The front suspension employed coil springs located above the upper wishbones. The engineering work for the 1961 went into its completely redesigned chassis. Body construction now followed the “dual unitized” principle, with separate front and rear sections welded together at the cowl. It retained a 113-inch wheelbase and 52.5 inch height., but was half an inch shorter and about an inch narrower overall. The third generation Bird was not greatly changed in dimensions from the 1958-60 series. The unique “swing away” steering wheel of the ’61 Bird moved 10 inches laterally to the right (with transmission in park) to assist in entering and exiting. Two individual compartments separated by a prominent console, which swept forward to the dash, curved left and right meeting the doors and continuing around on the door panels. Careful attention was paid to the interior design the emphasis was to delineate the positions of the driver and front seat passenger. The original 1961 front end was a bit on the chromey side, and remained so through grille insert revisions for 19. The 1958-1960 “Squarebird” roofline was retained, but in a more rounded rendition. Ford coined a new slogan for the ’61 that perfectly described it: “Unique in All the World.” What they got was a larger, sleeker interpretation of the personal luxury theme, so successfully established by the 1958-60 design. None of this mattered much to Thunderbird fanciers, who this year had an all new version of their car to drool over. In this form, the 390 was the new standard and only powerplant for the new Thunderbird. Dubbed the Thunderbird Special 390 V-8, it produced the same 300 bhp as the previous top-tune 352, but packed more torque (427 lbs/ft versus 381 lbs/ft, both developed at a lazy 2,800 rpms. The new 390 V-8 was essentially an enlarged version of the 352, created by stretching bore 0.05 inch to 4.05 and lengthening stroke 0.28 inch to 3.78. Headlining the Ford lineup for 1961 was the all new third-generation Thunderbird.
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