What vehicle produced by General Motors from 1962 to 2002 did testers feel was a more roadworthy car as compared to the Ford Thunderbird?
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Ford Thunderbird (fourth generation) The fourth generation of the Ford Thunderbird is a large personal luxury car produced by Ford for the 1964 to 1966 model years. This generation of the Thunderbird was restyled in favor of a more squared-off, "formal" look. The Thunderbird's sporty image had by that time become only that: the standard 390-cubic-inch 300 bhp V8 engine needed nearly 11 seconds to push the heavy T-bird to 60 mph (96 km/h). The softly sprung suspension allowed considerable body lean, wallow, and float on curves and bumps. Contemporary testers felt that the Buick Riviera and Pontiac Grand Prix were substantially more roadworthy cars, but the Thunderbird retained its leading market share.
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Pontiac Grand Prix The Grand Prix was a line of automobiles produced by the Pontiac Division of General Motors from 1962 through 2002. First introduced as part of Pontiac's full-size car model offering for the 1962 model year, the marque varied repeatedly in size, luxury, and performance during its lifespan. Among the changes were positioning in the personal luxury car market segment and mid-size car offering from the 2nd generation to the 5th generation for the sedan and from the 2nd generation to the 6th generation from the coupe; it returned to a full-size car from the 6th generation to the 7th generation for the sedan, positioned below the larger Bonneville in Pontiac's model lineup.
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Mercury Turnpike Cruiser The Mercury Turnpike Cruiser is a full-size automobile that was the flagship model of the Mercury division of Ford Motor Company for the 1957 and 1958 model years. Named after the 1956 creation of the Interstate Highway System, the Turnpike Cruiser was produced in two-door and four-door hardtop bodystyles. In 1957, a two-door convertible was also produced, serving as the pace car for the Indianapolis 500 of that year.
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Ford Falcon (XY) The Ford Falcon (XY) is a full-size car that was produced by Ford Australia from 1970 to 1972. It was the fourth and last iteration of the second generation of this Australian-made model and also included the Ford Fairmont (XY)—the luxury-oriented version of the Falcon.
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General Motors Firebird The General Motors Firebird comprises a quartet of prototype cars that General Motors engineered for the 1953, 1956, and 1959 Motorama auto shows. The cars' designer, Harley Earl, took his inspiration from the innovations in fighter aircraft design at the time. General Motors never intended the cars for production, but rather to showcase the extremes in technology and design that the company was able to achieve. The cars recently joined the display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, and still make regular car show appearances. The tradition of offering prototype vehicles continued with the Pontiac Banshee series.
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Grand tourer A grand tourer (Italian: "gran turismo" ) (GT) is a performance and luxury automobile capable of high speed and long-distance driving. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement. The term derives from the Italian language phrase "gran turismo" which became popular in the English language from the 1950s, evolving from fast touring cars and streamlined closed sports cars during the 1930s.
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Ford D-series The Ford D-Series is a range of middle weight trucks that were introduced by Ford UK in 1965. It replaced the Thames Trader and appears to have been envisaged as a more modern competitor to the Bedford TK produced by General Motors' UK truck subsidiary.
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Chevrolet Titan The Chevrolet Titan and GMC Astro are heavy-duty (Class 8) cabover trucks that were manufactured by the GMC Truck and Coach Division of General Motors. The largest cabover trucks ever produced by GM, the Titan (and more common Astro) were introduced for 1969, replacing the 1960-1968 GMC "Crackerbox" COEs. The Astro and Titan would become the final trucks of the type assembled and marketed by General Motors, following the 1981 exit of Chevrolet from heavy truck sales and the 1986 creation of the Volvo GM joint venture.
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Buick Rainier The Buick Rainier was a midsize luxury SUV that was produced by General Motors. It was introduced on July 28, 2003 for the 2004 model year as a replacement for the Oldsmobile Bravada. The Rainier was only available in a 5-passenger configuration, yet was one of only five GMT360 SUVs to offer a V8 engine in this configuration along with the GMC Envoy Denali, Isuzu Ascender EXT, Saab 9-7X 5.3i and Aero, and Chevrolet TrailBlazer LT (Optional) and SS. Both rear and all-wheel drive models were offered. An upscale "CXL" trim added a better Bose stereo and XM Satellite Radio. For the 2004 model year only, there was another trim called CXL Plus. The CXL Plus had offered a touchscreen navigation system.
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Ford Thunderbird The Ford Thunderbird is a rear wheel drive automobile which was manufactured by Ford in the United States over eleven model generations from 1955 through 2005. The Thunderbird created a market niche that eventually became known as the personal luxury car.
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Ford Ranger (North America) The Ford Ranger is a compact pickup truck that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company from 1983 to 2012 model years for North America; from 1997 to 2011, a version was also manufactured and sold in South America. Introduced to replace the Ford Courier produced in Japan by Mazda, the Ranger was produced in two distinct generations. While introduced a year after the Chevrolet S-10, the Ranger would go on to become the best-selling compact truck in the United States from 1987 to 2004.
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John Deere Gator The John Deere Gator is a family of small all-terrain utility vehicles produced by the John Deere Corporation. They typically feature a box bed, similar in function to a pickup truck. The bed can also be installed as an electric dump body. The John Deere Gator has been made in a variety of configurations, with either four or six wheels. The Gator line of vehicles are designed to serve on farms, worksites, and ranches, rather than as a pure off-road vehicle. However it is possible to order with specific off-road features. In 1992, the vehicle replaced the three- or five-wheel John Deere AMTs, introduced in 1987.
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Ford Thunderbird (sixth generation) The sixth generation of the Ford Thunderbird is a large personal luxury coupe that was produced by Ford for the 1972 to 1976 model years. A counterpart of the Lincoln Continental Mark IV, this generation of the Thunderbird was the largest ever produced; weighing in at over 5000 lb , they are also the heaviest coupes ever produced by Ford (aside from its Mark IV counterpart).
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General Motors Proving Grounds General Motors operates several proving grounds.
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Test drive A test drive is the driving of an automobile to assess its drivability, or roadworthiness, and general operating state. A person who tests vehicles for a living, either for an automobile company, automotive media for review purposes, or a motorsports team, is called a test driver.
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GM V platform (1966) The V platform is a rear-wheel drive automobile platform that underpinned various General Motors (GM) vehicles from 1966 through to its final discontinuation in 2007. The V platform was developed in the 1960s by the German subsidiary of GM, Opel. However, it was not without significant revision over its lifetime. The platform's phase-out began when European production ended during 2003, while the Australian variants, produced by Holden continued until 2007, after their final replacement by Zeta-derived models. The first of these Zeta cars came in 2006, with the remaining changing over in 2007. V-cars are identified by the "V" fourth character in their Vehicle Identification Number. Although completely unrelated, the "V platform" designation was also used for a series of North American front-wheel drive personal luxury coupes (see: GM V platform (1987)).
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Holden Hurricane The Holden Hurricane was a two-seat concept car built by Holden in 1969. The Hurricane was one of the most advanced vehicles for its time, with Holden describing it as a research vehicle, allowing them "to study design trends, propulsion systems and other long range developments".
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International Harvester Scout The International Harvester Scout is an off-road vehicle which was produced by International Harvester from 1961 to 1980. A precursor of more sophisticated SUVs to come, it was created as a competitor to the Jeep, and it initially featured a fold-down windshield. The Scout and second generation Scout II were produced in Fort Wayne, Indiana as two-door trucks with a removable hard top with options of a full length roof, half cab pickup and/or soft top.
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Ford Thunderbird (second generation) The second generation Ford Thunderbird was produced by Ford for the 1958 to 1960 model years as a successor to the popular 1955-1957 two-seater. In response to Ford-conducted surveys two major changes were made to attract potential buyers: two rear seats were added and the level of luxury and features of a full-sized car were incorporated into a mid-size platform.
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Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II The Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II is a muscle car that was produced by Mercury in early 1969. The Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II was a special, more aerodynamic version of the Mercury Cyclone. It was produced specifically to make Mercury even more competitive in NASCAR stock car racing, and was sold to the public only because homologation rules required a minimum number of cars (500 in 1969) be produced and made available for sale to the public. All production examples were constructed during the first few weeks of 1969.
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Ford Thunderbird (fifth generation) The fifth generation of the Ford Thunderbird is a large personal luxury car that was produced by Ford for the 1967 to 1971 model years. This fifth generation saw the second major change of direction for the Thunderbird. The Thunderbird had fundamentally remained the same in concept through 1966, even though the styling had been updated twice. The introduction of the Ford Mustang in early 1964 had, however, challenged the Thunderbird's market positioning. It, like the Thunderbird, was a small, two-door, four-seater with sporting pretensions, but it was more affordable. The Thunderbird's sales suffered. Ford's response was to move the Thunderbird upmarket.
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Ford Thunderbird (seventh generation) The seventh generation of the Ford Thunderbird is a personal luxury car built by Ford from the 1977 to the 1979 model years. In a key marketing shift for Ford, the Thunderbird changed market segments for 1977, shifting from a full-size car to the larger end of the intermediate segment. Based upon the Ford LTD II, this generation is the first of four generations of the Thunderbird to share its basic design with the Mercury Cougar.