The advent of compact cars and specialty vehicles such as the Ford Thunderbird in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and sporty versions of both standard-sized and compact cars, accelerated the bucket-seat trend in domestic cars around 1960.
He was known as a stubborne Mopar (Chrysler vehicles) loyalist until 1985 (long after almost every other team moved to other makes, and when the cars became ineligible to compete) and finished his career driving a few FORD Thunderbirds.
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In 1985 the generosity of rising NASCAR star driver Bill Elliott (who sold Buddy his slightly used Ford Thunderbird race cars and parts on the cheap) kept Buddy driving until 1988.
In the TV series Vega$, private detective Dan Tanna (Robert Urich) lived in a converted warehouse next to Circus Circus, and was often shown driving past the resort in his classic Ford Thunderbird.
Bobby Allison won 13 races with this car driving for owner Bud Moore in the 1977 thru 1980 seasons even though the cars looked boxy and unaerodynamic.
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The men and their teams generally credited with the creation of the original Thunderbird are: Lewis D. Crusoe, a retired GM executive lured out of retirement by Henry Ford II; George Walker, chief stylist and a Ford vice-president; Frank Hershey, chief stylist for Ford Division; Bill Boyer, designer Body Development Studio who became manager of Thunderbird Studio in spring of 1955, and Bill Burnett, chief engineer.
On August 12, 1955, while serving as ambassador in Thailand, Peurifoy and his 9-year-old son Daniel Byrd Peurifoy died when the Thunderbird he was driving collided with a truck near Hua Hin, Thailand.
In addition to these structures, they have also produced Classic cars, such as the 1956 Ford Thunderbird.
In the fiftieth printing, the author hid within the copyright notice an offer to give his prized 1965 Ford Thunderbird (which was featured in several photographs in the book) to anyone who actually read the message and responded.
As he sat in the driver's seat of his Ford Thunderbird Landau on a desolate street he was shot three times at close range in the head by DeVincent.
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He was married to an Italian-American housewife and drove a burgundy 1962 Ford Thunderbird on a desolate street at night in his home city of Newton.
:Introduced on the 1961 Ford Thunderbird, and made available on other Ford products throughout the 1960s, the Swing-away steering wheel allowed the steering wheel to move nine inches to the right when the transmission selector was in Park, so as to make driver exit and entry easier.
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In that race, which was held in November, Alan Kulwicki drove his self-owned #7 Hooters Ford Thunderbird to his lone Winston Cup championship to edge hometown favorite Bill Elliott from nearby Dawsonville by ten points, even though Elliott won the race.
In 1994, Bown moved back up to the Cup series, driving the #12 ReLife/Straight Arrow Ford Thunderbird for Bobby Allison.
The plant has previously manufactured the F-150, F-200, F-250, F-600, F-550, F-650, F-750, F-800, P-350, P-400, W-250, W-350, W-650, W-750, X-250, X-350, X-650, X-670, X-750, Ford LTD, Mercury Grand Marquis, Ford Thunderbird, Mercury Cougar, Ford Tempo, Mercury Topaz, Ford Contour, and Mercury Mystique.
However, other races in Joe Milikan's career were done in Pontiac (Pontiac Grand Prix) and Oldsmobile (Oldsmobile Cutlass) vehicles but rarely in Ford (Ford Thunderbird) vehicles.