On July 1, 2005, the last Thunderbird sports car rolled off a Ford Motor assembly line. American sports cars were built after WWII to counter the sleek European sports cars that officers during the war drove in Europe. The Beach Boys elevated the Thunderbird to pop- culture status by including it in the lyrics of their ’64 hit single “Fun Fun Fun” (“she’ll have fun, fun, fun ’til her daddy takes the T-Bird away”). Ford discontinued the Thunderbird in 1997 but a retro design was brought out for nostalgia buffs in 2002. It was discontinued again in 2005.
