Instruments are beautifully rendered in the T-Bird, much like the 1955 car, with long Sea Foam Green needles pointing the way instead of red, white or black needles. The center stack, that portion of the instrument panel at the center of the dash that carries the vents, the sound system controls and the heating, ventilation and air conditioning controls, is taken almost directly from the Lincoln LS, one of the Thunderbird's two sister cars (the other is the Jaguar S-Type) it's made up of five different small panels, though it appears that one nicely done cover panel for all five elements would have sufficed. Two reasonably comfortable bucket seats are independently adjustable with power switches located on the side of the seat. Because this is a two-seater, with a sort of open cargo bay and a wall behind the two seats, there are limits to the adjustability of the seats, and if you are very tall or very long in the torso, the car will not fit you well with either the soft convertible top or the removable hard top in place. The trunk is big enough, despite the small numbers, to carry two golf bags, but that's about it. This car is made for what Ford calls 'relaxed sportiness,' a term we translate into 'cruising.' It's sporty looking, but it is not a sports car by any stretch of the imagination. The exterior design is extremely smooth, to the eye at least, but the wind tunnel says it has a drag coefficient of 0.38, which is quite high these days when a Mercedes sedan cheats the wind with a rating of 0.28. The new Thunderbird features design aspects of the original 1955 car, the 1962 car, and some other, earlier Thunderbirds, but Ford doesn't want to talk about this car in terms of 'retro' design because it has so much modern equipment going for it. Only four options are available for the new roadster: all-speed traction control ($230) a Black Accent Package ($295) featuring high-gloss black accents on the steering wheel and shifter) the Partial Color Accent Package ($595) with color inserts in the seats, steering wheel, and shifter and the Full Color Accent Package ($800), which adds color accents to the lower instrument panel, center console and door trim panels. Traction control and 17-inch wheel and tires are standard on the Premium models. Thunderbird comes four ways: The Deluxe, or base, model without the removable top ($34,965) Premium without the removable top ($35,965) Deluxe convertible with the removable top ($37,465) or Premium convertible with removable top ($38,465). (Destination charge adds $530.) The first choice the buyer will have to make is whether he or she wants to opt for the hard top with its trademark porthole, a $2500 option that must be ordered when the car is ordered as you won't be able to buy it separately from the dealership later. The hard top is not easy to remove or install even with two people, so you might want to skip the expense and the storage problem.
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