T-bird still flying, hits 15,500 mark

Decatur Daily Democrat:

It's formally known as TNRD80001011.
That's the 18,000th Formula boat built since 1989 at the Thunderbird Products plant in Decatur: a 35-foot, twin-engine craft destined to be used on The Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. It has a top speed of 55 mph.
The large Thunderbird plant on Decatur's far west side, which had 600 workers just four years ago, has almost 200 people employed there now as the business — and the nation — continue to struggle with what company president Scott Porter calls "the longest and hardest recession" of the five he has witnessed in his lifetime.....