1966 Ford Thunderbird. The term ‘Personal Luxury Car” was invented in 1954 when Ford introduced the 1955 Thunderbird. From the start the T-bird would out sell the Chevy Corvette by a 4 to 1 margin. Fords T-Bird would be on its 4th re-style when the new for 1964 model was introduced. That classic body stlye would last till 1966. For 1966 you could get your T-Bird in three body types. Two door hardtop or a landau. You could also go for the sexy convertible with the optional parade boot.
Even though it was the last year for this body style Ford added a new egg crate type grille up front and revised tailights that were housed in one unit. The stylish lights featured “sequential tailights” that would blink in three sections. Quite a show to look at but hard and costly to fix.In later years its cousin the Mercury Cougar would have the very groovy light show. Power would come from a wide selection on engines. The base 390-V8 with its clog-o-matic two barrel carb only put out 275 horsepower. You could opt for the 390-V8 with the four barrel rated at 315 horsepower. For those interested in burning gas and rubber they could order the 428-V8 rated at 345 horspower.
Interiors were filled with luxury touches. The rear seats featured a wrap around upper cushion that extended into the rear panels. Power windows, locks, seats, trunk were all available. The “Flight Deck” interior as Ford called it had a swing-away steering wheel for ease of entry and exit. Sales were good for T-Bird in 1966. 69,176 Birds found new homes. In later years a 1966 T-Bird would become a star in the movie “Thelma and Louise” as it was driven off a cliff into oblivion. The featured “Sunburst” bronze 1966 Thunderbird Landau Coupe was proud to be driven in 2010′s Port Jefferson Hill Climb..Its groovy sequential taillights blinking in the warm sun.
As a owner of a 1966 Thunderbird Hardtop, I can attest to this car being a “Personal Luxury Car”! It truely is! Out of all the cars I have owned over the past 34 years, this the nicest riding car I have ever owned. This is also the first Ford I have ever owned, being a GM man all my driving life life, all I can say is that I am truely impressed with everything about this car. I especially like the ’66 Thunderbird due to its uniqueness. Out of all the previous Thunderbird models, only the ’66 is totally unique in its body style group (’64 thru ’66) as it was the only year that Ford made significant body and trim changes during a Thunderbird body group. The ’66 sports totally different sheetmetal, from the firewall forward along with the other appointments Johnny mentioned above, and it was the very last year in which the Thunderbird rode on its own completely unique chassis platform, as in ’67 all Thunderbirds were upon Lincoln or other Ford product platforms, essentially making the ’66 Thunderbird, the last of the true Thunderbirds. Johnny, once the weather warms, I’ve got to get my ‘Bird over to show you my beauty.
Thanks for the additional info about the 66 TBird- hope to see yours when the weather gets better.
A few corrections for your above article:
1) According to the Thunderbird Registry, the 390-V8 was available with the Motorcraft 4100 2-barrel carb, but was only available on models destined for export. All Thunderbirds sold in the U.S. came equiped with Motorcraft 4200 4-barrel carb. Another thing unique in ’66, was the downsizing of the 4200 carb from 600cfm to 420cfm for purposes of emmissions. Yes, even in ’66, Ford was already looking for ways to reduce exhaust emmisions, and in the end with the smaller carb, the motor actually ended up making 15 extra horsepower and 25ft/lbs extra torque over its ’64 & ’65 brothers with the same identical 390c.i. engine.
2) The “Parade Boot”, or the “Tornau Cover” as it was officially called, for convertibles, was not a factory Ford option. The Tornau Cover was a carry over item from left over covers from the ’63 Thunderbird that were made available to ’64 convertible owners until supplies ran out. After supplies ran out, a special order could be made by Ford Dealers to the original suppliers of the Tornau Cover for ’65 & ’66 cars.
3) YES, the rear sequential turn signal lights are very expensive to repair! Ask me how I know!
Thanks again Ken Slavik..as always you are a wealth of info..In regards to the “Parade Boot” I tend to call it that due Triumphs from my past..Dont ask me why British Leyland called it that but they did..Like you could do a parade in a TR6..If my memory is correct one of the suppliers to Ford was “ASC”..They did alot of work for The Big Three with convertible parts,sunroofs and boots etc etc..In fact they helped Iacocca with the 1982-1985 LeBaron convertibles.Once again thanks for your know how and imput.