The Gift of a 2002 Thunderbird!

Out of 5,000 names for the new Ford car about to come off the production line in 1955, not one grabbed the attention of the decision-making team. Beaver, Savile, Runabout, Detroiter. Not impressive. A $250 reward was offered for something remarkable. A Ford employee named Alden Giberson stepped in with Thunderbird. And the rest is history. The first Thunderbirds carried price tags between $2,695 and $4,000. After ceasing production in 1998, Ford Motor Company revived the model, styled more like the 1950’s version, in 2002. That sticker price ranged from $35,495 to $42,020. No more Thunderbirds have been manufactured since 2005, and new ones are not expected. The Gift Daron and Nancy Phay lived most of their lives in Oregon where he taught music, band and choir from kindergarten to 12th grade. Nancy was also a teacher, and together they raised two girls. The younger daughter married and moved to the Denver area, where her husband was general manager of a car dealership.The older daughter’s husband worked for a company in Boston with the understanding that he could work while getting a PhD at Virginia Tech. They moved to Blacksburg. He was too busy with work to go to school, so their daughter, in addition to having two children, pursued her doctorate for five years. When she took a job in Colorado Springs, Daron and Nancy, now retired, decided to move near their daughters in Colorado. Remember the son-in-law at the car dealership? When the Phays returned home from a trip on Oct. 7, 2021, he escorted them into a garage. First he said: “I want to show you something.” And then he stated: “It’s yours.” And there it was, a beautiful turquoise blue, hard top convertible, 2002 Thunderbird! “After we got over the shock of that beautiful car being ours, we drove it home,” Daron relates.  The Next Move In a “musical state” version of “musical chairs”, their oldest daughter accepted a position at Virginia Tech and moved, again, to Virginia. Three years ago, the car guy son-in-law found a new job in Maryland. “We liked living in Colorado, but in large part for family nearby,” Nancy says. With three grandchildren now in Blacksburg and the eldest daughter committed long-term to her VT professor position, the Phays decided to relocate to the New River Valley. “Our daughter and a REALTOR walked through a house, face-timing us along the way,” Daron explains. “She assured us that we’ll like it, this house we’d never seen in a town we had never lived in.” The couple had been to Blacksburg on short visits. “We drove an RV twice from Oregon when the first two grandchildren came into the world.” The Thunderbird was carefully shipped as Daron drove a U-Haul truck and Nancy their Honda CRV from Colorado to Blacksburg.  The Thunderbird Daron says 31,368 Thunderbirds were produced in 2002, and some folks estimate that 25,000 will survive because many were scooped up by collectors and exist in pristine condition. When they got their Thunderbird gift, the odometer read 70,000 miles. It has a 3.9L Jaguar-designed V8 engine for 252 horsepower with a 5-speed automatic. His favorite car up until the T-bird came along was a 1969 GT6 Triumph which was not a convertible. They sold it because it was a 2-seater, and as the family expanded, the car did not. The hard top comes off for convertible rides in warm weather, and if you think that might be clumsy, Daron solved that. He has it suspended from the ceiling in the garage with an electric lift, so it’s pretty easy to put on and take off. “I love the color, which is officially Thunderbird Blue,” he declares. “I have never owned a convertible and always wanted one. Now I have one, and I really enjoy driving it, but sparingly.” They go on nice drives with the top down (removed really) in warm weather, and he loves taking it to the golf course.  Named the Motor Trend Car of the Year in 2002, the iconic Thunderbird is squarely in the history books of personal luxury cars with a sporty edge. Daron Phay can claim a little Hollywood glamour in the company of other Thunderbird owners like Marilyn Monroe, Howard Hughes, Elvis Presley, Anthony Perkins and Marlon Brando.  Text by Joanne M. AndersonPhotos by Jon Fleming