Jack Telnack

[5bird7]

Can't confirm that unless you could get a hold of real written information from Jack Telnack himself or a close member of his family if he in fact really owned that car.. From 1997 to 2004, is 7 years from his retiring from Ford. At 60 he may have gone on to work for other companies but may have decided he would like to have one of those Thunderbirds. who knows? The plaque is just not enough info to trust as being for real and that he owned it at that time. He's still alive. If the car is yours, see what you can do about contacting him.

[merlot4]

What Dot said!

If you're so inclined, and don't mind me adding this, a reasonable starting place to contact, and ask to forward a query might be:

https://lincolncarmuseum.org/news

[Skip]

I had the pleasure of meeting Jack Telnack at Carlisle Ford Nationals probably in 1998. It was before the retro Birds were seen publicly, which I believe was first at the Detroit Car Show in January 1999. Car & Driver had an artist concept image of the car in the issue published in the June 1998 issue, which was distributed before the the Carlisle event. I had a local T-shirt shop put the magazine cover image on a T-shirt which I wore to the Carlisle event. When Telnack saw my T-shirt he seemed surprised and wanted to know how I got the illustration. I got the impression that what was published must have been close to the production car which was still not officially promoted to the public as even happening yet. Later that year at the annual convention of one of the national Thunderbird clubs Ford sent Doug Gafka, design chief for the retro project, as the guest speaker at the awards dinner. He confirmed that the car was coming. But the only information he would commit to is that it had at least two seats, 4 tires, an engine and a transmission. He shared an interesting story about the Thunderbird Team acquiring several '55-'57 Thunderbirds as inspiration for the designers, many of who were two young to remember the cars. They washed the cars in an effort to try to instill some of the inspiration the designers of the original cars had in the early 1950s. June 1998 C&D Retro TBird Cover.jpg

[007Cruiser]

I’m just glad that they didn’t build the one on that cover.