1956 Ford Thunderbird American Graffiti Motormax 1:24

he first generation of the Ford Thunderbird is a two-seat convertible that was produced by Ford for the 1955 to 1957 model years. The first 2-seat Ford since 1938, the Thunderbird was developed at nearly the same time as the Chevrolet Corvette. Rather than becoming a rival to the European sports cars imported into the United States, Ford created a completely new market segment around the Thunderbird, the personal luxury car. While a performance car in its own right, the Thunderbird focused more on comfort than speed.
Until the eleventh-generation Ford Thunderbird was unveiled in 2002, this was the only version of the Thunderbird to be produced as a two-seat convertible.

Ford unveiled the Thunderbird at the Detroit Auto Show on February 20, 1954. The first production car came off the line on September 9, 1954, and went on sale on October 22, 1954 as a 1955 model, and sold briskly; 3,500 orders were placed in the first ten days of sale. While only 10,000 were planned, 16,155 were sold in 1955.

As standard, the 1955 Ford Thunderbird included a removable fiberglass top; a fabric convertible top was an option, although commonly specified. The engine was a 292 Y-block V8, which got 18MPG. The car had fender skirts. The exhaust pipes exited through twin bumper guards, which are bolted to the rear bumper.

Created to act as a retort to the Chevrolet Corvette, it was also the first mass-produced edition of all the Ford Thunderbird models. A total of 53,166 units were produced for the three model years 1955-1957. It was produced with a Fordomatic automatic or manual overdrive transmissions, and featured four-way powered seats and push button interior door handles. Other unique features were a telescoping steering wheel  and a tachometer.

Equipped with a V8 engine, the Thunderbird could hit 110-120 mph. It was a smaller two-seat "personal luxury car", compared to many other much larger cars that were on the road in the 1950s. It was designed to be a brisk luxury tourer, and not a sports car.

1995 NASCAR Stock Car Thunderbird Valvoline #6 Mark Martin 1:24

Mark Anthony Martin (born January 9, 1959) is an American retired stock car racing driver. He has the second most wins all time in what is now the Xfinity Series with 49. He scored 40 Cup Series wins. He finished second in the NASCAR Cup Series standings five times, third in the NASCAR Cup Series standings four times, and has been described by ESPN as "The best driver to never win a championship." Martin also failed to win the Daytona 500 during his career. Martin has five IROC Championships, more than any other driver. Also, during the 2005 season, he took over the all-time record for IROC wins, with 13. Martin is the final driver born in the 1950s to win a NASCAR Cup Series race.

Martin was born in Batesville, Arkansas. He began his racing career as a young man on the dirt tracks of Arkansas. He moved on to asphalt racing and joined the ASA racing series. During his ASA career, Martin raced against Dick Trickle, Jim Sauter, Joe Shear, and Bobby Allison. He won 1977 ASA National Tour Rookie of the Year. Martin won twenty-two ASA races and four championships, in 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1986.

1995 Ford Thunderbird Hooters Nascar 20th Anniversary Alan Kulwicki

The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the 'Strictly Stock Division', and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the 'Grand National Division.' In 1971, when the series began leasing its naming rights to the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, it was referred to as the 'NASCAR Winston Cup Series' (1971–2003). A similar deal was made with Nextel in 2003, and it became the 'NASCAR Nextel Cup Series' (2004–2007). Sprint acquired Nextel in 2005, and in 2008 the series was renamed the 'NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' (2008–2016). In December 2016, it was announced that Monster Energy would become the new title sponsor, and the series was renamed the 'Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series' (2017–2019). In 2019, NASCAR rejected Monster's offer to extend the current naming rights deal beyond the end of the season. NASCAR subsequently announced its move to a new tiered sponsorship model beginning with the 2020 season similar to other US based professional sports leagues, where it was simply known as the 'NASCAR Cup Series', with the sponsors of the series being called Premier Partners. The four Premier Partners are Busch Beer, Coca-Cola, GEICO, and Xfinity.

Alan Dennis Kulwicki, más conocido como Alan Kulwicki (Greenfield, Wisconsin, 14 de diciembre de 1954-Blountville, Tennessee, 1 de abril de 1993), fue un piloto de automovilismo de velocidad estadounidense, que se destacó en los stock cars.

Kulwicki comenzó su carrera a los trece años como corredor de karting. Luego corrió en varias pistas cortas de tierra de Wisconsin, y en la ASA.

Participó en la NASCAR Busch Series corriendo cuatro carreras en 1984 y dos en 1985, logrando 2 top 5. Debutó en 1985 en la Copa NASCAR, y al año siguiente se convirtió en piloto regular de la categoría. Resultó campeón en 1992, octavo en 1990 y fue premiado como Novato del Año en 1986. En total, cosechó 5 victorias y 38 top 5 en la categoría.

Durante toda su carrera corrió para la marca Ford, y en casi toda su trayectoria compitió con su equipo propio.

Kulwicki fue el que creó la vuelta polaca, que es un festejo que empleó en sus victorias, que era una vez terminada la carrera, daba una vuelta con su auto pero al sentido invertido del circuito. Actualmente es usado por varios pilotos de NASCAR como festejo de victoria.

A la edad de 38 años, Kulwicki murió el 1 de abril de 1993 en un accidente de avión, cerca de Bristol, Tennessee.

2002 Ford Thunderbird Show Car Maisto 1:25

The eleventh generation of the Ford Thunderbird (internally codenamed M205) is a two-seat convertible manufactured and marketed by Ford from 2001 to 2005 for model years 2002 through 2005. It followed a five-year hiatus of the Thunderbird after the 1997 discontinuation of its tenth generation.

Evoking the exterior styling of the earliest Thunderbirds, the eleventh generation features a removable hardtop with a prominent porthole window, power folding fabric top, and vinyl tonneau cover. Sharing mechanicals with the Lincoln LS and using Ford's DEW platform, it has a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout with a 3.9-liter (240-cubic-inch) V8 engine and a five-speed automatic transmission.

Part of a retro-styling trend in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the concept was introduced by Ford in 1999. The production model debuted two years later, winning the Motor Trend Car of the Year award for 2002. Despite this, the eleventh-generation Thunderbird never achieved its sales projections and was discontinued after 2005. After studying alternatives, including the closely related Lincoln MK9 concept, Ford declined to introduce subsequent generations of the Thunderbird.

The eleventh generation reach a production of just under 70,000 over four model years. Critics attributed the lackluster sales to poor marketing.

1955 Ford Thunderbird Sunnyside 1:24

The first generation of the Ford Thunderbird is a two-seat convertible produced by Ford for the 1955 to 1957 model year, the first 2-seat Ford since 1938. It was developed in response to the 1953 Motorama display at the New York Auto Show, which showed the Chevrolet Corvette. The Corvette in turn was developed in response to the popularity of European sports cars among Americans.

Dubbed a "a personal car of distinction" by Ford, this appellation was also used by the motoring press at the time. The car built upon the heritage of the bespoke roadsters of the 1930s, yet was constructed largely of existing components, marking the first step toward the evolution of the personal luxury car as a mass market segment in the United States. While light weight for its era and fitted with a standard V8 engine, the Thunderbird focused more on driver comfort than speed, and was not a direct rival to either the Corvette or European sports cars. The Thunderbird proved more suited to the American market than the Corvette, with sales of 16,155, versus 674 Corvettes in 1955.  This remained the only two-seat convertible Thunderbird until the eleventh-generation was unveiled in 2002. The design of this generation of the Ford Thunderbird was the direct inspiration for the Auto Union 1000 Sp sports coupe.