My boss has a fully loaded (4.6L/4R70W) '96 Thunderbird, champagne exterior with beige leather interior. It's only got 32,000 miles on it and is literally babied, garage kept and everything. It looks gorgeous to say the very least and it felt like I went back to the day it rolled off the line. Not one scratch, not one dent and the headlights are not even hazed. Heck there were even no swirls in the paint.
We had a short conversation, then went for a spin. Back in the day, we had a '95 Grand Marquis in the family and this brought back memories - nice and thick carpeting, thick leather seats and a pillow soft ride to match.
After the ride, I mentally compared it to all the Panthers and other cars we had in the family. Option and trim wise, the closest matching one was my '03 Grand Marquis LS Premium. It was a 2002 production model (which meant it wasn't decontented) and loaded all the way (LS Ultimate with digital dashboard wasn't available in this market at the time), complete with the Handling Package. Comparing it to the Thunderbird, everything in the Marquis feels low grade - the leather seats weren't as thick, the carpets was very thin, headliner felt like cardboard and the interior plastics were thinner and flimsy. My '01 Grand Marquis is a bit better, but not nearly as good as this '96 Thunderbird.
With all the useless options and such we have these days, and these "driver aids" people depend on so much - case in point, some lady I saw the other day depending on parking sensors to park her Yukon XL Denali. She could barely see over the steering wheel and she reversed right onto the curb - it seems the actual quality has gone down. Maybe not for all manufacturers, but at least for Ford I feel it has.
Nobody cares about how thick the carpeting is, or how thick and cushiony the seats are these days. It's all about options and features these days. Some of it, like ABS, I can understand because it helps. But lane change warnings, parking sensors, rearview cameras...it's almost as if auto manufacturers are catering to cover up people's lack of driving skills. How many people can even drive stick these days?
Anyhow, just an observation.
We had a short conversation, then went for a spin. Back in the day, we had a '95 Grand Marquis in the family and this brought back memories - nice and thick carpeting, thick leather seats and a pillow soft ride to match.
After the ride, I mentally compared it to all the Panthers and other cars we had in the family. Option and trim wise, the closest matching one was my '03 Grand Marquis LS Premium. It was a 2002 production model (which meant it wasn't decontented) and loaded all the way (LS Ultimate with digital dashboard wasn't available in this market at the time), complete with the Handling Package. Comparing it to the Thunderbird, everything in the Marquis feels low grade - the leather seats weren't as thick, the carpets was very thin, headliner felt like cardboard and the interior plastics were thinner and flimsy. My '01 Grand Marquis is a bit better, but not nearly as good as this '96 Thunderbird.
With all the useless options and such we have these days, and these "driver aids" people depend on so much - case in point, some lady I saw the other day depending on parking sensors to park her Yukon XL Denali. She could barely see over the steering wheel and she reversed right onto the curb - it seems the actual quality has gone down. Maybe not for all manufacturers, but at least for Ford I feel it has.
Nobody cares about how thick the carpeting is, or how thick and cushiony the seats are these days. It's all about options and features these days. Some of it, like ABS, I can understand because it helps. But lane change warnings, parking sensors, rearview cameras...it's almost as if auto manufacturers are catering to cover up people's lack of driving skills. How many people can even drive stick these days?
Anyhow, just an observation.
