Ford Thunderbird in Rancho Mirage, California also lays claim to being the inspiration for the name of the car. Ernest Breech, a Thunderbird Country Club member, who was then chairman of Ford Motor Company was supposedly deeply involved in the creation of the Thunderbird. Breech asked the Club's permission to name the new model after the Club and the club consented to the use of the name. The Ford Thunderbird began life in February 1953 in direct response to Chevrolet's new sports car, the Corvette, which was publicly unveiled in prototype form just a month before. Under rapid development, the Thunderbird went
Puma (car manufacturer) increasingly import-friendly regulations of the mid 1980s and turmoil in the company are widely considered to be among the main factors that ended the production of the first generation of Puma's Brazilian produced automobiles. During this era, Puma sourced engines from DKW (3 cylinders), Volkswagen (4 cylinders) and General Motors (4 and 6 cylinder) and mounted them on their own chassis and Fiberglass bodies. A select number of cars were exported to US markets during the 1970s to the 1980s, but a more cost effective Kit car option was responsible for the majority of US models. The Kit car variant