This week for Fan Car Friday  we bring you Michael and his 1974 Ford Thunderbird.  Fan Car Friday is a segment where we want to share with the world the automobiles that our fans have. We have absolutely no affiliation/relationship with the cars, the build or the owners. This post was made with written consent from the owner.

“Here are some pictures of my 1974 Thunderbird. I bought the car brand new and drove it every day for about 15 years. This is one of 1000 T-birds that Ford manufactured with some experimental features at the time. It has a dual alternator, anti-lock brakes and front and rear de-icer using gold as the conductor so it has no grid lines. The interior is 100% original and in excellent condition. New tires were put on in 2017 and the original spare tire is in the trunk, never used. The car has an 8 track quadraphonic sound system and I still have the demo 8 track that Ford included with the car!
I started restoring the car in the late 90s with the intention of giving it to my father when he retired because he always loved the car. Unfortunately, my dad passed away before I was able to finish the restoration. I spent about 20 years restoring the car, including an original vinyl top, original paint color, and new shocks and struts. The body has 103,000 miles on it, engine and transmission has less than 3,000. The numbers do match. The car has always been in SC with no exposure to salt and has always been kept in either a carport or garage (garage for past 25 years). Windows work, A/C works, but needs to be charged, electric antenna needs to be rebuilt. Everything else works, including the clock.“

The sixth generation of the Ford Thunderbird is a large personal luxury coupe that was produced by Ford for the 1972 to 1976 model years. A counterpart of the Lincoln Continental Mark IV, this generation of the Thunderbird was the largest ever produced; weighing in at over 5,000 pounds (2,268 kg), they are also the heaviest coupes ever produced by Ford (aside from its Mark IV counterpart).

In terms of styling, the sixth-generation Thunderbird would heavily influence the styling of the 1974–1976 Mercury Cougar XR7 and Ford Elite, the latter of which was replaced by the seventh-generation Thunderbird in 1977.

1974 saw more changes made in response to new federal regulations. Replacing the seatbelt interlock, a buzzer would sound if both front seatbelts weren’t buckled; the addition of 5-mph bumpers to the rear added still more curb weight. While the 429 V8 was replaced by the more powerful 460 V8 sourced from Lincoln-Mercury, it now required the use of unleaded gasoline; a low-fuel warning light was added to the dashboard. The gas filler door was moved from behind the license plate to the driver’s side rear panel. While looking similar to the 1960s sequential taillights, the new-full width taillights were of a conventional design separated by a central reverse light.

1974 was the first year for special luxury group trim options, the burgundy luxury group ($411) and the white and gold luxury group ($546). These groups added upgraded paint and exterior and interior trim. Standard equipment remained unchanged but there were several new items listed as optional. Some of the most notable, and costly, included power moon roof ($798), auto lamp for automatic on/off of headlights [3] ($34), and power mini-vent windows ($70). AM/FM stereo ($152) or with tape player ($311), power drivers seat ($105), dual power front seats ($210), rear window defroster ($85), power antenna ($31), automatic temperature control ($74), and front cornering lights ($43) also appeared on the option list.

Base price was $7,221 and 58,443 cars were produced for the model year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Thunderbird_(sixth_generation)

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