in 61.
I just bought a ’63 T-Bird, and I feel like this guy every time I drive it. These were such nice cars, and it’s weird (today) to think of any Ford as being “upscale,” but it is!
What I liked about the ’58 on up is I could fit in them. The first generation, my legs would wrap around the steering wheel like a go-cart, and it had to be a convertible. The next generation was my favorite also, though.
Wouldn’t the 1960 Thunderbird have been the second facelift of the 1958 model?