Corvette and Thunderbird models debuted in the 1950s

The first great American sports car out of the starting gate was the Chevrolet Corvette in late 1953. It was a bit of a sputtering beginning, however. Chevy manufactured 300 Corvettes that year and sold 183 of them, according to automotive writer Greg Fink.

The 1953 two-seat Corvette came in one color – white – with a red interior. It’s been a steady climb for Corvette and its loyal customers.

More than 80 models of Corvettes over the years are on display at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky. The facility opened in 1994. It’s an attraction within the confines of the “Kentucky bourbon trail.”

Visitors to the museum are quick to learn that the 1953 Corvette emblem introduced the concept of crossed flags. The original logo contained a black-and-white checkered racing flag and an American flag.

Just four days before the Corvette was introduced to the public, the logo had to be changed at the last minute to correct an oversight. Usage of the American flag on a commercial product is forbidden under the U.S. Code of Etiquette.

It was hastily replaced by a flag featuring the Chevy bowtie symbol and a symbol called a “fleur-de-lis” (flower of the lily), which is a symbol of “peace and purity.”

Chevrolet officials wanted to use a family crest from the ancestry of Louis-Joseph Chevrolet but…dagnabbit…they couldn’t find one, so designers settled on the fleur-de-lis because of its French origin.

Meanwhile, over at Ford, executives were hustling to develop a sports car to compete head-to-head with the Corvette. Ford brought in Franklin Quick Hershey to head the design team. Formerly with General Motors, Hershey was the inventor of the famous tail fins that adorned the 1948 Cadillacs, which became the rage of the industry throughout the decade of the 1950s. Hershey was a “rock star” in his era.

Veteran automotive journalist Mark Rechtin wrote that Henry Ford II decided to have a contest for employees to name the new car that Hershey and crew designed. Ultimately, the winner was a young Ford stylist, Alden “Gib” Giberson, who submitted “Thunderbird.”

Rechtin wrote that Giberson said “the legend of the Thunderbird was well known” in the American Southwest. “The Thunderbird ruled the sky and was a divine helper of man. The great wings – invisible to mortal man – created the winds and the thunder and provided rains in the arid desert, where fate had brought the Native Americans.”

“The Thunderbird entered production for the 1955 model year as a sporty two-seat convertible, but it was not marketed as a sports car. Rather, Ford positioned the Thunderbird as an upscale, ‘personal luxury car,’” Rechtin said.

Giberson created the graphics for the new Thunderbird logo, which featured a majestic wingspan and turquoise inlay.

Bill Wilson of Motor1.com, a website serving the automotive and motor sports industries, said Thunderbird had gained the upper hand as early as 1957. More than 20,000 Thunderbirds were sold in 1957, compared to about 700 Corvettes, he said.

“While the Chevy vehicle emphasized speed, the Ford team considered performance part of an overall approach that included upscale touches,” Wilson commented.

The look and feel of Thunderbirds and Corvettes would drift far afield in ensuing years. Ford decided to discontinue the 10th generation Thunderbird in 1997.

After a five-year hiatus, Ford brought back a version of the Thunderbird in 2002 with a return to the original formula for the Thunderbird, a two-seat coupe or convertible layout, but with “retrofuturistic” styling. Sales were less than stellar, so the Thunderbird line was discontinued again in 2005.

Thunderbird Appreciation Day is celebrated each year in May. Thunderbird enthusiasts should plug in at performance.ford.com.

Ford wasn’t on the ropes, by any means. It still had the Mustang (introduced in 1965) to chip away at the Corvette. Coming soon!