[alt63bird]

JimNNN - a little history/"back-story" may be in order here. VTCI (originally Vintage Thunderbird Club of America) had its original focus on '58-'60 when started in 1968, then expanded into the '61-'66 generations in the mid-late '70s and stuck with that niche through the early 1990s, when its coverage expanded into newer models. In '98-'99 members petitioned for a general membership vote to add the first-generation cars, which passed in '99. Now we are in 2020, with T-bird production having ended 15 years ago - yikes!

In terms of popularity by generation, yes - VTCI's Forum is core on the '61-'63 and '64-'66 side with '55-'57 pulling a distant third, while remaining generations languish or get virtually no "love" (re: interest). We see that at events, too. I think most of the '58-'60 traffic is drawn to the Squarebirds.org forum, but then again they haven't fared as well over the years as the third- and fourth-generation cars. Likewise, interest in the post-'66 models is very waning, but there is some occasional activity. Plus there are enthusiast sites geared toward the Fox- and MN12-bodied '80s-'90s cars, "Porthole Authority" for the Retro cars, etc., so the coverages gets spread out.

With that being said, the success (or failure) of a forum like what VTCI hosts is solely dependent on those who contribute their time and knowledge, along with their passion for a particular generation or model. I had to chastise one person who was impatient and wanted "instant gratification" for an answer "right NOW" with his first posting and left "to go to one of the Facebook sites" in a huff because he didn't get his answer within 10 minutes to a few hours - he commented that he was accustomed to the immediacy of Facebook/ Instagram-esque fan sites. Many of the younger generation don't appreciate that a lot of us have lives to live, jobs to work at or multiple interests, and that sometimes answers don't come at the snap of a finger or the push of a 'submit' button, especially if some research is needed to develop an answer.

There are a good number of long-time VTCA/VTCI members that participate along with a similar number of newer ones who weren't even around when many of them were new. Having monitored the site over the decades I do see trends where the restomodders and such are increasing in participation, but that's somewhat of a generational (and budgetary) thing in my mind that's happening across the collector car hobby.