I've been dealing with a lot of stuff recently and I just need to get some projects out of my life.
My roommate Kenny has decided he's going sell his 1986 Thunderbird.
It's a daily driver, although he's elderly so this is mostly parked with trips once a week or so. He's looking for something less low to the ground. He's moving out and expects to be driving more and driving in bad weather, so he doesn't want to kill a nice classic car.
He is going to advertise it for 3800, but he'll let it go to a 4-eye or GMN forum member for 3000, trying for closer to 3500 from anyone else.
It's red on red with digital gauges and the split "sporty" seats with a console that slides with the driver's seat.
I'll post pics when I get ashore next week, but here's the finer details:
Good: It's a 130k-ish mile 3.8CFI / C5 car. For the first roughly 90k miles, it was owned by a little old lady who did hairstyles in Lewiston, Maine. We have the service records including a new engine at 65k-ish miles. It has a vinyl top and continental "spare tire" kit that were installed by the dealer when it was bought new. It was garage kept by the first owner with Ziebart rust treatment and good maintenance. My roommate and I went through it when he bought it and it's running great, good brakes, tires, recent tune-up, we have the factory literature including the Ford training on the 3.8CFI with the big book showing every part in detail and of course the service and owner's manuals. It comes with some basic spares (valve cover gaskets and stuff) and I will list some parts at the end of this that I would offer to anyone who bought it. It has working A/C and power things that all work (doors, locks, steering, etc). It's a Gen 1 alternator, not the gen 2 (it has the external regulator), and a working aftermarket stereo setup with a CB radio. The original radio was long gone when Kenny got it. The one in there works fine for AM/FM/bluetooth/etc and doesn't look too out of place.
This has been driven a couple times a month, up to northern Maine (about 4-5 hours round trip) in the summer, and parked in the winter. If Kenny handed me the keys, I'd drive it anywhere, no hesitation.
Bad: It's a 130k-ish mile 3.8CFI / C5 car. It's got some rust, although none of it is visible from topside. It's not soft, but if you drive this in a Maine winter it's going to start growing holes soon. It needs a scrape and paint underneath. There's no holes in the floor pan, the torque boxes are still intact, and all the little corners that turn into swiss cheese on a Fox are still all there (but there's not much paint on them anymore). The car was repainted by the second owner, over 10 years ago. He went with a bright red, as opposed to the original metallic red. They did an okay enough job but it's showing it's age. It's a good 10-foot car, with a lot of surface rust starting underneath.
Ugly: It's a 130k-ish mile 3.8CFI/C5 transmission car. My roommate smoked in it, and he sat in it and smoked when the weather was bad (I don't let him smoke in the house). The rear bumper metal is badly rusty under the plastic cover--it's the worst rust on the car--but that's not visible unless you're underneath. The transmission crossmember bushings have dissolved; I have the Energy Suspension ones and a dual-hump crossmember waiting to go in.
This would be a good car to drive into the ground in the summers for the next 5 years or so. It would be a great car to put on stands, coat with POR15, and have as a long term weekend runner. It would be an EXCELLENT candidate for a V8 swap or even maybe a V6 from a later SN95 (which is what I was thinking I'd do with it); you'd be working in all the rusty parts anyway so even if they weren't rusty you'd probably be repainting them.
NEW Spare parts with the car: Engine gaskets including valve cover and head gaskets. Spark plugs, wires, cap, rotor. I think there's some new belts and hoses in the box. A set of brackets I got off tbirdcougarparts.com to mount SN95 shocks on the rear axle. A set of torque box reinforcements specific for Thunderbirds. Upper strut mounts. Poly suspension bushings (possibly all front and rear? Might be short a couple pieces).
I have a set of SN95 Tokico Illumina shocks and struts from my 1999 V6 convertible. I have the SN95 7.5" rear axle and a set of 1994 SN95 knuckles so this thing can be converted to 5-lug (with a usable set of 1999+ GT brakes). I'll let them go with the car if you're going to put them on it.
My roommate Kenny has decided he's going sell his 1986 Thunderbird.
It's a daily driver, although he's elderly so this is mostly parked with trips once a week or so. He's looking for something less low to the ground. He's moving out and expects to be driving more and driving in bad weather, so he doesn't want to kill a nice classic car.
He is going to advertise it for 3800, but he'll let it go to a 4-eye or GMN forum member for 3000, trying for closer to 3500 from anyone else.
It's red on red with digital gauges and the split "sporty" seats with a console that slides with the driver's seat.
I'll post pics when I get ashore next week, but here's the finer details:
Good: It's a 130k-ish mile 3.8CFI / C5 car. For the first roughly 90k miles, it was owned by a little old lady who did hairstyles in Lewiston, Maine. We have the service records including a new engine at 65k-ish miles. It has a vinyl top and continental "spare tire" kit that were installed by the dealer when it was bought new. It was garage kept by the first owner with Ziebart rust treatment and good maintenance. My roommate and I went through it when he bought it and it's running great, good brakes, tires, recent tune-up, we have the factory literature including the Ford training on the 3.8CFI with the big book showing every part in detail and of course the service and owner's manuals. It comes with some basic spares (valve cover gaskets and stuff) and I will list some parts at the end of this that I would offer to anyone who bought it. It has working A/C and power things that all work (doors, locks, steering, etc). It's a Gen 1 alternator, not the gen 2 (it has the external regulator), and a working aftermarket stereo setup with a CB radio. The original radio was long gone when Kenny got it. The one in there works fine for AM/FM/bluetooth/etc and doesn't look too out of place.
This has been driven a couple times a month, up to northern Maine (about 4-5 hours round trip) in the summer, and parked in the winter. If Kenny handed me the keys, I'd drive it anywhere, no hesitation.
Bad: It's a 130k-ish mile 3.8CFI / C5 car. It's got some rust, although none of it is visible from topside. It's not soft, but if you drive this in a Maine winter it's going to start growing holes soon. It needs a scrape and paint underneath. There's no holes in the floor pan, the torque boxes are still intact, and all the little corners that turn into swiss cheese on a Fox are still all there (but there's not much paint on them anymore). The car was repainted by the second owner, over 10 years ago. He went with a bright red, as opposed to the original metallic red. They did an okay enough job but it's showing it's age. It's a good 10-foot car, with a lot of surface rust starting underneath.
Ugly: It's a 130k-ish mile 3.8CFI/C5 transmission car. My roommate smoked in it, and he sat in it and smoked when the weather was bad (I don't let him smoke in the house). The rear bumper metal is badly rusty under the plastic cover--it's the worst rust on the car--but that's not visible unless you're underneath. The transmission crossmember bushings have dissolved; I have the Energy Suspension ones and a dual-hump crossmember waiting to go in.
This would be a good car to drive into the ground in the summers for the next 5 years or so. It would be a great car to put on stands, coat with POR15, and have as a long term weekend runner. It would be an EXCELLENT candidate for a V8 swap or even maybe a V6 from a later SN95 (which is what I was thinking I'd do with it); you'd be working in all the rusty parts anyway so even if they weren't rusty you'd probably be repainting them.
NEW Spare parts with the car: Engine gaskets including valve cover and head gaskets. Spark plugs, wires, cap, rotor. I think there's some new belts and hoses in the box. A set of brackets I got off tbirdcougarparts.com to mount SN95 shocks on the rear axle. A set of torque box reinforcements specific for Thunderbirds. Upper strut mounts. Poly suspension bushings (possibly all front and rear? Might be short a couple pieces).
I have a set of SN95 Tokico Illumina shocks and struts from my 1999 V6 convertible. I have the SN95 7.5" rear axle and a set of 1994 SN95 knuckles so this thing can be converted to 5-lug (with a usable set of 1999+ GT brakes). I'll let them go with the car if you're going to put them on it.
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