A Post for Austin. . .

"Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available" (whoistheleader2) 05/22/2020 at 18:23 • Filed to: DIOCCUSA, Old Car City USA, Thunderbird, phoebe

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. . . that contains no anthropomorphism? Yes, this is about Forby Thunderbirbs !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . There were plenty just lying around the place. So many in fact that I am going to have to divide them up by generation.

There were plenty of second through seventh generation Thunderbirds around the place, but I wanted to start with the one that most resembles Phoebe. Though she is getting her engine block gently massaged back into a functional state, she is nowhere near as far gone as this crackpot T Bird living alone in the woods with his creepy stash of ruined baby dolls. Darn it I said no anthropomorphism.

Ok, let’s start with all , yes all , of the second generation of Ford’s personal luxury coupe.

I swear I took pictures of more, but apparently this is it. I also didn’t see any first generations in my picture stash.

Let’s move on to the third generation of T Bird.

The third gen is a pretty bird, that’s for sure.

We all know why you are really here, because the fourth generation is the one that gave rise to Phoebe.

The fifth era of Thunderbird was one of the last good ones that still looks good today.

The sixth Thunderbird wasn’t really worth the time.

And we don’t really need to talk about the seventh gen, ok.

So, this was most of the Thunderbirds of Old Car City USA. Curiously most of these were in one of two spots. One of these areas you might reasonably call Thunderbird Row.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/22/2020 at 12:53

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When I was a little kid, my mom had one like in the last pic.  It was off the road by 1985 - they don’t build em like they used to.  She loved that car though.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 05/22/2020 at 13:00

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Meaning now they build them to last but not to be repaired. It is remarkable how little usable space such a massive car can have.

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/22/2020 at 14:35

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Exactly. A modern car can go 100K miles easy with just routine maintenance, and if cared for, be strong at 200K miles. But if it has a system failure once it has some miles, it’s done.

Old cars wore out faster but could be repaired easier, an engine or transmission swap was easy, and no computers to deal with.  I forget what was the nail in the coffin for the T-Bird, but something happened, and my dad told my mom it was time to move on. The car was only around 10 years old and was cosmetically fine, but had depreciated so much that my dad gave it to a friend for free, a hot-rodder who wanted some drivetrain parts, I think.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 05/22/2020 at 15:35

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Interesting how reliability comes at the cost of repairability.  

fintail > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/23/2020 at 13:04

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Double edged sword. Also in the old days, when the working class was more robust and had more purchasing power, it wasn’t such a chore to simply buy a new/newer car, and someone else would take the old one and repair it or part it out . Now, the car lasts longer, but is more difficult to purchase, and heaven forbid something in the powertrain fails.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > fintail 05/23/2020 at 13:37

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Yes, cars have gotten much more expensive relative to income and cost much more to repair. Something in the powertrain failing is basically a death sentence but also think about the costs of repairing a currently modern car 10 or 15 years down the line from a minor front end impact. A single damaged sensor could total even a 5 year old car.

Jim Spanfeller > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/23/2020 at 18:37

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Phoebe approves.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jim Spanfeller 05/23/2020 at 19:06

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I should have taken the oil pumps and laid them out to make a musical forest when the wind blows. Never mind that might get annoying and be too much work.

Jim Spanfeller > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 05/23/2020 at 20:29

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Plus, the air has to blowing across at the right angle. It’s similar to how when you blow across the top of a half-full bottle, it makes a whistling noise. I think the oil pump whistle trick works pretty much the same way, the inside is just shaped right so that it produces a similarly melodious sound.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Jim Spanfeller 05/23/2020 at 22:00

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Imagine 10 of these singing at full volume in a creepy car graveyard at night. I’d crap myself immediately.