The Ford Thunderbird may no longer be in production, but it’s a proper automotive icon, nonetheless. The beloved T-Bird existed across 11 generations and 50 years (with some gaps in between), a truly long run for any vehicle. However, it didn’t take too long for the Ford Thunderbird to reach one million units of production – that happened in 1972, in fact, with that milestone model recently landing at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California. Now, that same historic T-Bird is up for sale.
The one-millionth Ford Thunderbird built is currently up for auction at Bring a Trailer some time after it was donated to the Petersen in 2022. It was produced at the automaker’s Pico Rivera, California plant and features special gold-tone medallions on each side of the vinyl top and on the dashboard that signify its place in Blue Oval history, which accompany its gold paint and white vinyl top with Landau bars.
As one might imagine, there are some imperfections in the paint and top, but for the most part, this historic T-Bird remains in excellent condition for its age. It rolls on 15-inch steel wheels with turbine covers, gold accents, and Thunderbird-branded center caps, which are wrapped with 225/70 Cooper Lifeliner Touring SLE narrow-whitewall tires. The big sedan even features niceties like power-assisted front disc brakes and power steering, too.
Inside, one will find button-tufted white leather seats and woodgrain trim accents, power-adjustable front seats, an AM/FM stereo, and power windows and door locks. There are a couple of flaws, as the passenger window isn’t working at the moment, while a button is missing from the driver seat.
As for power, that comes from the optional 460 cubic-inch Ford V8 fitted with a four-barrel carburetor, flowing to the rear wheels via a three-speed automatic transmission. The air-intake tube is broken, and starter fluid is occasionally needed to get it fired up, but these are all seemingly simple fixes – and well worth it, given this T-Bird’s place in history.
Down 17 percent in just five years.
Behind only the Explorer and the Mach-E itself.
They might have been given Transit Trail tires.
