We would like to extend a special Thank You to the Ford Motor Company for their generous support of the Northeast Regional!

Click on a photo to see a larger image.

As many of you are aware, the new Thunderbird Concept Car was scheduled to be at the Northeast Regional. Unfortunately, it was needed elsewhere at the last minute, and was detoured to the midwest. We were of course disappointed by the change in plans. However, Ford went out of their way to provide an alternative for us, and sent two of their top people from the Product Development Center to the show.



Doug Gaffka, the Chief Designer of the new Thunderbird Concept Car, gave an interesting multi-media presentation at the Awards Banquet on Saturday night. Doug explained that it was not Ford's intention to re-create the original T-Birds, they're already a Classic that needs no imitation. Rather, the thinking behind the new design was to capture the essence of the Thunderbird (that had made it such a classic), and to "capture that heart-stopping, head-turning 'thing' that we all know when we see it".



Among the items Doug showed were some of the early concept possibilities, that didn't make the cut.



Frequent comments about the concept car (by the fans of the Classic T-Birds) include that it needs "more chrome" and tail fins. Doug pointed out that these were in fact indicative of the '50's and '60's, and not of the Thunderbird specifically. In contrast, the elements of the Classic T-Birds that were incorporated into the concept car, are traits that are uniquely "Thunderbird": the hood scoop, the egg-crate grill, the removable hard top with "opera windows", round headlights and taillights, the hashmarks and Thunderbird script, turquoise inlays in the Thunderbird ornaments, and so on.

Ford generously brought along a number of models of the concept car, and we held drawings for them among a pool of the early registrants for the Regional (host club members were not eligible).







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This page was last updated on: 8/15/1999