If you were in your peak earning years with your best days behind you, how much would you pay to relive them? Volkswagen found the lucrative answer to this question in 1998 when hordes of Americans started dropping down as much as 30 big ones for the modernized version of a certain insect-inspired automobile, even though dealers were only asking for 15.
Ford thought they'd take their own stab at the nostalgia business. As the company that invented mass production, there are quite a few last-century icons that wear the blue oval. For a revival subject, why not use a car famous enough to have been the subject of Beach Boys songs, starred in George Lucas movies, and has been gone long enough to be missed? Why not indeed. In 2002, the Thunderbird was reborn.
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