That makes people stare! I put the 82 on the road friday for my gf's prom (blew a tire and ended up hitching rides all night anyway :rolleyes: ) And the main thing i've noticed the last couple days is that when I was driving the turbo sprint people would look at the car as it passed but when i'm driving the thunderbird people literally stare as I go by. I've noticed this several times every time I go somewhere in the car. Its by no means in beautiful condition, hell its barely qualifies as decent with the leaky crank seals, rusty fenders, flaking paint revealing the original silver coat and the half vinyl roof that has been torn off and fogged over with spraypaint (a real 20 footer) but people still take notice of it. I cant wait to get it fixed up now, I think that flame has been reignited as I cant stop thinking about what I want and need to get done to that car.
Anyway just an observation of mine, i'm sure you guys know what I mean ;)
they are probably wondering how many drugs you are selling to pay for the gas to drive it around!!! hahaha
I know what you mean. The small rust spots in my car are now about the size of a half dollar and I've been wondering if I should bother fixing it, but on Saturday I did some landscape work and the owners 18 year old son came out and said "wow, there is a really cool new car outside." I didn't think of anything, but Dan, who was working with me said "yeah, it's K-Dubs" so I had to tell him it was almost 20 years old. :) Then Dan went on to praise the Coug. "You should see the inside! It's immaculate." Put the fire back in me too.
Awsome Scott! Maybe I can help you some.
Actually cruising around the city I get 25mpg with the od and a *mostly light foot :flip:
CougarSE I'll send you a pic
Coming to this forum gave me the flame to get my HO conversion parts instead of a new comp. A month ago I probably would have done the PC instead. I know the feelin!!
People are probably thinking, what the frick is that old box? ;)
why you gotta bust balls all the time geez
yup i'm for real
I wouldnt doubt it, its got t-bird emblems and a lincoln hood ornament :hick: Theres a few other ones around, a silver one, a black/silver two tone and a red one in really nice shape that havnt come out of hibernation yet and a couple beater cougars of this vintage but they stick out like a sore thumb around all the cavaliers and hondas on the road. The thing I miss most about my 80 is the blue interior, as soon as I have the money for new carpet i'm switching them.
(http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i11/turbosprunt/front82.jpg)
(http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i11/turbosprunt/rear.jpg)
Ya know I honestly couldn't tell ya the last time I saw a "box bird" on the road...hell I hardly even see '87-88's except for beat-up V6's.
I see more of the box 'Birds on the road around here than the XR-7s. I've seen about 5 TBirds in the past couple years and 1 XR-7. None really too beat (I think my XR-7 is the most beat of the bunch). It's going to be fun to have it on the road (whenever that is). The way it stands now, it will probably be rocking the 2.3T that is curently in the '83 Bird (since it will be coming out to make way for the X-flow I6).
I'm kind of glad mine is the Recaro package car. Alot less "" on it...so there will be less to take out ;)
I wish I could say the same. :( I haven't even seen the ol' girl for three weeks.
People always stare at my Tbird when I drive it around. It's the only nice 87-88 Tbird in the area. On the rare occasion I see another one it's usually rusted out and beat to hell. These cars are approaching 20 years old and getting rare so don't be surprised when you don't even see other ones on the road.
Mine isn't immaculate and shiny, but it's by far one of the nicest Fox Tbirds I've seen around here. There's one that goes to my school, which is black and has an ugly black painted grill and black wheels, but it's in decent shape. Every other Tbird I've seen has been beat up.
I'd like to consider mine to be in pretty decent condition, but it has all the signs of a 20 year old car. Paint on the trunk and roof is oxidizing, headliner is toast, seats are worn out, and it has a leaky rear main seal. It wasn't too bad up untill recently when I came out of a local venue and noticed that someone had pretty much rammed their car into my driver side quarter panel trying to park. So there is white pain all over that little piece of trim, and the paint lifted since it dented the panel. Every time I see it now I just think my car looks like every other junk T-bird around here. I've gotten quite a few compliments on it though.
you know, i gotta say i feel like people at least second-look (maybe not STARE) at my 20th. ill happen to make eye contact and theyre looking at me just a little bit longer than i would expect, lol.
then again.....there really are not many of these around. i see a decent amount of early '90s MN-12 cougars and more t-birds of the same time period, but never any foxes! when i do see a fox, as mentioned before, its often a beat up one:(
never in my life have i seen one of those "box birds" as you guys are calling them. if it werent for this forum i would not know what the birds and cats became as a result of the 1980ish shrunk land-barge craze.
To put it in perspective, think of it this way: Our Tbirds, (well, the 87-88's, not to be biased, in case you think i am, I'm not lol)
are approaching that vintage that a '57 Chevy Bel-Air had in the very early 70's...
On the hand, most of the younger "kids" around here all make fun of, and talk shiznit about my car, never mind the fact that at least it's mine, paid for, and still has more style than any of their little econofartbox cars will EVER have, lol
Yep, as far as a Thunderbird thing goes, I may soon be getting my fifth...;)
right now I've got 3 '88s, and the wife's 89.
May be getting an '81 very soon. :D
Edit: ZondaC12, I got pics, as does Tbirdscott, of some BoxBirds, mine are in user rides, under 1981 Tbird...
well i see tbirdscott's boxes in his signature all the time!, and i have looked in the user rides section.
when i first saw what the boxbirds were like i went UUUGHHH:yuck:
i felt sorry for the t-bird itself that it too had to be a part of the bland boxy early 1980's car trend.
but you know what? the more ive looked at them the more i think that if i was around then and HAD to get a new car, and not a rich guy car, lets assume the likely situation im like everyone else gotta get a run of the mill car, id probably be looking at them over anything else! they seem to have "gotten a lemon and made lemonade" with the box-birds. they really are classy-looking cars and they sorta grow on me. personally i think the 87-88 cougars are the best looking of any bird/cat 1980's and afterward, and we all know '83 was the year the bird/cat REALLY stood out but i gotta say if i had to choose a car in 1981 a boxbird would be a great one
well i see tbirdscott's boxes in his signature all the time!, and i have looked in the user rides section.
when i first saw what the boxbirds were like i went UUUGHHH:yuck:
i felt sorry for the t-bird itself that it too had to be a part of the bland boxy early 1980's car trend.
but you know what? the more ive looked at them the more i think that if i was around then and HAD to get a new car, and not a rich guy car, lets assume the likely situation im like everyone else gotta get a run of the mill car, id probably be looking at them over anything else! they seem to have "gotten a lemon and made lemonade" with the box-birds. they really are classy-looking cars and they sorta grow on me. personally i think the 87-88 cougars are the best looking of any bird/cat 1980's and afterward, and we all know '83 was the year the bird/cat REALLY stood out but i gotta say if i had to choose a car in 1981 a boxbird would be a great one
well i see tbirdscott's boxes in his signature all the time!, and i have looked in the user rides section.
when i first saw what the boxbirds were like i went UUUGHHH:yuck:
i felt sorry for the t-bird itself that it too had to be a part of the bland boxy early 1980's car trend.
but you know what? the more ive looked at them the more i think that if i was around then and HAD to get a new car, and not a rich guy car, lets assume the likely situation im like everyone else gotta get a run of the mill car, id probably be looking at them over anything else! they seem to have "gotten a lemon and made lemonade" with the box-birds. they really are classy-looking cars and they sorta grow on me. personally i think the 87-88 cougars are the best looking of any bird/cat 1980's and afterward, and we all know '83 was the year the bird/cat REALLY stood out but i gotta say if i had to choose a car in 1981 a boxbird would be a great one
OTHER RANT/TANGENT:i just have to say this. if i was living in the 70's as a, i dunno 20-30 year old or something and i had bought some kind of muscle car, especially if it was like a Boss mustang, i would NEVER have gotten rid of it. i know some people did this, my uncle's friend who did some work on my cat for me has a 1973 'stang mach 1, he got it in '76! right in the middle of the crisis! he hung onto the thing, now today its been repainted (probably had to be restored a little too), spotless, and modded, pushin like 500 horses......i woulda been one of those people :cool: . sky-high gas? :flip: ill pay anything to run my brutally-powerful v8. new cars now suddenly requiring power-robbing emissions ? pppfft, no way man! insurance gettin higher too? :flip: i woulda sold my house and everything else i had and lived in a shack if i could keep driving what i was driving. then, years and years later...whoa! its worth like $50k now!!! (not that id sell it, just that i could drive around like "cool this things worth a real lot and i didnt pay that much when i bought it!) even though the skyrocketed values of musclecars is rather fake still thats where the market is, you cant change it...
i must add my .02 on this.....i just bought my 85 t/c, and i noticed i get alot of looks with it, i know that some of the looks are the "what in the hell is that" but its ok. i also get compliments on it, because its in great shape for a 20 year car. i paid under 2000 for it, and i absolutely love it! it is red/ gray outside with red interior. a far cry from styling you see now! and mixed in with the bland hondas and toyotas it stands out. i must also add my vote that i think the 4 eyed birds look the best....but that is only my opinion! great to meet you all as i am new here
keith
yeah i like the four-eye ones. yet another thing to set you apart in addition to the fact that its a bird/cougar!