Since we’ve been talking a lot about oddball Cougars and T-Birds lately—Fairmont Birds, Cougar station wagons, and all sorts of other automotive marketing craziness—I just have to share this four-door ’71 T-Bird Landau sedan. It was posted to the Cohort by whitewall buick, who’s known around these here parts as GG. So here it is: The Fabulous Bunkie Brougham ‘Bird.
The four-door ‘Bird was designed to fill the gap left by the departure of the last Flair Bird convertible, in 1966. Convertible sales for that year had dwindled to a mere 5,049 units, and Ford hoped that a new sedan model would prove to be a satisfactory replacement for the drop top. Its success in that role would be debatable, but for now a very Continental-like T-Bird sedan was available to buyers so inclined.
By 1970, T-Birds wore Bunkie-mandated rhinoplasty that left them looking rather Pontiac-like up front. The Pontiac-esque look was most certainly intentional, considering that Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen, the soon-to-be-departed FoMoCo president and son of former GM President William “Big Bill” Knudsen, had come to Ford from Pontiac Motor Division. In combination, the absence of hidden headlights and the pronounced beak made for a virtually all-new appearance, at least on the coupes. All in all, it was a rather sleek affair.
While the coupes sported new rear quarters and a revised roof line (CC here), the sedans were far more similar to the 1967-69 models. Do those wheel covers look familiar? If so, it’s because their run lasted all the way to the 1987 Mercury Grand Marquis, although they weren’t seen as frequently as the de riguer wire wheel covers optional on ’80s GMs.
As you’d expect, there were lots and lots of options available, including a power sunroof, which was then an unusual option for an American car. Another, even more unusual option was the high-mounted rear lights (shown bottom-row center on the left page). I’d never even heard of that one. Perhaps it’s where Oldsmobile got the idea for the auxiliary brake lights on the 1971-78 Toronado?
image: artandcolour.blogspot.com
Nineteen seventy-one was largely a carryover year, and only a new grille and changes to some minor fillips differentiated the ’71s from the previous year’s models. The four-door Landau had never been a huge seller; its best year had been inaugural-year 1967, with 24,967 sales. Sales dwindled further in subsequent years, totaling 8,401 in 1970; and a mere 6,553 in 1971, the final year for the four-door Landau.
As you might expect, the 1971 T-Birds included lots of standard features, among them a 429 cu in, 360-hp V8 that breathed through a Motorcraft four-barrel carb. Other standard equipment included power front disc/rear drum brakes, SelectShift Cruise-O-Matic transmission, AM radio, electric clock and teak wood grain interior accents.
While regular Thunderbird coupes wore a steel top, Landau coupes and sedans (all sedans were Landaus) came with a Cayman-grain vinyl roof. The vinyl top and landau irons played an especially important role on the sedan, on which they partially concealed the cut lines of its reverse-opening doors.
Part of the Landau’s door, complete with vinyl covering and chrome trim, blended into the roof (as would Chrysler’s M-body Fifth Avenue a decade later). Frankly, a steel-topped T-Bird sedan would have looked pretty strange.
In the end, a four-door T-Bird just didn’t (pardon the pun) fly. Although Ford may not have built as many of them as they’d hoped, it was nevertheless an interesting idea–and love them or hate them, these certainly are interesting Thunderbirds.
Despite the Broughamtastic interior trim and simulated wood everywhere, Thunderbirds still had full instrumentation, including ammeter, oil pressure and temperature gauges.
If that instrument panel looks somewhat similar to the Mark III’s, it’s because the Bunkie Birds shared the same chassis. Actually, the T-Bird came first, and later was adapted to become the personal-luxury Connie. The lower instrument panel with the A/C vents looks almost identical; so does the steering wheel, with a Thunderbird applique in place of the Continental star.
According to GG, he came upon this pastel green ‘Bird at an estate auction in Hill City, Kansas. It appears to be well-loved and cared-for, as it should be considering its rarity. I may be in the minority, but I’ve always liked the four-door T-Birds. This one was awfully nice, as indicated by its $5,350 selling price–which actually isn’t all that far from the original MSRP of $5,516. Here’s hoping it went to a good home!
Related reading: CC 1970 Thunderbird Sportsback: What Bunkie Took With Him On His Way Out The Door (Laurence Jones)
I never saw the high mounted stop lights.
The driveshaft fits a Mark III so this is the same formula GM used on the GP.
Take a four door and make it a coupe with a long nose.
Some of us were driving sensible cars at that time.
I don’t mean to politicize yet another thing, but I’d wager the original owner was all for the illegal tragedy in Vietnam.
Amazing to think a person’s choice of car more than 1/2 century ago reveals their political opinions.
Must be complicated for Tesla owners though. One minute they’re solidly for Harris. The next minute they’re switching to Trump.
No mention of the mileage or current mechanical condition but seems like a very fair price if the underside is free of major rust and it runs well. I do like them, the 4 door styling has been very well adapted to the body configuration imo.
I recall my dad bringing one home as a loaner car (while, maybe our 69 country squire was at Ford while they tried to diagnose its powertrain issues).
I recall being fascinated by the rear doors, the luxurious seating surfaces, the power window control panel, and the rectangular a/c vents which were cast metal, not plastic.
I also recall the car felt a bit dark and claustrophobia inducing in the rear seat (if I had been older I might have thought “secluded and good for making out”.
Kind of unusual to see a split bench seat in a T Bird, one of the first American cars to pioneer front bucket seats starting in `58.
A four-door T-Bird may have sold better starting in the ’90s when the notion of sedans=dowdy finally withered away.
What are all the vents/louvres below the rear window for? It looks almost big enough to feed air to a rear engine.
These were fairly common when new, more popular than the suicide-door Lincolns.
The ultimate expression of the “Bunkie Beak” was definitely found on the ’70 and ’71 T-Bird, but was also noticeable on the ’69 and ’70 LTD and XL. Most of the time when you see an old one of these still on the road the beak has been flattened, at least somewhat, by a low-speed collision.
The idea for a 4-door personal luxury car was not a bad idea, but it was difficult to define, articulate, execute and market. The concept was continued with the advent of the “4-door coupe” (cars like the Mercedes-Benz CLS and the BMW 6-series Gran Coupe).
I’m of the opinion that the 4 door T-Bird preceded the Cadillac Seville in demonstrating that some domestic luxury car buyers preferred a more svelte size 4 door sedan than the large cars offered. In comparing the dimensions of the two, they are very close.
I remember seeing quite a few at the time. My best friend’s father traded in his ’64 Bonneville for a ’68 4 door T-Bird and a neighbor down the street traded in his ’65
Riviera for a ’67 4 door.
I think the beak looks good on the 70-71 two door models after all doesn’t a bird have a beak. But to me it doesn’t look right on the 4 door for those model years nor the ’71 Landau.
The original ’76 Seville with its big 5-mph bumpers was 204.9 inches long. The ’68 T-Bird 4-door was 209.4 inches long and by ’72 (with the addition of the beak) it grown to 215.0 inches long, which is still a bit smaller than many of the other full-sized luxury sedans of the time which had all grown to around 230 inches or so long.
In addition to the Seville, some other examples of an almost 4-door personal luxury car might be the downsized ’61 Lincoln Continental and the first generation Oldsmobile Aurora.
The styling of the 4-door T-bird always kind of bugged me. Specifically, the way the rear door has the rear part of the window area blocked out to make it appear that is is part of the rear C-pillar. Then the way it is styled to fit under the fake landau iron. It is kind of fussy and complicated. IMHO, it’s not an example of a “good” design.