Photos from the Cohort by nifticus392.
Here’s one that doesn’t ever appear much on our pages, a Bunkie-beak era Thunderbird. And sticking to bird themes, this one showed up in a color that only reminds me of canaries. How appropriate.
Now the Ford colors are either a Light Yellow or a Grabber Yellow. If it’s a factory color. It’s always a bit hard to tell with digital photos. Overall, maybe not the shade that would be my first choice for a ’70s Thunderbird, but somehow, with this one’s beak, somehow rather fitting.
Related CC reading:
Forgot how ugly this Bird was!
Wow, I’ll be! Gotta love it for what it was color and all. I’d drive it.
When you see this then think about the “early 60’s” , birds… This one makes ya say “What was it supposed to look like?”
One of my least favorite Thunderbirds, ever…
My brand new 1972 Maverick LDO in a similar color called Medium Yellow Gold:
Remember this color well!
Everyone likes to hate on these Bunkie Beak Birds.
However, count me as a fan! It’s a Bird with a Beak! What’s not to love? 😉
These cars in a dark color like green or blue look amazing (to me, anyway).
I can imagine winning this Thunderbird and matching kitchen appliances behind Door No. 1 on the original Let’s Make A Deal .
I like this color, but it does remind me of the color of the mustard at Chinese restaurants that makes me breathe fire out of my nostrils.
You sure its not LIGHT YELLOW GOLD???
I concur. Compare: https://www.mecum.com/lots/527693/1971-ford-thunderbird/
(I’m wondering if that might be the same car. How many Light Yellow Gold ’71 Thunderbirds are left in this condition?)
(Never mind — it’s not the same car, just the same color.)
No word on if it has bucket seats or not, and what color they might be. I used to dislike the “Bunkie Beak”, but now it has kind of grown on me, much like my own nose seems to have grown larger over the years, LOL! I always prefer my T-Birds with bucket seats and a console, the bench seat just seems wrong!
If you look at the front photo in larger size (https://www.flickr.com/photos/91431232@N00/53839924980/), it looks to have the Special Brougham Option buckets. Compare: https://www.oldcarbrochures.org/United%20States/Ford_Thunderbird/1971-Ford-Thunderbird/1971-Ford-Thunderbird-Brochure/slides/1971_Ford_Thunderbird-04-05.html
Talk about a car as an appliance. It’s harvest gold, just like refrigerators of the day. I liked this model back then; not as much as the earlier ones but it had a unique style.
A Landau in need of an opera window. I prefer the curvaceous haunches and roofline of the standard coupe, they go better with the beak.
I didn’t remember an American company selling body-colored wheel covers before the mid 70s.
I would not have recommended using the same very noticeable and memorable colour on the T-Bird, as well as the lowly Maverick/Comet. When a colour as memorable as this is used, people remember where they saw it. And it cheapens its application on the premium Thunderbird.
I remember the first time that I saw that color. It was in a bowl of butterscotch pudding.
I prefer the 67-69s in 4-door. But I don’t mind these in 2-door with the fastback roofline.
Haters are gonna hate, and I’m OK with that. But as an owner of a ’71 4 door myself, I love these cars. Yes, everyone loves to talk and dream about the 2 seaters, but those don’t sell. If there was a picture of the data plate, I could tell you for sure that color’s name. I believe it’s medium yellow gold. Mine is walnut fire, bur my factory shop manuals call it medium ginger bronze metallic.
“Earth tones” (brown, yellow, orange, tan, more brown) were very popular in the early 1970’s. Brown especially. Interior decor, fashion, etc. A lot of auto color schemes reflected this as well.
I don’t really like this colour on this car. Somehow it just doesn’t suit.
Not my favourite Bird, but still…..
Any more of a protruding beak on this one and it could be featured on the box of Froot Loops cereal.
I gather that within that beak, under the hood, the space is empty. I’d call that a waste of space and design.
I had never really paid attention before, but this version with the formal roof looks terrible – that roof really fights with the fluid lines on the rest of the car. The regular roof with its faster slope is a far better look on these.
Hideous
@RetroStang Rick. Here’s a green one I found on street at Columbus Circle in Washington DC. Enjoy!
Ha ~ all the hate .
I sort of remember these, a girl I briefly dated had her father’s, what I remember most was the half circle rear seat that looked like the booth in a steak house .
At the time I derided these but I can see how some might like them .
Don’t bag on Earth Tones too much ~ when I bought my house in 1988 I hied my self down to SEARS and bought a left over Avocado Green (means : PUKE colored) refrigerator and a Harvest Gold gas range with large microwave oven in the top, the stove is still going strong, the microwave didn’t have the rotating turn table (many didn’t then) so I bought a big plastic turn table with a clockwork spring, it still works .
-Nate
Here’s what appears to be the identical car (and color), advertised by some collector car dealer. Looks great in the dealer’s photos, I would love to own this: https://www.classicandcollectorcars.com/vehicles/6792/1971-ford-thunderbird
It didn’t post yesterday 😞
I know the consensus of the ’70/1 T-Birds is one of disdain. I’m not among them. Yes, the beak design that was a styling rage for Ford back then was a bit on the crazy side; but I thought it was pretty cool, and probably a bit less mechanically frustrating with the deletion of the hidden-headlight setup, which was really nothing but extraneous styling that was on its way out with the end of the ’60s. At least the beak served a subtle purpose, as extra cushioning in the event of a frontal collision.
That said, I preferred the four-door model offered in this year (for the last time). Clap doors always have my loyal attention, even on Thunderbirds.
Well, after reading these comments, it seems to be a tie between the likes and dislikes. As for me, somehow I can find a way to like every generation, although I do have my favorites. As for the color, I don’t like it on refrigerators or cars. It was very popular in the early 70s, it followed the avocado green that was everywhere in the late 60s. As for the styling, I like it. The car’s name is Thunderbird, birds have beaks so I thought it fit. My friends dad dad a 1970 4 door landau, it was midnight blue metallic with blue leather interior. I loved it, especially the dash, the wrap around rear seats an the very cool, first of its kind at the time, Sequential rear turn indicators, very cool, I see that on some of the fourign car’s like Audi, and others. These poor Thunderbirds were introduced just before the hideous October 1973 oil embargo. These Thunderbirds came with the 428 4 barrel carburetor, not exactly the right car of fuel Shortages that existed at the time. People couldn’t give them away, except for me I found a 1970 medium brown metallic with black cloth interior. The material was kinda like satin, it fit that back seat perfectly. I only paid $1,500 for it in the fall of 73, I sold it for the same amount in 1979. Mine had the fastback roof covered with a padded black vinyl top, the texture of the vinyl was very classy, very expensive looking. I always wished it was black on black, but like I said I really liked it. I also liked the the 74 through 76, that looked like the same period Lincoln Continental Mark IVs. I also liked the mid-80s smaller Areobirds..So you can see I really like all the Thunderbird generations. They were all very different from one another, but somehow managed to keep the traditional Thunderbird feel.
By the way, we used to call that color ‘Breakfast Yellow.” It was everywhere. I had 2 friends that both had beater Pintos that color. Also, I like the picture of just the face of the silver one in the garage It looks good in that color, but who couldn’t love that sexy bold face, although the rust at the bottom of the bumper is sad to see. Living in Southern California, that’s just not something we see on our cars. I always think of the Steven Stills song ‘Rust Never Sleeps.” Once it starts, it never stops.
Although I like the car, the one things that does bug me is that huge blind-spotty C-pillar. What if we opened that up a bit? Here’s my Photoshop attempt.
As with most things, it’s virtually impossible to view the past through today’s eyes. I remember these and similar colors as being really cool and people went for them in a big way after the decades of bland white appliances. Naturally, automobiles reflected all this, as well.
As for the car itself, the 71/72 models continued the design change that began around 67. A few years later. The T-Bird had become just another car and that was sad to see.