http://www.petitiononline.com/tbtc8788/petition.html
check this out and give it a sign if you already haven't :D
sign sign sign sign sign sign if youve signed it once sign agian
And you think this is going to happen? This is the same company that ignored the "More power" requests from the Mustang guys who were sick of being beat up on by LT1's and LS1's for years, and there are more Mustang guys than T-Bird guys...
I'm not going to sing it or sign it......
Waste of time....
I can't believe this still exists.
Come on. Do you really believe Ford would bring back a 20yo design that's outpowered by every single car in its class by a long shot? This petition doesn't want a new version, it's asking for the actual '87-88 TC to come back.
Ya the new TC would be powered by a 2.0 Zetec. I don't see a point. Everyone that wants a tubo car is going to go get a SRT4 or an Evo. :barf: Becaues the people that would buy or could buy the new TC would be 16 to 25 and most of them think that an import is the way to go.
No I am not bashing the TC I like them but the price tag on someting like this would be through the roof.
actually its powerd by a 2.3 liter engine, and if they did bring it back oviously it would look different and would be up to spec. who knows with the technology today that car could easily come with 300 h.p. you think ford would even consider bringing a old car back..anyways just wishfull thinking i guess...
So there is a prodotype out there?
The only 2.3 still out there is the duratec. IMO its not worth the mods of a turbo the 2.0 Zetec takes to mods better. Look at all the stuff out there for the focus and ZX2.
Plus top of that there is one pro guys runnig staright line Focus and Ford pulled their sponcership after he started running a 2.3.
But this is just my :2c: and you don't have to listen to me.
And with fords track record it would probably be a front drive.
If anything, a new TC should have the Aussie Falcon XR6 turbo.
It will never happen.
If ford did bring something back to call the TC it would not be anything like what it use to be.
It wouldn't have a solid rear, that's for sure. And it would have mostly Jag/Volvo parts. Scary expensive. Unless they took Pontiac's lead and started sourcing down under. Again, scary expensive.
Bingo, the Fairlane is a prime example. :disappoin
Already signed it the first time this came up around here. You could probably even figure out which signature is mine if you read the comments. :p
On side note,
U can still find a 87 TC but it fit it up better then it was back in 87 for less what a new car would cost.
If the TC body is not to your liking get a 4 banger stang and drop in TC motor and trany and your fast and good on gas.
On side note, Might be getting 80 notch stang given to me free,
This is 4 banger car and i know were there is a nother TC with blown headgasket for 400 bucks,
are you kiding me it wouldn't be a front wheel drive, they may use a mustang platform or a jag s type platform would make much more sense
inflation on the thing would put most of us out of the price bracket for one anyway.
ether way there would be no sence for them to make the car anything like the old one,
Look at new T bird they made, OH ya its a T bird then they made the cougar a FWD car that had nothing to do with cougar name, Just made a FWD car looked at it and went we need a name anyideas and one guy was talking toa buddy about this cougar he picked up and we all know how u hear some words when someone is talking so the CO heard Cougar and named the car that.
SO there for the New cougar was named after a old cougar and not a XR7
The thing everyone is forgetting Ford will not make anything that will out power, out handle, and out sell the Mustang.
The Mustang is fords flagship for performance. They will never make a mercury that wouold beat the mustang at everything.
All this talking what are we going to sing?
Sing along to Marilyn Manson's cover of Personal Jesus? :p
:evilgrin: :headbang: :evilgrin: :headbang:
Or tainted love?
Either will work.
Yeah, it would just be too expensive, so who cares, there's only one Turbocoupe, and it might be better if it stays that way. They're great cars in their own way, but it didn't sell back then and the same concept wouldn't sell now, now a SVO Mustang might be a different story, but then, would Ford allow a turbo Duratec 4 or 6 cylinder to outrun the V8 mustang? Probably not.
ford wouldn't even use the DOCH on the 2.3 when it was prototyped. (260 hp at 15 psi) why the hell do you think they would even consider bringing the turbo coupe thunderbird back? hell, the new thunderbird it a heavy piece of shiznit compaired to any 83-97 thunderbird.
now that with a bit of fresh styling would make a sweet new T-bird, from the base to the TC models. you could bring over the whole platform. and that turbo I6 make my sleep all sticky.
nothing is going to happen, and even if it did I wouldnt buy it or care. Another tacular plastic fendered car. I would stick with the heavy underpower cars that we all know and love, rather then an import copy with less power and half of the weight. Even if it sait TC or t-bird, it would be an abomination to the cars heritage. Right now a big heavy fast car dosent sell, unless its the mustang. There isnt room for more then one car. Slammed cat hit the nail right on the head. "The thing everyone is forgetting Ford will not make anything that will out power, out handle, and out sell the Mustang."
The Mustang is fords flagship for performance. They will never make a mercury that wouold beat the mustang at everything. Ps,.... As much as I like ford cars, you wouldnt catch me owning a new one. Not that I hate ford, cause I love them, but $32000 for a car that I dont want? that just sucks.
Hate to burst your bubble there.
(http://www.edmunds.com/media/advice/specialreports/ford.gt/05.ford.gt.f34.500.jpg)
And if Ford brought this over, I don't think anyone would be calling it an abomination, if the design was an evolution of the MN12 and a 2-dr.
(http://img.drive.com.au/drive_images/Editorial/images/9457_4.jpg)
I love those falcons
Where as i hate these
(http://www.blyfotur.is/safn/Ford%20Fairlane%20Concept%20utan.jpg)
god couldent they have done somethng better with the fairlane name??
Two problems.
1: The GT starts at $150,000 alot more than any mustang.
2: Downunder they don't have a mustang.
Good points.
The XR6 in two door form would be slick but we all know what shiznit we would get from the chevy guys. "Copying the GTO it will never work"
Next the MN12 would be a good start for the car but would have to do something about the rear ends on the car being they are the weak point.
And a T-bird has always cost a lot more than a Mustang. If Ford brought the Falcon over, made it actually look like a T-bird, and priced it where it belongs, you shouldn't worry about the GTO. Since it didn't look anything like a GTO, and was priced far above the name it took. Would you call that copying, or doing it right? Anyway, everybody's doing the same type of marketting these days as it is. Bringing established models over from other markets is nothing new. It just doesn't happen with Aussie cars.
Not to mention the GTO is just a copy of the Catera. The same platform, actually, just in a sedan. It was priced where it belonged, though. With Cadillac. Still Australian, still GM, but it came before the GTO. (not that either have been a smashing success)
A fox TC wouldn't even begin to meet safety and emissions standards for new cars today. Airbags? Hello? Petition Ford all you want, ask 'em to make an all-aluminum 427 cammer, and tell 'em you want it for $2k, you'll get just as much of a response that way. Ford Motor Company relies on market research to choose what direction to go in terms of design, not a group of misfit car enthusiasts.
well oviously you didn't get the point, wishfull thinking indeed but say if they were going to bring it back i think they would change the engine's emissions thanks to new technology...
If they brought it back they'd change the entire thing. The only thing that has a chance of coming back is a name. And the T-bird has probably already made it's final comeback.
The catera is the biggest peice of shiznit on the road. Yes built on the gm2800 platform, but no ls1 option. The catera has the open v6 in it that downright sucks. The Ausies get the ecotec gm v6 supercharged and an ls1 option.
Mustangs use to get exported to australia but I don't know if they still do. Two door coupes don't sell well in croc hunter land. Hence the Commodore being the best selling car there.
If ford made a new tc it would compete with the now extinct srt4. So why would they do that. American car designers are going out it seems.
If I buy a new car it would be a 350z. So shoot me.
A TC wouldn't compete with an SRT4! Monte Carlo SS, maybe, but not a hi-po econo sedan.
And the point is not that the Catera was as good as the GTO, just that sourcing from Aussieland didn't start with the Lumina Goat.
If I were to buy a new car, it would be an R32 (if they sold in Canada, that is).
and how would you know this....say if they even were bringing it back how would you know what Ford would to do to it?
why a 350z...iid like a mustang gt, supercharge it put on a exhaust and a chip and theres 400-450 hp
Why would Ford put their one time flagship (Munchtangs have never been a flagship for Ford, and up until the GT showed up, it was the T-bird) up against a Neon? If anything, the SVT Focus was as close as Ford was going to get to the SRT-4. The T-bird is their luxury coupe model, not a sport compact.
That's how I know.
You do know this hypothetical rebirth of a car that would never sell in today's market is hardly a reason to get upset, right?
And scratch the R32. I'd get a turbo Solstice for $24k.
Hmm think that one over harder. Look at the Cougar. The Tbird is fading away, and fast. Ford could do it some good, but they wont.
Same reason we like our fancy foxes. You wan't that mustang and so does everyone else and there dogs. Plus I hold a special place in my heart for Nissan, one of those "my first car things."
Well, the Cougar was a smallish sports coupe when it started life. And this new SC Cougar has also been quite a flop. I wouldn't put it passed Ford to do something really stupid with the T-bird (retro), but I can't see them sticking a name that's meant RWD luxo barge coupe for 48 years on a FWD compact. Not one used so recently at any rate. Also remember, the last time they made a small T-bird ('55-57) it sold like shiznit. The retro bird copied that car, but they still wouldn't make it small again, and left it RWD. Again, though, it sold like shiznit. :giggle:
The best selling T-birds were the Mustang based ones. They need to remember that and try again.
I agree with this, but they couldn't use either the T-Bird or Cougar name. They are both ruined.
I also havn't even read the article yet so I'm not so sure what this new tbird would be.
It's not a new T-bird. This petition is asking Ford to put the '87 TC back into production. :disappoin
Actually I think you'd find that the best selling T-Bird, by far, was the '78 model - at least according to a book on T-Birds I've got. The Fox-based 'Birds sold well, but never as well as the 77-79 models.
And techically, no 'Bird was ever based on a Mustang - the fox chassis was originally designed for the Fairmont/Zephyr, so both the Mustangs and T-Birds were based on that. If you wanna get really technical, the S197 platform is loosely based on the DEW98, which underpins the retro T-Bird and Lincoln LS, so the new Mustang is really T-Bird based :p
And thus I have been told.
:bowdown:
Indeed you have :D
You know, when you think about it, that little 2.3 turbo compares fairly well to engines nearly 20 years newer. The thing belted out up to 210 horses (in SVO Mustang trim) with an iron block & head, a single cam, and two valves per cylinder. The SRT4 engine belts out 245 horses, but it's larger, much newer, more complicated, and has a DOHC 16 valve aluminum head. Just imagine if the 2.3t would have been developed for those years instead of being abandoned by Ford - I'm sure well over 250 horses would've been achieved long ago.
I don't think any new T-Bird would be aimed at the SRT4. Yes, the Cougar was tossed into the econo market for a few years, but it failed in the marketplace and the Cougar name was never really well defined anyway - through its history the Cougar was a luxury pony car, a large sedan, a large wagon, a midsize sedan, a midsize wagon, a midsize coupe, a large coupe, and a small coupe. The Cougar name was never really stuck to any specific market. The T-Bird, on the other hand, may have started and ended as a two-seater, and for a few years even had a few too many doors, but for the vast majority of its history it was a midsize or large coupe.
Will the T-Bird name ever come back? Hard to say. The GTO hasn't done really well in the market, but a lot of that is due to underwhelming styling at an overwhelming price. The Monte has done a bit better, but it's a mainstream, FWD, V6 mushbox. It has a V8 available now, but that V8 is still driving the wrong end of the car and I predict that all but the most diehard Chevy/NASCAR fans will avoid it. There are, after all, some much more compelling cars in the market for the same or less money (including GM's own more practical Impala SS and Pontiac GXP). The new Charger has sharply divided Mopar fans but seems to be doing well in the market and it certainly has the proper hardware, four doors or not. Its base V6 starts out with 50 more horses than Ford's top V6, and its Hemi simply embarrasses the naturally aspirated Ford 4.6.
So where would a potential new T-Bird fit in?
Would it be a midsize, RWD 2-door, larger than (but still based on) the Mustang, with perhaps an IRS, and compete with the GTO? Possible, and likely the option we'd all like to see, but doubtful considering the GTO's failure to ignite the market
Would it be a midsize or large RWD four-door sedan, possibly based on the DEW98 (Lincoln LS) chassis, to take on the Charger? This could be another possibility, but if such a car were to exist it would more likely be called a Crown Victoria, not a T-Bird.
Would it be a midsize or large, FWD 2-door, possibly based on the Five Hundred or more preferrably the Fusion chassis, with V6 and possibly V8 power (or forced induction V6), competing with the Monte Carlo? Possible, and even probable - if the T-Bird name comes back I'd put my money on this scenario. Large two-doors are a small market, so Ford is not going to invest a whole lot to get into that market. Whacking a couple of inches off a Fusion and losing two doors would make economic sense.
As you can imagine, Ford would have a lot of decisions to make before even deciding if a Thunderbird will ever fly again. one thing we can pretty much bank on, though, is that if a retro-based T-Bird ever comes again, it won't be based on the 80's models - at least not for another 20 years or so...
I would much rather prefer that in the future, our cars remain unique...in other words, uncopied for a "retro" version. If Ford was to "copy" our cars in the future, wouldn't that just reinforce how good these cars were in the first place? To me that would be the ultimate cop-out on Ford's part. While flattering it would still be unjust.
Nothing makes me grin more knowing that our cars were true originals in styling, in purpose and in spirit and that there is no other car on the road today that can possibly emulate that (arguably the Mustang but that's a different issue. We're talking about something that is uniquely OURS). Nobody can take that away from us. We have something 99% of the vehicles on the road today will never have: a soul. A lot of people look at our older body style and thumb their noses, lumping us into the usual 1980's mediocre offerings. But they just don't "get" it. Too bad, their loss. We know the difference and that's all that matters.
On the same note, it would be just as easy to take the Mustang and stretch it a bit. This would be a move that has proven itself before, and wouldn't piss off their demographic. I find that much more probable than a Fusion based 'bird.
Cougar guys refused to drive the Sport Compact Cougar, but you can bet your arse if they had made an SN95 version instead, they would have sold like hot-cakes.
Like it or not the new style Thuderbird was a failure, hence the reason it got the ax. It missed its mark.
How has the new Stang caught on so well? Decent price, good handling, smooth ride, appealing looks, and good engine performance. Heck, a V6 will run mid to low 15's. All this combined with a rather bland lineup from GM for the '04-05 model years (other than the Stang the Ford lineup isn't soul-stirring either) and the generic styling of the imports that are within the price range of the Stang made it the right car at the right time.
Sounds a lot like another set of cars that were redesigned for the 1983 model year.
For a new Thunderbird to do well it will have to stand out among a crowd and if you're the FoMoCo you'd want a new Thunderbird to do so without affecting Mustang sales (or anything else in the lineup for that matter)
Just a guess here, but people like 4WD or AWD, but not with the amount of money they're spending to gas up an SUV. With that said you may see an AWD 4 door sedan with perhaps some styling cues from the past with a relatively small, yet efficient and powerful for it's size engine (perhaps the XC90 engine) with the name Thunderbird gracing the rear decklid. Sound like an Upscale 500, but that's what I see.
Maybe this is just the vicodin kicking in, but..
One thing I don't see anyone mentioning here: What if this hypothetical T-bird rebirth used RX8-style mini-suicide doors on a body somewhat like the 4-eyed Birds? (smaller rear quarter windows, etc.)
Like the show or hate it, I happened to catch a showing of Top Gear a couple weeks back, and they were absolutely raving over the RX8.. and one of the plusses was the accessibility, I think. Something about "all the benefits of a coupe without any of the drawbacks", etc. etc. etc. Suicides on a T-bird wouldn't be a new thing, either.
Hypothetical as this all is, I'd love to see more of this being worked into the discussion:
http://autoweb.drive.com.au/cms/A_55183/newsarticle.html
:p
That engine, (the turbo version) find a way to work in AWD, 5-speed automatic or 6-speed manual, the mini-suicide doors, market it as a midlife-crisis object? More practical than a Corvette, less boring than most new non-Mustang Fords? I guess it's the painkillers speaking again. :p
As much as I'd like the turbo version, I'm guessing that IF they used it it would be aat a premium. The NA version would be standard.
Did the 1st Gen. Cougar take away from Mustang sales? How about the Capri?
I know the Capri didn't, since it sold like shiznit (if they had given it its own identity, other than an ugly 'stang with a straight six, maybe it would have gotten somewhere). As for the 1st Gen., I actually don't know. Anyone have any sales numbers for the two cars those years?
hell i don't care what they call it. i want that falcon in the states, if i had the dough i would sneak the bitch in so fast.. or at least the motor and put it in something else (can anyone say Trubo Coupe), maybe in the super coupe chasis..
I love inlines and i hear nothing but goodness from that car.
PS> Top Gear is my fav. car show right now, anyone that uses the "surrender monkeys" serveral times to describe the french wins my vote.. and they honestly talk about cars with out all that BS or corp influence you get here in the states.