As such being based on the intermediate Ford platform, a wider range of powertrains were now available. Headlamps hidden with retractable covers and full-width dropped center taillamps made a comeback from the late 1960s. The Thunderbird was distinguished from the LTD II and Cougar 2-door models by its unique wrap-over 'basket handle' roofline with opera windows and large rear side quarter windows separated from the rear window by thin C-pillars. The 1977 Thunderbird was created on the existing intermediate car platform by recycling a select mix of body, interior and trim parts from the previous year's Ford Elite, Mercury Montego and Mercury Cougar combined with all new styling from the doors back to create a dramatic new Thunderbird look.

Development and production history Īlthough not as deliberate a downsizing as what was to come to future Ford cars, the 1977 Thunderbird was shorter than its predecessor, shedding nearly 10 inches (254 mm) of length and 900 lb (408 kg) of weight height and width remained essentially unchanged. The styling of its unique wrapover roofline would carry over in smaller versions of Ford automobiles such as the 1978–1983 Ford Fairmont Futura and the Mercury Zephyr Z-7 coupes which were originally designed as Fairmont-based downsized Thunderbird proposals. Helped by a US$2,700 drop in price from 1976, over 318,000 were sold in 1977 and 352,000 in 1978 (the best single sales year in Thunderbird history), followed by 295,000 in 1979. The squarer, sharper styling was popular, as this generation became the best selling in the history of the Ford Thunderbird.

Rather than being the traditional Ford counterpart of the Continental Mark V, the Thunderbird would share the chassis with the Mercury Cougar and the Ford LTD II before the Ford Fox platform was introduced in 1980.

In a key marketing shift for the model range, Ford repackaged the Thunderbird from a full-size car to an intermediate car, and ceded its full-size luxury coupe status to the Ford LTD Landau coupe. The seventh generation of the Ford Thunderbird is a personal luxury car that was built by Ford from the 1977 to the 1979 model years.

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