Displacing a massive 7.0 liters and equipped with a Motorcraft 4-barrel carburetor the ThunderJet puts out 360 horsepower and 480 ft-lbs of stump pulling torque. This Thunderbird is equipped with engine code N – meaning it has the 429 ThunderJet engine (known as the 429 CobraJet when installed in the Mustang) – a big block beast that was originally added to passenger cars for NASCAR homologation purposes. The extra weight adds a sense of stability and comfort but also taxes performance and fuel economy in a major way. The 5th generation Thunderbird deviated from previous generations by changing from uni-body to body-on-frame construction – which brings with it a considerable amount of weight – 4350 lbs to be exact in this T-bird. It was restyled in 1969 to include a prominent bird beak and we found an incredibly clean example this 1970 Ford Thunderbird Landau Brougham is for sale in Albuquerque, NM currently bidding on ebay for $9,570 reserve-not-met with 2 days to go.

The Ford Thunderbird started life as a lithe 2-seat sports car competing directly with the Chevy Corvette – but by 1967, by then in its 5th generation, it had morphed into a more upmarket and gigantic 2-door, and was being driven upmarket by sales of the super popular Ford Mustang.

70s ford thunderbird