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Original paint, except on ground effects.
EVERYTHING still works. (Repaired window lift motors last night)
Needs a ler (I don't like noisy 6 lungers)
Yes, that odo reading is real.
Very sharp...kinda has a nice NASCAR vibe to it.
That's such a great deal! I am jealous.
I knew it was worth the ride to look at, if for nothing else but a good parts car. But when I saw it, it was too sweet to walk away from. The 16 yr old step son is drooling over it. That's OK, wait till he washes that monster. AND waxes it.
very nice love the looks of it
nice. guess it was definately a good deal then.
seeing that makes me miss mine
Very nice and our Cougar has that same interior too. Great Find !! :poke:
Purty! Wish there were nice clean ones like that here...
That's one 4 eye i'd definitely rock ;)
I usually do NOT like the ground effects,but they look good on that car.Nice car.
Nice car!, and like Vinnie, I'm not a fan of ground effects, but the wheel/tire/effects combo work great together!
I've always had exactly the opposite opinion, and since I bought my first '86 in December of '85, I've always wanted the ground effects on my car. When they were readily available, I never had the cash, thanks to the ex. When I finally got solvent enough to spend the bucks, the ex had also abused the blue 86 in the background of one of those photos, it cost so much to get it running, again, I didn't have the cash for the effects. Now, the effects simply aren't to be had, unless you find 'em on a car. And this really was a good find. I've got the original window sticker for this one, as well as the dealer's papers from December 1, 2006. This car sold for nearly $7000 in '06. I picked it up for $2K. I finally got my ground effects, and a nice car attached to them.
The VIN numbers of this one and the blue one are the same up to the last 5 digits. That's a little spooky. If the last 5 are the sequence/serial number, there were 35,499 made from the time the blue one was built until the red one. Where did all those '86 'Birds go? Both cars were built at the Lorraine plant.
I do think that the 4 eyed Birds look better with the effects than the '87/'88's do.
I never liked the Bullitt wheels, but I think you hit the nail on the head. The PO painted the centers of the wheels because of rust and peeling chrome. Looks like he did a good job on them. I don't see any peeling anywhere in the black paint. The fake spinners are just a little cheesy to me, but they are what they are. They look more like something that should be on a wire wheel or cover. But, they sort of accent the black centers.
BTW, MOD #1 complete. Swapped on some black headlamp doors to replace the argent ones. This thing looks hungry now.
very nice..............love it.
I like it. The yellow-letter Goodyears look really good on those wheels, and the wheels themselves look better painted like that than they would have all chrome (I had chrome ones like that on my '85).
Now all it needs is an HO/T5 :hick:
that's a clean car, nice buy. i actually like the skirts, they look good on the car.
Awesome!!!!!
thats one sweet bird!!!!!! Now i hope your gonna let the poor wash/wax boy take that thing for a cruise... under adult supervision of course!!!!
Ant under the hood goodies???? i know its only a v6 car, but hey there must have benn SomE kind of 3.8 support back then.......no???
Thanks for the flowers. Yes, he's had his first drive, and I think the poor boy's hooked. This one seems to have the performance steering rack in it. Won't know that until I check a part number on the housing. If it does have the performance rack in it, then that is probably a replacement. It's a base bird according to the sticker, with every option imaginable except keyless entry. I'm not even sure that was available on the '86 models.
Other than all the factory options, there's really no difference in that one and the one I bought in 1985 (the blue one in my avatar). Both base birds, 3.8L CFI, C5 Tranny. The blue one has power windows/mirrors, but no power locks (go figger). RedBird's got it ALL. Lighted entry (notice the square key bezels on the doors), cornering lights, warning lamps out the yingyang, 6-way power driver's seat, etc, etc. The list is LONG.
One other interesting difference I stumbled up on, is that my old blue one came with 205/70R14 tires (Firestone garbage). This one wants 215/70R14's. Checked the door jamb stickers to make sure, and they're definitely different there. Not a huge difference, but made me scratch my head a little. I may do a little math and get a wider lower profile (maintaining approximately the same overall radius) to put a larger footprint down, and make it look even more NASCARish. But I am NOT going to paint the raised letters YELLOW.
Swapped the argent headlight doors for black ones. Gonna try a black grille when I can get one blasted and ready for paint. If I don't like that, maybe match color to the paint.
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Great looking ride and a great buy! I debated for years as to putting a body kit on my Silver 83 Heritage, but it just never worked out. I like your idea to color key the grill to match the rest of the body, but if so i would color the sideview mirrors to match the rest of the body as well. Great score and good luck with it!
So far, so good, nothing but rave reviews on it. I'm not real keen on red, but as the Thread title says, It is what it is ...
It runs better than the blue one. I drove it home from Nashville.
Got my to-do list worked up and gonna start checking things off soon, I hope.
I just gotta figure how I'm gonna this thing up high enough to get under it. Don't think I'll be able to get it up on the ramps without hitting the front air dam. Hmmmmm. Guess I'll have to do it the old fashioned way with the scissor jack. MAYBE my floor jack will go under it, but not real sure. Without the skirts, one of these is hard enough to get under. Oh for the love of a good shop with a lift .....
Floor jack or two scissor jacks to get it in the air alittle bit, then put the ramps under the wheels and drive it the rest of the way up.
At least that is what I would do.
Nice looking car.
It is a good find despite the ground effects. I would not have turned it down in that good condition.
+1 But then the poor kid will REALLY be hooked on it! :)
Car looks great, I like it! How come it looks like it has the floor shifter center console piece though? Is that how those came?
Dude...
Your are stealing my plans! :rollin:
This is alot how i have been planning mine to look like (Exterior). :burnout:
Looks great and a nice score :D The only thing I'd change would be the wheels ;)
If it had the 5.0 HO and a T5, I wouldn't let the kid NEAR it, nor would his mother. Neither of us is interested in having something this nice wrapped around a tree.
The different console caught my attention as well. It's a much later '86 model than the blue one. The Blue one is pre-01/15/86. I bought it brand spankin new in December 1985. Don't know exactly when RedBird was first purchased, but was purchased 12/01/2006 with 30K actual miles. Now has just over 49,500. VIN numbers are the same up to the last 5 digits (sequence number), meaning they were built in the same plant with same powertrain options. Red one has light group option, power seat, lighted entry (I REALLY must get remote keyless for it now). I think it even still has the factory struts on it. All of the original factory literature is still in the glovebox, including the O/M, window sticker, etc. Even the original pouch for car documents is in it.
Got the title/tag for it today, and transferred the insurance off the blue one. Blue Bird is officially parked for restoration now. Time to start on some sorely needed maintenance. As much as it needs, I may just let Express Oil handle all the fluids. Otherwise, I'll have to dispose of all that stuff anyway. Getting under one without ground fx on it is tough enough, let alone one with.
Then just start out with the 5.0SO :D:hick:
Hmmm yeah...when I first saw the pic, I was like "Floor shift! Oh wait....theres no shifter there..." haha. Strange.
just throw some 2x4s in front of the ramps, so the car will lift before actually getting on thhe ramp... you can stack them like stairs too, for more lift..
Just what I was thinking, maybe a 2x6, about 3 feet long, and some scabs under it to make sure it doesn't break. Sort of a ramp for my ramps? :D The ones I have are pretty steep, and wouldn't be still on my garage floor when I tried to pull the blue bird up on them. They kept running from the car, so to speak, and making a HORRID sing noise. Not a problem for the F-150, because of the much larger diameter wheel/tire. This idea might remedy that too by lowering the pitch. Might have to make something permanent like that.
Once the front wheels are up on the stands, remove the ramp-ramps, then go under the car to lift the back end with the floor jack under the pumpkin to put the back end up on jack stands. Yeah, that's the ticket! Obviously, I'm going to want the ramps strapped to the front wheels to make sure it doesn't come off when the driven and p-braked wheels come off the ground.