But few of those U.S, sports cars were sold, largely because their producers lacked resources to compete with big automakers. They saw that British sports cars, such as the MG and Jaguar, drew lots of attention and sold relatively well here. car producers, such as Nash and Kaiser, built a limited number of sports cars in the early 1950s to enhance their image. The 1955-57 'T-Bird' was America's second mass-produced sports car from a large domestic automaker, right behind the Chevrolet Corvette. The mass media often has mistakenly called any sporty looking car, such as the Ford Mustang, a 'sports car.' It's given the 1955-57 Thunderbird the same description, although Ford stressed from the get-go that its new baby was a 'personal car.' Ford knew that the sports cars market was very limited and that calling the Thunderbird a 'personal car' would give it much broader appeal.

It's been put in television shows, movies and print advertisements, not to mention being pictured on a U.S. The two-seat Ford Thunderbird is among the most recognized iconic American cars. Copyright Collectible Automobile Magazine

New thunderbird ford