When you think of cars associated with James Bond a Ford Thunderbird is not the first to come to mind. There have been many cars used throughout the history of James Bond. Personally, when I think of Bond cars, the Aston Martin DB5 is the first thing that pops in my head, others are the 65 Mustang convertible in Goldfinger and Thunderball as well as the famous Lotus Esprit submarine from The Spy Who Loved Me. This car is #453 of 700 special edition cars made as a marketing tool after an appearance in the 2002 film Die Another Day. With the extremely low mileage of 5,800, this is probably one of the best Thunderbirds around. Check it out here on eBay in Clinton Township, MI with a reduced asking price of $29,995.
Ford revamped the Thunderbird name in 2002 and produced the 11th and final generation of the famous nameplate. The Thunderbird finally got back to its roots for the final design as a 2 seater convertible with retro styling to resemble the original ’55-’57 design. This design Thunderbird shared platforms with the Lincoln LS and Jaguar S-Type. Power is supplied by a Jaguar designed 3.9 V8, a derivative of the 4.0 V8 in the Jaguar XK8 cars. After only four model years in production, the Thunderbird was discontinued mainly due to slow sales. In recent years, interest has grown for these and this is a one owner with less than 6,000 miles!
The Thunderbird only had a short scene in the movie but Ford used the opportunity to churn up interest in their new model. 700 cars were made with order code 210A, the special edition included coral paint, white interior, accent panels on the doors, and chrome spoke wheels. All 007 engines had the updated 3.9 with variable cam timing which produced 280 HP as opposed to the previous 252 HP version.
This generation Thunderbird is a bit of a mixed bag of Ford, Lincoln, and Jaguar. The platform debuted in the U.S. as the Lincoln LS in 2000 and was the result of design work by Ford and Jaguar engineers. The engine, trans, and suspension are basically shared between the LS and Jaguar S-Type, other parts like the instrument cluster are from the LS as well. The body design is totally unique, I think the designers did a good job of making a tasteful interpretation of the original bird. This car comes with a black soft top as well as a white hardtop.
All cars have a numbered plate, I wonder where number 007 is? These cars are very interesting and were not cheap in their day. A 007 Thunderbird stickered for about $44,000 when new which is close to $60,000 in today’s money, so considering that the asking price seems reasonable. It will be interesting to see where this car goes, possibly into a collection in hopes of appreciation or to someone looking for a like-new Thunderbird to enjoy.
The name’s Bond. ThunderBond.
Ms Money Penny will be over to settle up finances !
Um, sorry, but I want it LESS if it is a James Bond edition. Seriously? Pretty much every adult I know would goof on me if I bought this nerdmobile. My 8 year old nephew might be moderately amused but kids just aren’t so much into James Bond anymore. The car itself is fine, but if I showed up to cruise night with this thing I would get serious eye rolls and the occasional stupid question about whether or not it has the ejector seat or machine guns.
Speaking of these T-Birds in general, sure seems like there are always plenty of them out there for sale. A quick look at Autotrader shows 300 for sale across the country, from under $10K to $30K. They aren’t bad cars but I never really warmed up to the retro styling. I will admit I do like some of the unique colors, such as the silvery turquoise with the turquoise/black interior, or the yellow with yellow/black interior.
I had pretty much forgotten about this specialty model.
When these were new, it seemed like they were bought mostly by people who already had a 55-57 T-Bird in the garage. The “cool kids” of the retirement community, if you will.
This one is lovely, but the Bond connection? Meh. 1 of 703 doesn’t mean as much when there were only 14,678 T-Birds of all varieties built in 2003.
I’m an older guy myself and all I ever remember driving these tbirds were older guys even today its always an older guy..hmmm maybe I should buy one 🤔
It’s certainly not the flying AMC Matador, nor even the spiral jumping AMC Hornet.
It’s certainly not the flying AMC Matador, nor even the spiral jumping AMC Hornet.
Those cars are for sale at the Miami Auto Museum. As for this car I like it but will not be calling unless 25k.
They had one of these at Ford’s 100th anniversary
in 2003,when they were just coming out.I thought it was
kind of an ugly color,& not worth the money.
I do,however ,like these TBirds.
The fun of an early bird with the reliability and modern conveniences of newer cars. I had a ’57 but didn’t like that I couldn’t jump in it and drive anywhere. I’m looking for a low mileage yellow one, but this color is different and tempting…..
Is it really a Bond edition if its not even driven by Bond in the movie?
The one in the movie was driven by Halle Berry’s character Jinx.
The movie itself was a stinker, the last Brosnan Bond before moving on to the even worse Craig “I hate being James Bond” Bond movies……
There should be very little interest in these, since most people don’t even care about the regular ones…
Yes, I am strange. I really like this car. I’ve been looking at something to replace my old Town Car. As for the “Bond” relation, it was Halle Berry’s character who drove the “Coral” Edition T-Bird. There are several of this generation T-Bird around me, the prices range from 10K and up, sadly, no Coral Birds. I do, however, have the 1:18 scale version of this car!
Great posting, thank you.
Fabulous cars to drive and a tremendous value buy with upside potential. This Bond edition is an ll out winner.
Dave