3 August 2002: Though dead, croonmaster Frank Sinatra will make a comeback in a new television advertisement for the retro-styled Ford Thunderbird roadster in the US.

The ad features a clip from the 1957 Columbia Pictures film 'Pal Joey' in which the singer is seen bidding farewell to a candy-apple red T-Bird.

"So long little bird, don't pick up any nails," says Sinatra, a cultural icon and arguably the most recognized and beloved ballad singer of the last century. Sinatra appears in the 30-second ad along with Ford Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Ford Jr.

Henry Ford's grandson says the new T-Bird, based on the two-seat convertible that lasted just three years after making its debut in 1954, is something that would have made Sinatra proud.

"You've got the sun shining; you've got the tunes blaring. I mean, it is really the essence of cool," he says.

The reincarnated T-Bird will also be driven in a special version by Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry in the new James Bond film 'Die Another Day', in which hero Pierce Brosnan as Bond will also drive a Ford product, an Aston Martin V-12 Vanquish sports car. RRick Yune, the film's villain, will drive a high-powered Jaguar XKR.