Ford comes to Town



FORD BRINGS ‘LIVING LEGENDS’ TO TOWN AS PART OF SWEEPING U.S., CANADIAN TOUR

The award-winning duo of the Ford Thunderbird and Mustang collectively has wowed customers for more than a century. This summer, Ford is making sure fans throughout the U.S. and Canada can appreciate exciting new models of these cars along with a legend in the making – the world’s best-selling car, Ford Focus.
 “Thunderbird and Mustang are ‘living legends’ that have earned a place in pop culture by stealing moments not only on our roads, but on the small and silver screens and in the music scene,” says Chris Theodore, vice president of North American Car. “These new models put the romance back into car ownership and, along with the Focus, will elicit heart-pounding excitement that comes only when a car drives as good as it looks.”
 
Ford is sponsoring a summer road trip throughout 48 American states and several Canadian provinces featuring:
· The all-new Thunderbird, which returns to the Ford lineup after a five-year hiatus and emerges as a modern interpretation of the 1955-57 roadster.
· The Mustang Bullitt GT, which is a special-edition Ford Mustang designed to recall the classic 1968 Mustang fastback that starred along with Steve McQueen in the 1968 action film called Bullitt.
· The Ford Focus, which is the first car in history to capture both European and North American Car of the Year awards.
 
The Thunderbird Tale
Thunderbird debuted in 1955. The two-seat roadster quickly achieved celebrity status. The car maintained customer appeal while changing with the times and spanning five decades and dozens of design changes. For 42 years, from 1955 to 1997, Thunderbirds of many shapes and sizes graced the American road. Yet one era stood out among them all in the fond memories of automotive enthusiasts – the ‘50s.
 
Although there are Thunderbird fan clubs for all models, those first two-seat ‘birds of 1955 through 1957 made their indelible mark on the memories of not only owners and collectors, but on a nation. Immortalized in movies and on the small screen, the original Thunderbirds created a style all to themselves that was never quite repeated or replaced.
 
In the automotive industry and elsewhere, the old saying holds true: “You can’t go home again.” You can, however, go forward. Ford’s 2002 Thunderbird represents the best of both worlds – design cues that started an American love affair with the original roadster and the technology of 21st century – making it a modern motoring icon.
 
The 2002 Ford Thunderbird goes on sale later this summer with prices starting at $35,495 (including $530 for destination and delivery). Ford expects to sell approximately 25,000 of the two-seat roadsters in the first year.
 
The new Thunderbird features a 252-horsepower 3.9-liter V-8 engine, five-speed automatic transmission, 17-inch aluminum wheels and comes in five colors – Whisper White, Torch Red, Inspiration Yellow, Evening Black and Thunderbird Blue.
 
Looking at the Pony Car
The Ford Mustang motored onto the automotive scene on April 17, 1964, at the New York World’s Fair.  With its low profile, long hood and short-rear-deck styling, Mustang promised performance, panache and enough options for buyers to express their own personality. Mustang came in three models – hardtop, fastback or convertible – and could be equipped with a range of powerplants ranging from a standard six-cylinder to a competition-level, high-performance
271 horsepower 289-cubic-inch V-8.
 
Although Ford only expected to sell 100,000 Mustangs the first year, dealers took 22,000 orders the first day. Mustang went on to sell 418,812 that year. Today, the new generation Mustang outsells every other car in the hotly contested small-specialty segment. Mustang is also the best-selling convertible in America.
 
For 2001, Ford rekindles some of the Mustang excitement from the past with the special-edition Mustang Bullitt GT. The Mustang Bullitt GT is designed to pay homage to the memory of the 1968 Mustang fastback driven by the late Steve McQueen in the movie Bullitt. In his Mustang, McQueen’s character, Lt. Frank Bullitt chased bad guys during a gripping 10-minute scene through the streets of San Francisco with no dialog to interfere with the sounds of the roaring engine and screeching tires. Many aficionados consider it the greatest movie-car-chase scene, an honor made more impressive by the fact that McQueen himself did his own stunt-driving.
 
The 2001 Mustang Bullitt GT boasts an enhanced 4.6-liter V-8 that produces 265-horsepower. The car features unique body scoops and an aluminum fuel door. The four-wheel disc brake rotors are adorned with red-painted brake calipers, which can be seen through the five spokes of the unique steel wheels. The interior features special seat styling, a retro-styled instrument cluster and aluminum-bezel gauges and shifter boot along with aluminum clutch, brake and accelerator pedals. 
 
The Ford Focus Story
The Ford Focus was introduced in North America in 2000, a year after its debut in Europe. Focus has become the best-selling car in the world. The 2001 Focus offers a package of performance, comfort and contemporary styling in a small car that will continue to attract young buyers.
“Focus has done exactly what we wanted it to do,” says Jim O’Connor, president of Ford Division. “It has strengthened our overall car lineup by giving us a model that is proving extremely popular with young buyers.”
Focus joins the new Thunderbird and Mustang Bullitt GT on the “Living Legends Tour” this summer. Focus has made a major impact in the automotive industry, not just in overall units sold, but also in its ability to woo younger buyers who might not be ready to buy a more expensive Mustang or Thunderbird.
Focus offers a very high level of standard and optional comfort and convenience features. The long wheelbase and spacious interior of Focus provide impressive passenger comfort, and the high roofline allows exceptional front and rear head room.
Focus currently is available in three body styles in the U.S. and Canada: a three-door hatch, four-door sedan and four-door station wagon. This fall, a ZX5 five-door model joins the lineup. The Focus sedan and wagon are manufactured in Wayne, Mich. The Focus ZX3 and ZX5 are manufactured in Hermosillo, Mexico.