I have mixed feelings about the 2002-5 Ford Thunderbird. I am glad the automaker brought back the storied nameplate and think that this generation had a few interesting design touches. That said, the car strikes me as bigger than was appropriate for a two seater. That resulted in it looking like an embarrassing caricature of the original T-Bird. Indeed, this car illustrates quite well the limitations of the “retro” design movement. Ford got some of the basic styling cues right while utterly failing to capture the essential sensibility of a 1955-57 Thunderbird. [...]