The seventh generation of the Ford Thunderbird is a personal luxury car that was built by Ford from the 1977 to the 1979 model years. In a key marketing shift for the model range, Ford repackaged the Thunderbird from a full-size car to a large intermediate car. Rather than being the Ford counterpart of the Continental Mark V, the Thunderbird would share design commonality with the Mercury Cougar (doing so through the 1997 model year). Serving as the replacement for the Ford Elite, the seventh-generation Thunderbird was derived from the Ford LTD II. The squarer, sharper styling was popular, as this generation became the best selling in the history of the Ford Thunderbird.