(first posted 7/26/2013) There are so many auto myths in the world–the 150 mpg carburetor, self-healing ’69 Dodge Chargers–the list is endless. However, I am proud to say I’ve found the nirvana of Thunderbirds, the absolute creme de la creme.
It’s the Whipped Cream and Cashew Luxury Group, with the highly desirable and optional engine-venting package.
During the 1970s, Ford blessed the Thunderbird with nearly as many different specialty packages as Lincoln showered on the Mark IV. Lincolns got all the press because they are, well, Lincolns–after all, why shine the spotlight on the Mark IV’s bargain-basement sibling?
Anyone familiar with the various sagas of Thunderbird heritage likely knows that the 1972-1976 models were the ultimate in size, comfort, weight, opera windows and engine displacement. That’s a hard to act to top which Ford, to its credit, never did.
In the Thunderbird’s sixth generation, the specialty series made a memorable debut with two Luxury Groups, in both Burgundy and White-and-Gold guises, for the 1974 model year. Although the ’74 and early-’75 editions were lavished with what little media attention the Thunderbird got, the late-to-the-party Whipped Cream and Cashew Luxury Group was treated like the proverbial black sheep of the family. Sadly, its fate should not surprise anyone.
Henry Ford II loved vinyl roofs and wire wheel covers every bit as much as Lee Iacocca did, and since they worked in close proximity for a number of years, it should come as no surprise that the idea of the Whipped Cream and Cashew Luxury Group emerged from the automotive mind of Hank himself.
In 1975, the Ford methodology of naming the various luxury-group Thunderbirds was rather elemental, as with the Copper Luxury Group example pictured above. Ford’s demographic surveys at the time revealed that the most buyers of the Copper Luxury Group were chemists, plumbers and electricians. The ’75 Thunderbird (identical to this one) I once called mine was purchased new by a mailman and his schoolteacher wife, who actually did teach science and thus was solidly within the standard deviation. While taking courses in chemistry and circuit analysis at the time of my purchase, even I fell into the tentacles of this most special T-Bird.
The Silver Luxury Group was quite popular with jewelers and dentists. Interestingly, a batch of 15 Thunderbirds with the Silver Luxury Group were exported to Christchurch, New Zealand, for executives at the silver mine near the town of Ross; various reports show they are still in the executive pool, where they are highly desired for their stout engine, rugged construction and a suspension that doesn’t shake one’s kidneys loose. On occasion, they’ve even been pressed into service pulling ore trains out of the mine.
The 1974 White and Gold edition is the inspiration for our featured car. Hank and Lee thought the Thunderbird was so cool, sweet and smooth, they likened the albino versions to a bowl of vanilla ice cream. The cream and gold colors from 1974 reportedly represent toffee and butterscotch toppings on the bowl of ice cream that was the Thunderbird. Apparently, such subtle symbolism was lost on the general buying public, prompting Hank to take the nuclear option: The Whipped Cream and Cashew Luxury Group.
His orders: “Paint it white and give it a cashew-colored vinyl top. I don’t know how the hell else to get the point across without putting a freezer full of ice cream in the trunk!” Perhaps the freezer idea was strongly considered until Ford engineers pointed out it could push the car even further beyond its nearly 4,850 lb. curb weight (as a point of reference, this ‘Bird has a curb weight of only slightly more than a new Honda Odyssey minivan).
Undeterred, Hank ordered, “Well, give it more power. Damn, you work for Ford Motor Company, it shouldn’t be that hard to figure out.” With the freezer now deep-sixed, the engineers meandered forward, undeterred by any EPA regulation. (They figured Hank would be getting subpoenas before they did.) Thus came the addition of a second four-barrel carburetor, which increased the output of the 7.5-liter engine by 95 horsepower, to an even 295. Unfortunately, the 460 cu. in. V8 in these ‘Birds really produced a lot of heat. Adding a stouter radiator was prohibitively expensive, so Ford engineers devised this cool yet rather gnarly-looking engine vent.
When first subjected to the scrutiny of automotive journalism, the Whipped Cream and Cashew Luxury Group was resoundingly admonished due to its novel and unique engine vent. Although Ford engineers’ calculations for its design were comparable to those of NASA for its first moon landing, it was all to no avail. The nattering nabobs of negativism that comprise the automotive press likened its appearance to that of a woman’s press-on fingernail. Research has shown only three were produced.
No further ink was dedicated to the Whipped Cream and Cashew Luxury Group, a fact that is truly unfortunate. When my wife saw this true survivor, she exclaimed that it was nearly identical to the ’74 Thunderbird her father had purchased new. After learning that the extra power in this special ’75 made it the third-quickest accelerating 1975 automobile produced in the United States she was amazed, commenting, “Wow, my brother could have really outrun the cops that one day he picked me up from piano practice in dad’s Thunderbird.” Some questions are best left unasked.
Sadly, fate has a way of rearing its ugly head. With only three Thunderbirds getting the Whipped Cream and Cashew Luxury Group with the fabulous engine venting option, this amounted to exactly one-third of total production of this supremely rare luxury group. The reaction from the buying public was,”Hank puts cashews on ice cream? I’ll be darned. I’ve always used chopped peanuts.”
And now you know the history of this most rare and coveted of 1975 Thunderbirds.
Ha, I was right! But why?
Hi, my mother had an all white with the gold outside trim, inside gold plush fabric, the gold line on the outside was more straight Currently I am trying to find one, 1976. It was purchased from a dealer in Lorain County! Cheers!
“a batch of 15 Thunderbirds with the Silver Luxury Group were exported to Christchurch, New Zealand, for executives at the silver mine near the town of Ross.” Silly Jason, we don’t have silver mines here in New Zealand! And leave my Uncle Ross out of it!! I thought for a moment you were extracting the urine about one of my fellow countrymen’s oft-frustrating expostulations, but then I realised you couldn’t be, as two wrongs don’t make a right…! 😉
You don’t? Don’t miss out on a golden opportunity here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_New_Zealand
Ross township isnt big enough to fit 16 Lincolns in, its barely a village, but a mate of mine from the old days does manage a gold mine in that area he would import a fleet of junk like that, most of his fortune was generated bringing in ship loads of cars from Japan and exporting things like Minis back.
And this one:
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=CHP18880125.2.3.10&l=mi&e=——-10–1—-0–
Contrary to what it may seem, I actually did do extensive research for this. Good thing overseas telephone calls can be accomplished via the internet these days!
I was trying to be smart, but you caught me out Jason! I knew we mined a lot of gold, coal and ironsand, but didn’t know about the silver – although I guess where there’s gold there’s silver…! That second link is to a 125 year-old newspaper cutting though, and the majority of the places mentioned are no longer mined, but the wikipedia page made interesting reading. Note to self, don’t try to outsmart the CC writers! 😉
Most of it comes from the Martha mine in Waihi.
Oh yes, I remember reading about these. The unintended benefit of the whipped cream and cashew group was that the leather seats were kind of sticky, so you didn’t slide around in the curves with all that extra power. Didn’t Ford experiment with using marshmallows instead of springs on these? I seem to recall that they nixed the ideas because the marshmallows made the car ride too hard. It is cool that you found this rare car, undoubtedly out for a Sundae drive.
Fun read Jason, but I think it is time that you sought some professional help. I will send you the name of the therapist who has done so much for me. I used to have a problem separating fantasy from reality (and with bad puns). 🙂
Toasted marshmallows were used in the optional heavy duty suspension. 🙂
I had never thought of using toasted ones. I’ll bet that the slight crust on the outsides would give a sort of variable spring rate effect.
And they’d coordinate nicely with that vinyl top…
They used marshmallows instead of transmission fluid, for buttery smooth shifts.
Type M? 🙂
Therapist? Bad puns? Would that be Tobias Funke?
Sundae drive…..cashew resist such punning?
The CC Effect was strong yesterday. I came *that close* to stopping to shoot a T-bird of this vintage, not to mention seeing a Corvair Monza in town earlier the same day.
I had the CC effect big time yesterday too. Saw a Gen 1 Corvair Coupe in tan on the highway. It was in beautiful shape. And perhaps a CC is coming on the Toyota MR2, as I saw one Gen 1 (rough shape but rolling along) and two from Gen 2 (one had been heavily modified, but the other was red and looked to be in great shape). Keeping my eye out for one of these Big Birds. Haven’t seen one in years…
Tom K. did the MR2 in February: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-asian/curbside-classic-1986-toyota-mr2-they-call-me-mister-two/
I once purchased a well used example. It was a hoot, but that particular car had not aged very well. Ended up rolling it into a nearby low end used car lot and selling it for what the lot owner would give me for it. Boy, did he get screwed!
That’s a very well-preserved Thunderbird WCCLG, and obviously with low mileage. It still has the original “whitewalls in back/raised white letter tires in front” that gave these cars such a distinctive look.
Ugh. It makes my head hurt to know what the Thunderbird ended up as between 1955 and 1975. My seventh grade English teacher – in 1976 – told us that the T-Bird was once “a sports car, like a Corvette” (not 100% accurate, but you get the point), and all of us were SHOCKED!
Pass me the dramamine!
I’ll have some Pepto-Bismal.
I thought we’d all need “Brougham-o-seltzer”
I still can’t wrap my head around someone going into the JC Whitney catalog and ordering THAT hood scoop for this Thunderbird. Wire wheel covers and raised white letters? That’s like bremuda shorts with a double breasted jacket…
Add black socks & sandals…
I had my kidhood during the 1970s; this is what Thunderbirds were to me. I wouldn’t want one, but it’s good to see this one. I vividly remember a time when T-birds like this were common sights.
And then the Aerobird debuted and I realized what a mess the 70s had been.
I’ll have a 1972, before the bumper regulations took effect. The pre-1974 rear end on these T-Birds were the best looking FoMoCo cars of the 1970s
If this was MY T-Bird…
[cue dreamy harp music segue]
…I’d wear cashew-colored suits with a whipped-cream belt…
…have a golden retriever and a blonde wife…
…drink nothing but Kahlua and milk…
…smoke Camels until my teeth and lungs were the color of the dashboard…
If this was MY T-bird, I’d sell it and buy a poppy red ’64 Cadillac. I may also live longer, not smoking Camels and all.
Ha. I’ll stick with the Imp and black coffee.
Good call. 🙂
As I said before, a ’73 T-Bird was my father’s 2nd & last car. Both my brother & I wish that he bought a ’73 Mustang instead, even a Grande!
The dried blood and foamy diarrhea luxury groups were even less popular…..
I wonder why?
Gentlemen, please….don’t knock it before you try it. I own a ’74 with the white & gold luxury package as shown on the brochure above. The car screams seventies style and I love it. The smooth quiet ride offered by these cars is unavailable on anything made today. Yes, turns must be taken at 5 m.p.h. and gas mileage is horrendous. But in 2013 these are fun summer cars and should be respected for their never-to-return combination of two-door styling, standard vinyl roofs, 2.5 ton weight, classy hood ornament, and soft padded everthing interiors. And I am not being sarcastic.
Thank you. I did indeed have a ’75 Thunderbird and you are spot on with your analysis of your ’74.
Sure, I am poking fun at the myriad luxury groups that were offered. But from the standpoint of a smooth ride, an interior that is quiet as a tomb, and a drivetrain that is as stout as a 3/4 ton pickup, these cannot be beat.
Had the subject car not had the hood-scoop this may have been a novella expressing the infinite fine point points of this car that are too frequently overlooked. But, with the hood scoop, all bets were off!
Somewhere there’s a ’78-’79 Z28 running around with padded vinyl top. opera lamps, hood ornament, whitewalls, wire wheelcovers, pillow-top split bench seat, and column-shift automatic. Oh yeah, it’s missing a hood scoop.
The only way I could envision something like this occurring is if a carb fire blistered the paint and this was cheap way of covering up the damage.
Amazing find! I never knew about these Thunderbirds. It’s amazing that this one appears to be a daily driver. I wonder if the owner knows it’s only one of three ever produced.
I love posts like these. For starters, they’re quite amusing. But what what really tickles my funny bone is that, judging from the comments, the irony is lost on so many readers!
It’s not.
When I worked at Dairy Queen, the owner had one of those rare Cashew and Creme Thunderbirds, but not with the hood vent. I’m not certain that the hood is original SVO issue.
The last time I was there, about five or six years ago, he had it restored and found an even rarer 1975 Mercury Cougar XRT with the Peanut Buster Parfait Luxury Group!
xr 7, in blue with Chamois Viynl top…. 77-79, Looked great with Black Paint ,not so with green, a psuedo bill blass for the everyman
Jason, This is truly an amazing find, given that only three were ever made. I’ve long dreamed of such an encounter, but assumed they had all been melted down by now. Your most excellent and detailed write-up rivals anything that our friend at ateupwithmotor has ever done. I’m going to nominate this article to the Automotive Historian’s Society for consideration of their annual “Silver Knock-Off Spinner” award. I think you have an excellent shot at it.
You’ve come a long way in your historical write-ups, and have made me very proud today.
Paul, thank you so much for the kind words and especially the nomination. It humbles me to know I’ve been able to make such a profound impact in such a short time. Perhaps I finally know what I want to do when I grow up.
It’s a very lucrative profession. I’m sure your wife will understand if you quit your current job and just go for it…
As impressed as I am with the color-keyed “landau” bodyside moldings how much more would it have taken to do the bumper rub strips too?
Jason, late to the party here, but you stopped me in my tracks when I read in your text: “Whipped cream…”
My brain froze and below was my initial thought:
Sweet, huh? …Oh… the car? Who cares. I hated faux luxury back then. Still do. Good shape, though. Pardon my myopia toward certain brands, but that’s how I felt back then as my buddies and I were into Jeeps and trucks, camping and hunting/shooting.
Does the title of the article also apply here?
Ha ha! If it doesn’t, it should!
Great article once my brain thawed!
My friend found this album along with dozens of others in the basement of the house he bought!
Damn it that album cover made me… hungry. 😛
Don’t you mean “horney”?
Believe-it-or-not, as a 14-15-16-year-old teenager, I was really in to Herb Alpert’s music, as were many others my age in that era. I also had this LP.
Many times my friends and I just stared at that album cover for what seemed forever…
I was and am a big fan of the TJB. My Mother would be playing these around the house as I came home from school. Well produced records with the best session people in L.A. at the time (the “Wrecking Crew” guys who played on the Spector sessions and for Brian Wilson in the studio).
Count me as one of your brothers from another mother. I was born in 1960. My parents bought one of those stereo consoles shortly after FM radio was invented. Mom promptly joined the Columbia record club( if your under 40 years of age you wouldn’t understand) and I swear those two(both mom and dad) quickly amassed a nice record collection. Lets see along with the entire A&M collection there was Roy Orbison,Nancy Sinatra and a few Ray Coniff records.Oh and I cant forget Bert Bacharach. Lots of others I can’t even remember. I still have most of the TJ Brass albums hiding somewhere. One of my friends tried to steal that album. Still swears to this day that you could make out a faint impression of a nipple on that cover. Got a kick when the movie :http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1307068/ came out. One of the albums the Kiera Knightley character has is the TJ Brass album “The Lonely Bull”.
I believe it: I still have all of these LPs around here somewhere. Herb Alpert and Hugh Hefner led the way to the good life in the 60’s.
Zackman, by buying those albums you and your friends contributed to the future of music education:
http://www.schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/
I’ve got that album, on vinyl, no less. Always did like me some Herb Alpert… and that cover, too.
While this reply is SEVERAL years tardy, I had to comment.I got a gently-used copy online, recently. The reason? I, always, had wanted a copy of the title track…known, also, as the bachelorette intro music, on “The Dating Game.”
Here is the story of that cover.
Importing cars thru Christchurch now theres a novel idea. Since the Americans opened their Antarctic supply base there the flow of rare vintage cars has been basicly one way, out not in though we get many transient cars in NewZealand they get shipped in to specialists for restoration then mailed back again.
Count me in with the Nattering Naboobs; this scoop looks horrible. Don’t get me wrong, the fact that you found an extant example of a car that was originally one of only *three* is amazing to me for the sheer improbability of it all. For that reason alone, along with all its delicious Brougham-yness, it deserves a write-up.
But that doesn’t mean the scoop doesn’t look horrible. Blech! 🙁
For your sake I hope that Lee Iacocca doesn’t read this comment. He was much more involved with the Whipped Cream and Cashew Luxury Edition than the author suggests.
Indeed, one rumor that has long wafted through Ford is that during better times Lee and Henry liked to sit in one of these models and eat ice cream. Stories vary as to whether they stuck with cashew nuts.
Hard to say what’s true, but one thing’s for certain: Henry loved ice cream so much that he repeatedly pressed for an ice cream maker as an option on top-end cars like the T-Bird. Imagine how many careers were ended when Henry was told that such an option was not technically feasible or wouldn’t pay back. Caldwell survived only because he kept on blaming suppliers for a seemingly endless string of missed deadlines.
No offense to the mid-westerners (and my Dad’s side of the family all come from Missouri/Illinois), but it seems that for years, lots of the guys out there would take a nice vehicle and ‘ruin’ it with glue on scoops, rear spring shackles extensions, phony side pipes, low-rent brand tires (i.e. the “Drag-Rite” 60 and 50 series belted tires from the ’70s) and all this other crap. An Audrain County farm kid going ape shit at the Coast-to-Coast store or with the J.C. Whitney catalog.
None of my business really what someone does with a vehicle, and maybe I’m looking at this with the hindsight glasses as you probably never realize what you have until its gone anyway . . . .
This one is almost as bad as the ’73 Fury coupe in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot . . .
It certainly wasn’t limited to mid-westerners we saw a fair amount of that on the west coast too.
I live two counties away from Audrain County and have been there more times than I can count.
There is reason to doubt any thought on this stemming from somebody in a rural area customizing this ‘Bird…I found it in Kansas City, not too far from Harry Truman’s home. I’ve seen a difference between urban and rural upgrades.
Too bad its hood is on upside down! NACA ducts don’t work very well that way.
It looks like it came from a Starsky & Hutch episode.
True, I almost expect some baddies to come screeeeeching around the corner in a black Lincoln Continental firing Saturday Night Specials.
These T-Birds belong in Boogie Nights alongside Burt’s Caddy.
I got a sample late-70’s Z28 hood scoop from GM’s vendor at one point in my career when I was designing an SMC (sheet molding compound) part. I kept it for years, thinking it might be fun to do something with it, but I never owned a TBird. Though we did have a beige Westfalia with a white pop top …
A few years ago I had a close look at a 1976 T-Bird “Lipstick Edition”, member of the Luxury Group. It had a white leather interior with red accents. Hence the name “Lipstick” I guess ?
Picture, or it didn’t happen. This one:
When you talked about engine venting I thought there was T-birds with the thermostatically controlled fender louvers of the Continental Marks! Now that would be RARE…
The 460 c.i. in this thing could pull the house behind it. I’m biased but I think Ford quality then was a hair better than Chrysler or GM. It starts on the first try all the time, everytime and sometimes I only pull it out in good weather once a month or so. Lots of history these cars have.
When I was a kid the neighbors had a white and cashue t bird just like this but no scoop. It rusted badly and was junked in about 1984.
I’m pretty sure that is isn’t an automotive website, it’s a long term therapy group…
I am kind of bipolar about this one – I love it and hate it at the same time. So this place is just what I need.
The 1972 model was enormous, but fairly clean overall. It got glitzed up for 1973, and the battering-ram bumpers added insult to injury.
*Hilarious.* I saw this was a repost and assumed I had read it before, which as it turns out I hadn’t. So glad I took the time – and now I’m hungry for some kind of dessert.
It must have been hoot working for Ford in the early 70’s! I lived in Detroit at that time with both Ford and GM neighbors who actually loved their jobs!
Some Lincolns had 2 heater cores, but this T-turd was the only model I ever worked on that needed 2 alternators.
The gold tinted heated windshield option that included the 2nd alternator would totally complete the cream & cashew effect.
I couldn’t imagine being a Ford engineer or designer, assigned to this platform. An automobile that was so severely out-of-touch with the times.
I looked for the (first posted 4/1/xxxx) but couldn’t find it.
This is a great article!
We own a 1978 Diamond Jubilee Thunderbird and I thought it was over the top!!!
Re-watching Bob Mayer’s report on a 75 Thunderbird is a reminder of the awful quality of cars in the era: