In 1969, Ford engineers spoke of the many advancements and improvements made on the new 1969 Thunderbirds, and announced that the switch to a printed circuit board in the instrument panels of previous Thunderbirds and the change to an integral solid state voltage regulator that was mounted directly to the alternator eliminated up to 100 feet of electrical wiring and 48 electrical connectors. They also stated that the printed circuit board would provide greater instrument reliability.

Now you know!