And there was no plodding six-cylinder engine but a burly 292-cubic-inch Mercury V-8 delivering 193 bhp with stickshift or 198 bhp with optional self-shift Ford-O-Matic.īill Burnett supervised the engineering, which relied heavily on passenger-Ford components. Instead of an ill-fitting soft top was a snug convertible top, a detachable hardtop, or both. In place of creaking fiberglass and clumsy side curtains was a sturdy steel body with convenient roll-up windows. It rode the same wheelbase as the first-generation Corvette - 102 inches - but was far more luxurious and practical. Barely a month later, Ford was hard at work on the car that would ultimately be named for the god worshiped by America's Southwest Native Americans as the bringer of rain and prosperity.First displayed as a wood mock-up at the Detroit show in early 1954, the Thunderbird was a "personal" car, not a pure sports car.
#1969 THUNDERBIRD VALUE MOVIE#
When not in use, all of the implements fold neatly into the back of Ford's award-winning van.īut perhaps the more important question is why is that? Because Make Magazine held an Ultimate Maker Vehicle Challenge in conjunction with Ford in which ten teams created were charged with creating "the ultimate Ford Transit Connect Wagon for the do-it-yourself enthusiast." Team Twin Cities Maker won the competition with the Hackmobile, and in addition to winning $10,000, Ford has declared it's actually going to build the thing - which is great, because if they can actually engineer a road-legal Hackmobile Transit Connect Wagon as envisioned, the inevitable A-Team movie reboot might need to think about including it.Ĭheck out the video below for a cheeky walk-through of the Hackmobile, and get all the particulars in the press release below that.But in January 1953, GM threw down a gauntlet Ford couldn't ignore: the Chevrolet Corvette.
What is that? It's a "mobile fabrication and hacking unit" that includes tools for metal- and woodworking, 3D and electronics fabrication, a three-axis CNC machine called "The Fabber," a video projector and screen, an air compressor, an 84x48-inch work surface that folds out like a Murphy bed and oh so much more. What you see in the above image is a rendering of the Hackmobile Transit Connect Wagon. "The utility segment is projected to grow we think about thirty percent between now and 2017 in Europe, and we think we are going to grow twice that rate as a brand," Farley continued.įord will build Hackmobile out of Transit Connect Wagon Fri, Ford estimates that their utility sales will grow 65 percent in Europe from 2012-2017. "With all the difficulties of the European market, there is one segment that has actually expanded in volume over the last several years even though the market is way down, and that's utilities," Farley told us. "China utility growth is expected to more than double from where it is today to 2017, which isn't that far away." Most astounding is that Ford projects its own utility sales in China will eventually increase by more than 2,000 percent when smaller crossovers, such as the EcoSport and Kuga (sold as the Escape in North America), and the Edge and Explorer, are factored in.įord's VP also expects utilities to lead the way in the struggling European market. "The biggest opportunity for us globally for utilities is in China," Farley said. Much of that growth will be in China, where Ford estimates its utility sales will explode. Ford projects overall automotive sales to grow 23 percent from 2012 to 2017, but the company's utility vehicles are expected to boom by an impressive 41 percent during that same period.
#1969 THUNDERBIRD VALUE FULL#
"We expect over the next five years this full family of vehicles to really drive our growth as a company."Īnd Farley has the numbers to back it up, too. "There is no other segment in our industry that is growing like utilities," he said.
Last week, we attended an exclusive sneak preview of the Ford Edge Concept in advance of the Los Angeles Auto Show, and Farley told us that it's actually utility vehicles that will help the Blue Oval gain market share overseas. While most of us believe that small, fuel efficient cars are the key to global expansion for US automakers, Jim Farley, Ford's vice president of Global Marketing, thinks otherwise. Ford says utility vehicles are key to global growth Tue,
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