The 10 Most Embarrassing Award Winners in Automotive History

2002 Ford Thunderbird: Motor Trend Car of the Year

Who can forget the 1956 Thunderbird driven by Julie Somers in American Grafitti? She was perfect and so was the Thunderbird. The new Thunderbird had futuristic looks. Unfortunately it suffered from bad timing and a lack of sportiness. Unlike its Chevrolet Corvette competitor that was known for its performance the Thunderbird was more of a stylish personal car. The Thunderbird was based on the Lincoln and Jaguar of the period. Unfortunately buyers were reluctant to spend $40 000.00 on a Ford that only had two seats. Sales initially were 19 000 in 2002, well below the expected number. By 2005 Ford decided to move its product development more into the truck market. The final commemorative model only sold 1500 vehicles.

2 of 10

Comments

0 comments