Your comment regarding the Thunderbird....."After failing to dethrone the Corvette as America’s sports car, Ford shifted gears and reimagined the Thunderbird into the 'luxury car with a sporty flare' that it became for the remainder of its production run.".... This isn't true. The Thunderbird was designed from the start to be a personal luxury car, placing it in a different segment than the Corvette. The original T-bird is often seen as a competitor to Corvette only because it had 2 seats (actually, 1 bench), but it was never considered a sports car. Furthermore, it outsold the Corvette in each of its first 3 years. Ford didn't change the design because it couldn't compete with Corvette; they changed the design because they wanted the larger customer base that comes with 4 seats.
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