I hesitate to write this because in reading the posts here I know people have waited for their birds a great length of time, but in the interest of sharing information here is our chronology.
Placed Thunderbird order with dealer Wed. April 10, 2002
Dealer gave us the VIN, Fri. May 30, 2002 at 11:44 A.M.
redbird information said it started down final assembly Fri. June 14 and finished Mon. June 17, 2002
Arrived at Dealership Fri. June 28, 2002 at 8:35 P.M. (Gilbert was the transport driver and was very friendly and posed for pictures).
Signed final papers and picked up our Triple Black Thunderbird Mon. July 1, 2002. It had 6.1 miles showing on the odometer. My wife drove it off the lot at 4:35 P.M.
Many thanks to redbird for sharing inside information as the dealer was ill-informed. As a matter of fact when we picked the car up the New Car Sales Manager told me she did not know that it had been built yet.