Why You love the fox Birds and Cougars?... December 16, 2006, 06:00:57 AM Hello!,Question for You, WHY do You want and are a fox lovers all You here, Your first car, or ??????????...My little history first as well...The first time I see a fox platform, is a cougar, and I hated this a lot, at this time I love the big cars and the newer rounded Cougar was not for Me, same for the first time I see the Tbird, what a in My mind! at this time...the time passed and in 1990 My mother was purchased a 1984 Tbird with a 232 V6, I don't liked this choice, but was not My car, and at this time I was a V8 Guy.After a few time mother let to Me driving his car, and I'm surprised of the comfort and the fast turning curves strong of this car, I liked a bit thi8s car, but no more...In 2000 his '84 was a big frame issue and My mother was sic a bit, now I searched another Bird same, and I found a 85 bird at a farmer near Me in a decent condition for 400$, My mother In love with his 84 was purchased the car...What a surprise when I checked seriously, the trunk bottom was dissapeared, the gaz tank was retained with a ready bolts, and name it! I found a lot of issues...I putted his car in the basp00get garage, and started to completelu dissasemble, what a job!, But at each end of day of work on his "py" bird, I sitted on one seat over the car, and see this without a grill, and some missing parts depending what are where on the car, and I liked the car I see at this time..I finished the car finally after a couple of months of work (working time to time) and painted, WOW! when I painted and reassembled, it was a the most beautyful car of My street!...Finally My mother at 84 years old donated to Me his Bird spring 2005 after 3 years sitting in the grass over the home, BUT, I was made a three star body job on there and the body was not damaged, but a bit, some issue comes of the engine at this time, but I renewed the car winter 2005-2006, and the body is mint but need a paint urgently for the next summer...I hated these birds, but after see one dismembered in My garage, and worked on, I liked this, and today nobody drive My car, and more, I pourchases another fox birds...Thats My little history of My Bird love...YOU!?... Quote Selected
Why You love the fox Birds and Cougars?... Reply #1 – December 16, 2006, 10:35:45 AM i like the ride and the looks :) Quote Selected
Why You love the fox Birds and Cougars?... Reply #2 – December 16, 2006, 01:12:55 PM I always loved the Thunderbird's body style, even when I was younger. I wanted a turbo coupe in high school but my dad wouldn't let me buy one.Anyway I ended up owning a 2.3L Fox mustang for several years, then I bought my Thunderbird, which is honestly superior to that Mustang in every way. Feels more solid, nicer interior, nicer seats, just an overall nicer car.It's also not a car you see very often, and when you do they're generally 3.8L beaters. Quote Selected
Why You love the fox Birds and Cougars?... Reply #3 – December 16, 2006, 01:31:48 PM the fox cougar is the first car i ever desired.... i love the (what i call) tear-drop side window leading to the straight up and down rear window.... i like all of them from 83-88, 4 eyed or not..... this was also the first car i ever saw with a digital dash that wasn't a corvette.... (it was an 87 aniv edition)... i was hooked instantly Quote Selected
Why You love the fox Birds and Cougars?... Reply #4 – December 16, 2006, 02:02:24 PM I was looking for another Mustang and I couldn't find one for a decent price and to be quite honest, I didn't even know Tbirds existed for these years. My buddy who I convinced to buy his Mustang, convinced me to buy the Bird. Even though I wanted the Stang and he wanted the Bird. Anyhoos after realizing that it was pretty much just like a Stang only more room for my 6'-2 frame and a better interior. I bought it. And after I did the suspension upgrade with the Cobra wheels, I was hooked. Granted I still got more compliments when I drove my buddies Stang, but people were absolutely floored when I would pull into the local speed shop. That's when I realized I love the underdog. Quote Selected
Why You love the fox Birds and Cougars?... Reply #5 – December 16, 2006, 03:19:56 PM I like the Bird because of 2 reasons:1: It was my grandfather's and brother's car, so it is a family thing. Every time I see one of them, the Bird is the first thing to come up.2: It's different, and that leaves alot of room for uniqueness. With any Mustang and other popular muscle car, everything has been done. And everyone and their sister has a Mustang. Alot of people comment on my car, asking what it is, saying it looks good. Compared to what I've seen on here, it's a dog.Also, have you seen the trunk space? Quote Selected
Why You love the fox Birds and Cougars?... Reply #6 – December 16, 2006, 04:09:09 PM cause its not seen much around here... im the only one in townsure theres a 86 running around... but no 87-88'sexcept for ONE COUGAR and that one is MIA here lately Quote Selected
Why You love the fox Birds and Cougars?... Reply #7 – December 16, 2006, 04:53:45 PM 'Cause it looks so good! and theres only 4 in town, I have two :D Quote Selected
Why You love the fox Birds and Cougars?... Reply #8 – December 16, 2006, 05:25:20 PM it was dad's, and he got it in '98, i was 10 years old and didnt have much of an opinion back then. but as my automotive interest developed i grew to like it's looks, size, and comfortable ride and interior. and he said someday he might supercharge it or "put a stroker motor in it" and he explained to me what that meant. and since its in such good shape an theres no 87/88s around here, it sure as hell stands out in the parking lot. i cant go to ONE store/restaurant/whatever and NOT keep looking back at it as im walking to the entrance. its kinda funny when i think about it but i just love the way it looks so much. i very much look forward to standing next to it on a showfield when its like 30 years old. actually i was at a burger king the other day and i was by the window and an 87/88 went by! whats funny is at first glance i instantly thought of CougarCruisin. it was probably the same exact color! not the same wheels hes got and it had some rear quarter panel rust but it was really alright looking. nearly jumped out of the chair. thats the first fox cougar ive seen in like a month and the first 87/88 in like 2 years. Quote Selected
Why You love the fox Birds and Cougars?... Reply #9 – December 16, 2006, 06:31:56 PM The first Thunderbird that caught my eye was a white '84 for sale (advertised as an '85, but I knew nothing about these cars back then, so I didn't know the difference) at a local car lot. This was around about 1990-1991. The lot wanted $3.5k for it. I wanted to trade my 1980 Formula Firebird in on it, but the dealership only offered me $500 for the trade-in, an insult considering the Firebird was near mint. I decided right then I would sell the Firebird and buy that T-Bird. I put the Firebird in the paper and sold it for $2k, so I went back to that lot. The Thunderbird was gone.I bought a Bargain Hunter and went on a hunt, looking at any 83-86 T-Bird or Cougar I could find. Since it was so long ago, 87-88 models were completely out of my price range. I looked at several, including a mint light blue '86 Cougar I passed on because the "service" light was on (I didn't realize it was an oil change reminder light, neither did the seller) and finally settled on a light sage green '85 T-Bird with the carbed 3.8. This car was the most basic of basic 'Birds, its only options being metallic paint and a full size spare (no power windows, mirrors, locks, seats, A/C, cruise - even the clock was buttstuffogue) but it was enough to make me fall in love, and even with the V6 it would easily outrun my old 301-powered Firebird. I installed a stereo and a set of chrome 14" Cragar rims and drove it for several years - it had about 270k miles on it when I traded it on an off-lease '91 T-Bird.The '91 was the biggest POS I'd ever owned (outside of the Volvo I own now) - most regular members here have read my tales of woe with it, so I won't bore you with the details, except to tell you that it cost about $1400 to rebuild a 3.8 (including crank, one rod, and one piston) in 1994, and that my car was key in the ignition switch fire recall. I sold it to my father, who drove it trouble-free for two or three years before selling it back to me. I then moved on to an '88 Cougar LS 5.0 - my first, and to this date, only Cougar. I loved that car to death and had even started to do some upgrades, but bounced it off a tractor trailer one fateful April evening in 1999 and killed it.Next up was the '87 Sport. I loved this car as well, but Nova Scotia road salt gave it terminal cancer. I sold it for a grand after starting the body work and giving up.Then came the car I have now, an '88 base 5.0 T-Bird. After having the rusty Sport I decided my next one had to be mint, so I searched for a few years before finally resorting to posting a want-ad. I found the car in my back yard, so to speak - absolutely mint, 47k miles, 100% stock. I had custom 2.25" dual exhaust installed and put a stereo system in it, and did a few minor electrical and cosmetic things, up until this past summer, when I started tearing into it for more serious mods (details can be found by clicking on the link above).I also briefly had an '87 Turbo Coupe. I bought it in January 06 and put it to rest in September. It was bought as a parts car - the front frame was rusted out - but was drivable. I retrieved many, many useful parts from it, though, most of which are either already on or soon will be on the '88 mentioned above.*EDIT* The funny thing is, that Firebird the dealership didn't want in the early 90's could probably buy 5 or 6 '84 T-Birds now... Quote Selected
Why You love the fox Birds and Cougars?... Reply #10 – December 16, 2006, 09:45:59 PM my first fox bird experience was car shoppin with my father. he was in graduate school and i was probly 12 or 13. the $50 beater he had been drivin was really gettin bad, and my moms car was, well, my moms car. they both worked and he was in school so we HAD to have two runnin vehicles. anywho, he and i are used car shoppin and we test drive a few cars out of the price range, jus for fun. and one 4banger mustang that was probly gonna end up being "the one." out on the back of the lot, my dad spots a med canyon red 87 bird. asks about it and is told not to worry about that car....long story short(er), we wander back to it and the price on the windshield is super low! apparently leftover from a tent sale and didnt get cleaned off. dad pushes for a test drive, and falls in love with the car. the beats the sales guy down to get the car for the posted price on the window to boot!i busted my ass to clean and wax that car every week so that when i got my license i would have earned the rights to drive it. the most base of all base cars. no power anything, i mean none. 3.8, auto, polycast 14" wheels, and a rear defrost. cleanest inside and out i have ever seen. light grey interior.i went thru a lot of cars in the beginnin of havin my license. none compared in my mind to my dads bird. when i was shoppin last year for a fox chassis vehicle to throw all my collected parts at i knew it was gonna be a bird. i looked at others, a couple fox mustangs, 3 or 4 fairmonts, a sn95 car. tryin to convice my self that (less)weight would be the deciding factor. it all came back to memories of my dads car, and i knew i could make all the mustang parts fit. i hate mustangs anyhow. only good for donors....so now i have my own 87 bird, and my dad is jealous of me this go 'round:cool: Quote Selected
Why You love the fox Birds and Cougars?... Reply #11 – December 16, 2006, 09:52:00 PM My first experience with a cougar was in 88 when my aunt bought it new. I liked the looks and the back seat was comfortable (I was about 4 years old at the time) but I was in love with my dads 71 stang.Well I have always thought they were awesome looking and it wasn't till recently that I really started liking em.Well I was looking for a 5.0 to put in my truck and a guy at work said he had one. I offered him 300 cash sight unseen. Well when it finally got towed to my house. I instantly fell in love with it, I constantly found my self just sitting in the back yard looking at it.Needless to say this is my first "car" (had a wagon and a truck) and is my "mustang". Oh and my first car with a trunk! lolI don't think I could ever sell it or my ranger, but I put a high value on the things I own. I worked to hard to get them to treat them any different.Thought I wish I had a four eye, felling in love the look on my 86 wagon. (Anyone wanna trade?) lol Quote Selected
Why You love the fox Birds and Cougars?... Reply #12 – December 16, 2006, 09:59:50 PM John (blue84302) is the reason i'm a member of this board and the reason i own my cars. Quote Selected
Why You love the fox Birds and Cougars?... Reply #13 – December 16, 2006, 10:00:56 PM Mostly because when it's good,it's very good,and when it breaks,it really pi$$es me off,and I just LOOOOOOOVE being pi$$ed off.LOL. Quote Selected
Why You love the fox Birds and Cougars?... Reply #14 – December 16, 2006, 10:14:51 PM Like many of you, my story is quite interesting.It was the spring of 1998 and I was mowing a friend's lawn while they were out of town on business. They had this black '86 Cougar GS sitting in the car port. It was totally bone stock, right down to the wire wheel covers and 3.8 V6.Every time I mowed that grass, I couldn't keep my eyes off of that car. I would make a lap real fast down the lawn, then make a slow one back, just because I could see the car.There was something about its lines; calling back to muscle cars, yet it still had a modern look. The "smoked" taillights and bulging fenders is what hooked me. I nagged its owner once a week with relentless persistence. They ended up doing something very nice and selling it to me for $1.I spent the next two years building the car; there wasn't a single part that I hadn't messed with. I ended up wrecking it in two separate collisions, and neither were my fault.Its replacement was an '88 XR7, on which I had also performed many modifications. I miss this car the most, to be honest. It was just way too cool.I then bought the '96 to replace the XR7, and I now have the '86 XR7 as a project car. Out of all the Fox and MN12 Cougars, I think the '88 XR7 is the best. It cultivates a look that oozes "cool." Give me a black one with body-color turbines and I'll keep it on the road until I die.The only MN12 that I really love is the '91 XR7. The '89s and '90s have the same monochromatic paint scheme, but they have that stupid front end.I have a strong feeling that I will go back to an '88 XR7. Quote Selected
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