Of all the car build ups you see in magazines, I dont ever recall seeing a build-up on an 82-90's Thunderbird.  

There are boatloads of these cars around, and they are V8 (some) and correct-wheel-drive.  I would like to hear some feedback from you guys.  This sounds like a great car for Car Craft to sprinkle some magic fairy grease over and build.  Is this something you guys would like to see??

It would be nice to see a non-mustang fox body build up.  

How bout a 85 or 86 turbo coupe with a mod motor and as big a turbo as will fit?  Throw on some Protouring suspension with some 18s, and maybe a little giggle juice just to break stuff, er... I mean make it interesting.

Or how about doing the same to a fairmont 2dr sedan. Worlds best sleeper!!!

there is a guy around here that has a nice early 90s t-bird and it's real sharp... i love the way the cowl hoods look on those cars.  But thats the only one I can remember seeing that was "hot rodded"

I say yay

Funny you should mention that. My sister finally got tired of seeing her 86 siiting in her driveway, 3 yrs worth & told me to take it. I'm to far into my 75 Firebird to think about it , so I lined a friend up with the car (freebie). Otherwise I would have jumped on it. These are good looking cars & can be had dirt cheap. Somsday i can see them catching on & the guys that could have had one for a good price Kicking themselves. You know the old one that got away syndrome? Being a 70's guy, I remember when  you couldn't hardly give away a Nova or Duster.  

There have been a few, but mostly in ford mags.  

I think Car Craft should do one.  I suppose they could get a little crazy and do a build on some thing like a Camaro with a 383.  Never see that.

I think they should build two one of the turbo sixes and one 5.0  Do it  as two seperate teams and see who wins.  It would not only give us more fox body info, but we can see a small displacement turbo car versus a larger displacement naturaly aspirated car with similar weight suspention etc... Kind of an eye opener, to all that the grandma car next to you may spank your bum.  

I had a friend that brought a turbo T-bird at an auction and it locked up on the way home. He bought a juckyard 302 and put in as is. The motor wasn't that strong, but it ran well with the AOD and 3.73s. It also looked pretty good with the dual exhaust. My mom had a 3.8 that would have looked good with a V8 in its prime. Actually aside from the the 3.8 being a V6 that wasn't friendly when it came time to change plugs, there are some things about that motor that was rather amazing. If I was confined to use an unmodified V6 I'd be more than happy to choose a 3.8 Ford 90% of the time except for maybe the 3.8 Turbo Buick (the other 10% going to the 4.3 Chevy).  

Great idea!  

'83-'88 "Fox" Thunderbirds are the best "undiscovered" cars of the 1980s to hop up.  NASCAR/Pro Stock styling . . . can be built to within a few pounds of a Mustang . . . accepts most 5.0 Mustang parts . . . 460s and modulars bolt in . . . more rust resistant than most '60s cars . . . .  

Although the '89-'97 MN-12 Thunderbirds seem a little too big for my taste, I suspect that someday these cars will find a following as the supply of affordable RWD coupes starts to dry up.  How many other coupes have factory IRS and V8 power?

Just as in street rodding, alternative styles and "forgotten" models will get "hot" when the more typical project cars become too scarce and expensive.

I always kind of looked at the 83-88 t-birds as fords version of the GM-G body.  Mustang is to a Camaro what a T-bird is to a Monte Carlo.  Which is why my mind is boggled at how little attention is paid to these cars by everybody.

You guys may or may not agree with my g-body analogy, but thats not really the point.  These cars have such great potential for coolness.  I would really like to see Car Craft pick up this ball and run with it.

The '83-'88 Thunderbirds were "Ford's G-Body." 

Thankfully for Car Crafters, they are very, very similar to Fox-body Mustangs (more than a Monte Carlo is like a same-year Camaro).  Only a few things, such as rear lower control arms, subframe connectors and tailpipes won't fit.  Other trick stuff, like tubular K-members, transmission crossmembers and even Cobra/Brembo brakes have been successfully fitted to Fox-birds.

These Thunderbirds have languished  because Ford never built a high performance V8 version of the cars.  While the Turbo Coupe is a fun car, it never caught the imagination of Car Crafters because of its Pinto-based powerplant and modest quarter mile performance (in stock trim).  

And they have also been overlooked for a few practical reasons . . . just like with airconditioned Mustangs, you have to remove and replace the whole dash to change out a leaking heater core.  Folks will go through this hassle to "save" a $5000 Mustang, but fewer will do it for a $1500 Bird.  

that is true about the fox platform.  I guess they are more like mustangs than a camaro is to a monte.

I didnt realize that the heater cores were such a pain.

yeah, pullin the dash is a pain in the ass.  

Yeah?  What were they thinking?

[FoMoCo engineering lab meeting a couple of decades ago]

Dilbert:  "With this 'Quality as Job One' thing,  I don't see how our dealer service departments are going to make squat. When Iacocca was here, we used to make stuff so cheap that we guaranteed the dealer techs would all have groovy pads in the suburbs.  Now all the good techs will want to work for Chrysler stores . . . .

BOSS: "Don't worry about it.   Look at dis.  I got some dumb co-op intern from Wayne State to put the heater core on the Fox HVAC package so far up under the dash It'll take them techs all day to change it. HEH, HEH, HEH."

Dilbert:  "What th' . . . "

BOSS: "And da best part?  These things won't puke until the heap's years out of warranty!  We ain't gonna pay a dime on it. It's all gravy, baby!"

NOTE: the heater cores last a little longer if you remember to RESTRICT the heater lines on hi-po apps.  The factory did it on Police Interceptor 'stangs and some 5.0.