1968 Ford Thunderbird

The Ford Thunderbird was built in response to Chevrolet's new Corvette and introduced to the public at the 1954 Detroit Auto Show. The first generation was available as a two-seat convertible, and conceived not so much as a sports car, rather as a personal luxury car, creating a whole new market segment overnight. The Thunderbird grew in stature and equipment with each succeeding generation, in keeping with contemporary trends, with the original lithe convertibles replaced by the much larger 'Square Birds' of 1958-1960, followed by the 'Bullet Birds' of 1961-1964 and 'Jet Birds' of 1965-1966. The fifth generation of the Thunderbird arrived in 1967, introducing another distinctive take on the personal sports coupe, complete with hidden headlamps and unusual grille treatment. The prior unibody was replaced with body-on-frame construction, the convertible was dropped from the model line-up, and a four-door sedan with suicide rear doors was added for the first time, with the ornate Landau roof treatment also available as a two-door coupé. Buyers had the option of the 'Cayman Grain' (fake alligator skin) vinyl roof with ornamental 'bows' on the C-pillars or a plainer two-door version. This generation of Thunderbirds is appropriately known as 'Glamour Birds' today.

Powering the fifth generation Thunderbird was the well-proven 390 cubic-inch big-block V8 delivering either 265 or 315 horsepower depending on the state of tune. In addition, two high-performance 427-CID engines were offered, along with the 345 horsepower 428 cubic-inch Thunderbird Special. An even more potent 429 CID Thunderjet unit was added in 1968, offering 360 horsepower, which quickly became the standard engine.

The Thunderbird had plenty of interior gadgets, including the sequential instrument panel turn indicator (on early 1968 cars only). A full-width bench seat became available for the first time and the Thunderbird was capable of seating six adults in comfort. Two-door models had bucket seats. Safety was becoming paramount and having an impact on designers, with side marker lamps Federally-mandated, shoulder belts were fitted on the front seats and a high-level rear stop lamp was now an option.

Production of the fifth-generation Thunderbird lasted from 1967 through 1969, introducing the second major change in the car's design direction since its debut in 1955. Thus, the 1968 model year saw only minor styling and trim updates. The taillights and the grille were slightly different than the prior year, and new wheel covers were installed at all four corners. The hardtop coupe had a base price of $4,715 and 9,977 examples were built. The two-door Landau had a factory base price of $4850 and the four-door Landau listed for $4,920. A total of 33,029 two-door Landaus were built in 1968, and 21,925 of the 4-door. The nearly 65,000 examples built accounted for just under 4-percent of Ford's total 1968 production.

by Daniel Vaughan | Sep 2020