Project: 1988 Thunderbird
This was my '88 Thunderbird Sport. I bought this gem from a donation auction with 75k original miles for $1,100 in the summmer of 2023. Being a Sport model, it was equipped with the standard output 5.0L engine and floor shifted AOD transmission.
From my research, it had been owned by a gentleman who had to have been in his early 90s at the time I bought it. While the T-Bird had good bones, it did have a few cosmetic issues that needed to be addressed. The black trim on the bumpers had long since faded away, one of the (hard to find) headlights was missing its lens, and there was evidence of a minor rear end collision sometime in its past. I quickly took care of these issues, as well as some minor mechanical work that needed to be done.
Sometime in the fall of '23, I noticed the water pump leaking. After VatoZone sold me the wrong water pump I decided to buy a Motorcraft pump from Rock Auto, along with lots of seals, gaskets and other parts, and do an engine-out refresh. I ended up resealing the whole engine, replaced pretty much the whole cooling system, and did some general cleaning and tidying of the engine bay and undercarriage. While I was in there, I also installed a GT40 intake manifold from a 1997 Explorer.
The stock wheels were not cutting it, so I scored a set of 16" Turbo Coupe wheels on craigslist to replace the stock 14's. A local exhaust shop also installed a custom 2 1/4" cat back exhaust with Flowmaster 40 series mufflers. As I was driving this car around a lot during the summmer, I had some window tint done to preserve the interior and keep the temps down inside.
I drove this thing everywhere during the time I owned it. Lots of people dug it, and I used to get compliments all the time. The sounds, the sights, the smells... it had this awesome 80's vibe that reminded me of the cars I rode around in as a little kid.
The car came with the puny 7.5" rear end (although it did have a Trac-Lok), so I set out to find an 8.8". Problem was that the Thunderbirds and Cougars used a rear axle that is wider than a standard Mustang, and are much harder to find. I finally found a suitable differential out of a 1988 Cougar XR7 at an LKQ yard in Fontana, CA. A couple of hours of work and $200 later, it was mine.
Unfortunately I never got the chance to install the new axle, nor did I get to do the HO conversion that I had planned. I flew to Portland in the summer of 2025 to pick up a new (to me) Nissan Frontier, which meant another car to insure and keep up. The Thunderbird had to go.
That Cougar XR7 axle is still sitting on my driveway to this day.
1988 Ford Thunderbird Sport
