Introduction

Driving a Ford Thunderbird on a summer night takes you back to a simpler era. The V8 engine burbles as you cruise comfortably back in time. With two seats, a convertible top, and rear-wheel drive, it sometime feels like driving a vintage car, only it's brand new. Ford introduced Thunderbird as a 2002 model, but has revised it each year since. Electronic throttle control and variable cam timing improved performance, power, and fuel economy for 2003. Thunderbird's 3.9-liter V8 now produces 280 horsepower and 286 pound-feet of torque, giving it stronger acceleration than the 2002 model. Traction control is standard on all models, and the instrument pod was redesigned. A Select-Shift automatic transmission was added that allows semi-manual shifting. Heated seats were added to keep driver and passenger toasty-warm, even with the top down in chilly weather. For 2004, Ford has restyled the seats, and added three new wheel designs, new appearance packages, and new interior appointments.

Walkaround

The Thunderbird combines design features from early Thunderbirds, including the original 1955-57 two-seater and the 1961-63 Rocket Bird. A V8 badge has been added to the front fenders of 2004 models to further the retro theme. Yet Ford doesn't describe the 2004 Thunderbird as a replica, or retro, because it has so much modern equipment in it, on it and underneath it. The exterior design is extremely smooth to the eye, although the wind tunnel says it has a drag coefficient of 0.38, high when a Mercedes-Benz sedan cheats the wind with a rating of 0.28. Thunderbird's 6.9-cubic-foot trunk is big enough to carry two golf bags, but that's about it. This car is made for what Ford calls relaxed sportiness, a term we translate into cruising. It's sporty looking, it's rear-wheel drive, but it is not a sports car by any stretch of the imagination.

Interior Features

Two reasonably comfortable bucket seats are independently adjustable with power switches located on the side of the seat. But their range of adjustment is limited by the configuration of the cockpit, whose rear bulkhead is close behind the seats themselves. If you are very tall or very long in the torso, the Thunderbird will not fit you well with either the soft convertible top or the removable hard top in place. The brawny, thick steering wheel, with cruise control buttons built into the spokes, feels terrific in your hands, even after an all-day white-knuckle high-speed cruise; and there is a standard power tilt and telescope feature to help you feel at one with the car. Instruments are beautifully rendered in the T-Bird. Long, Sea Foam Green needles point the way instead of red, white or black indicators. The shape of the instrument binnacle reflects the gentle dome shape of the '55-56 original. The door panels feature the spread-wing Thunderbird emblem. The center stack, that portion of the instrument panel at the center of the dash that carries the vents, the sound-system controls and the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) controls, is taken almost directly from the Lincoln LS. It's made up of five different small panels, though it appears that one nicely done cover panel for all five elements would have sufficed. The stereo is well designed, and the HVAC controls use big buttons that are easy to operate. In such a small interior, everything falls readily to hand. You don't have to stretch to reach anything. For couples, especially, the interior is intimate and romantic.