Thunderbirds with actual thunder.....

Originally concieved as a two-seat sports car to compete with the Corvette ( 1955-57 ) from '58 on the T-Bird evolved into a personal luxury performance car. Some are gorgeous and great performers, and others are ugly and / or slugs.  Here's my personal favorites. # 1. 1961-63. Often called the "Bullet Bird" because of the design of the rear fenders and taillights-these cars still look cool 50 years later. And with 390 cubes under the hood, they move pretty good too. # 2. 1967-69. This is one of the best-looking cars Ford ever put out. Hidden headlights, racy styling and 390 or 428 cubes under that long hood. I personally prefer the two-door models, while some people like the 4-door models with the "Suicide" doors. You can't go wrong either way. # 3. 1970-71. This was about the time American automakers started to care about handling-so these cars are surprisingly nimble for such a big car. Racy, Nascar-inspired styling, and 429 cubes under the hood make these tough customers, and nice drivers. The '72 and later models had 460 cubes, but compression ratios were lowered, power was down and they were based on the heavier and uglier Lincoln MKIV platform. To get a cool T-Bird again you had to wait until....# 4. 1983-88. Bill Elliott won the NASCAR title in this bodystyle. Unless, for some perverse reason you want to try to hop up the 2.3 liter Turbo 4-banger-the ones to look for are the 302 V8 models. Virtually anything that fits a Fox Mustang will fit these cars-so there's great performance potential.  #5. 1989-97. The ones to look for are the Supercharged V6 models or the 302 V8 models. Some '96-97 models had 4.6 Modular V8s-but we know they didn't have as much power as the old "5.0", and theres not nearly as much speed equipment for them. # 6.  1999-2004. This is the two-seat convertible that looks like a '57. Halle Berry drove one in the Bond flick "Die Another Day". They have the 3.9 liter Jaguar V8 that was used in the Lincoln LS and MkVIII. It makes 280 hp, which moves the little 2-seat cars out pretty damn quick.  Any of these make nice drivers or weekend cruisers. Mastermind