1980 Ford Thunderbird Town Landau, Franklinville, N.Y.

What you’re looking at is a pretty-much intact 1980 Ford Thunderbird Town Landau, one of what is often referred to as a Square-Bird. Some consider the 1980-82 models the nadir of Thunderbird styling. I kind of liked them back then. Our next-door neighbor had one in black with a black vinyl roof that really looked sharp. This one was spotted recently sitting in a grassy field in Franklinville, N.Y., and is one of 156,803 produced.

...from the brochure

The Ford Times, a small, monthly magazine published for Ford customers, proudly featured a new black ‘Bird on the cover of its October 1979 new car issue, leading into a story titled “1980 – A New Thunderbird era Begins.” New, all right. New and short — it lasted all of three years until the buying public tired of a gussied-up Ford Fairmont at Thunderbird prices. Sales fell by about half each year. The next-generation 1983 T-Bird was ground-breaking in its shape (for the time), and nearly tripled the sales of the 1982 model.

Jim Corbran, You Auto Know