Ford introduced the V-8-powered 1955 Thunderbird in response to arch-rival Chevrolet’s Corvette. The General Motors division had launched the six-cylinder Corvette as a 1953 model and by 1955, according to Motor’s Manual, had improved it by adding a V-8. With that, the Corvette and Thunderbird two-seaters on their 102-inch wheelbases were matched closely, but definitely not exactly.
Two-seater 1955 Thunderbird Aims For Luxury
The fiberglass 1953 Corvette had been slotted as a sports car; lacking roll-up side windows and a hardtop – but carrying a triple-carbureted engine and a floor-shifter – it made no pretense of being anything else. Chevrolet wasn’t the only builder of a fiberglass sports car, according to the Standard Catalog, as that material was used on everything from the Kaiser Darrin to the Studebaker Avanti, but the Thunderbird would be built of steel and that was just one of its differences.
Ford designed it not so much to be a sports car as a personal luxury car; GM would later take up the concept with cars such as the Chevrolet Monte Carlo and Pontiac Grand Prix. The 1955 Corvette offered a V-8 and automatic transmission, but the Thunderbird V-8 was larger and Ford gave buyers the choice of an automatic or three-speed manual with overdrive. Options from power steering and brakes to power windows and a steel hardtop helped the 1955 T-bird to hit its target with just over 16,000 sales.
