The Aero Bird that debuted in 1983 made designer Jack Telnack a star and put the Thunderbird back on the Winston Cup map, especially the Super Coupe version built from 1989 through 1995. Thereafter, the Thunderbird went on one of the wildest rides in the industry, starting with the Square Bird in 1958, the Chrome Bird of the 1960s, the Big Bird of the 1970s, including a four-door variant, and the Awful Square Bird of the early 1980s. The original Thunderbird roadsters accounted for a mere 53,166 cars in 1955-57, or about as many F-150s as Ford sells in a fortnight. In short order, there was multiple carburetion on the larger 312-cubic-inch V-8 and eventually a $500 supercharger option. The 1955 Thunderbird was good-looking, as well as a technology leader, ushering in the era of padded dashboards, deep-dish steering wheels, shatter-resistant mirrors, power seats, and a radio that automatically increased volume with vehicle speed. For the first time, the Ford Division had two car lines to sell. On February 20, 1954, at the Detroit auto show, the company led by Henry Ford II turned the place upside down with the introduction of the Ford Thunderbird, a two-seat V-8 roadster that was designed to combat the influx of British, German, and Italian sports cars as well as to smack down the six-cylinder Chevrolet Corvette.
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