This will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Right now, the only mid/full sized 4 door car that says "Buy Me!" is the Pontiac G8 GT.

 

Really......I didn't know they stopped production on the Avalon. Thats kinda strange considering they don't have anything else to fill that segment. As for the Accord.....I've sat in the new one and they can classify as whatever they want to but its not anywhere near as roomy as the other fullsized cars.

 

The original Mustang owes a lot of it's heritage to the Thunderbird. The 1958 Thunderbird debuted the look of the twin pod dash and hardtop roofline which was used later on the Mustang. The proportions of the Thunderbird are the same as the Mustang, just scaled down. The Mustang took a Falcon dash, put a twin brow pad on the top and put in a set of round guages. The 1967 Mustang added a few more elements from the 1958-63 Tbird which includes protruding round gauge bezels, ribbed aluminum finish across the dash and on the console, and even similar typeface on the gauges. The shape of the dash pad was more aggressive on the 1958 Tbird and if you look closely there is a remarkable resemblence to the pad on the 1969-70 Mustangs.





The Mustang's high wide mouth grille style can also be see on old late 50's Tbird design studies. The 1965-66 Thunderbird

The 1964-66 Thunderbird dashes were beautiful and very interesting as well... To me the whole 1958-66 era of Tbird dashes and consoles were the most beautiful of all time...



It seems the 1964-66 Tbird dash and console design may have inspired the 1982-93 Camaros and Firebirds...

The 1968 Shelby and GT/CS lifted the taillamps right from the 1965 Thunderbird with the bezels.

 

I seem to remember that the '64 T-Bird had the "swing-away" steering wheel, too, to aid entry and egress.

Pretty cool. Those were lovely cars.

 

I am seriously passionate about old Mustangs, Thunderbirds, Cougars and several other Fords including fastback and sportroof models. The new Mustang is the only car left in the world that has the same timeless looks, detail and proportions that evokes those passions.

It's a shame I feel nothing for any other new Ford, Lincoln or Mecury produced today.