Rare find in the yard today.

Topic: Rare find in the yard today. (Read 5921 times) previous topic - next topic

Rare find in the yard today.

Reply #15 – November 02, 2008, 07:55:15 PM

Wow look at that. Another non-cruise steering wheel on a T-bird/Cougar. I find it interesting that the T-Birds and Cougars didn't use the 3 spoke from the Mustang/Capri. Instead they went to the trouble to make 3 different non-cruise wheels. :hick:

Here's the Capri wheel that I bought from someone on Foureyedpride.

Rare find in the yard today.

Reply #16 – November 02, 2008, 08:40:33 PM

Quote from: V8Demon;241204

Holy back from the edge of the universe, Batman!

Where u been hidin?

no doubt,, welcome back!!!

I can only imagine cutting my knuckles on the sharp edge pointed out below ,, watch that!!

Rare find in the yard today.

Reply #17 – November 03, 2008, 07:23:08 AM

I have one of the TC/XR7 two-spoke wheels with cruise delete. I found it in an '86 XR-7 with hardly any options except for automatic transmission.

I found an '86 Thunderbird with manual locks at the yard several years ago, but I think the delete plates were different from the car you found, Joe. I'll have to dig them out of my parts boxes and take a closer look.

Quote from: 5.0 bird;241346

Here's the Capri wheel that I bought from someone on Foureyedpride.

That looks like the same wheel used in SVOs.

Rare find in the yard today.

Reply #18 – November 03, 2008, 07:47:52 AM

Quote from: cougarcragar;241422

That looks like the same wheel used in SVOs.

And '85 Gt's...

Rare find in the yard today.

Reply #19 – November 03, 2008, 08:47:40 AM

That was the beauty of cars back then - people could order them the way they wanted. None of that "Oh, if you want power windows you've gotta take power locks" or "If you want a sunroof you've got to take leather" bullshiznit manufacturers pull today. Everything's about packages now, just to save the manufacturer costs while at the same time pusing higher content (meaning higher profit) vehicles.

My dearly departed 88 Cougar had power windows and mirrors but no power locks or power trunk/fuel door release. My first Fox (85 V6 T-Bird) had no options whatsoever except metallic paint and a full size spare (and the spare was probably dealer installed). No cruise, no PW, not even a right side mirror. It even had an buttstuffogue clock, which I thought funny given its digital speedometer.

My current car has power windows, locks, trunk, fuel door, mirrors, etc, but no power seats. It's a base V8 model but had the 10" drums and rear sway bar... attached to a 2.73 open 7.5" axle! That's what I like about these cars. They're all a little different. Each one would have its own story, its own reason for existence. Everything from "Grandpa bought it new and thought power windows were evil" to "Well, the manufacturer built it, and somebody's gotta sell it"...

By the way, there was yet another cruise-less style wheel used in these cars. My 85's wheel was like this:

...Except it had a T-Bird emblem, and of course, no cruise buttons

Rare find in the yard today.

Reply #20 – November 03, 2008, 10:09:21 AM

Yeah but when you get old and have a arthritic back, you'll say screw the manual windows and locks...

Rare find in the yard today.

Reply #21 – November 03, 2008, 11:46:00 AM

Quote from: TurboCoupe50;241436

Yeah but when you get old and have a arthritic back, you'll say screw the manual windows and locks...

Who said you have to get old to do that? :hick:

Interesting non-digi clock in the pic.....never seen one in person in these cars.

Rare find in the yard today.

Reply #22 – November 03, 2008, 01:30:01 PM

Quote

Interesting non-digi clock in the pic.....never seen one in person in these cars.

Christ, I have a whole box full of them...do you want one? :hick:

For most 1983-86 models (at least with Cougars) the buttstuffog clock was standard. The full digital dash package usually required the digital clock. The 1987-88 model years were where it got interesting...the base cluster could be had with either clock. The digital dash required the digital clock. The full buttstuffog dash...got the digital clock. :rolleyes:

What Carm said about mixing and matching was true. It was as easy as ordering a Whopper: you could get it your way, whichever options you preferred, or none at all. This was in the spirit of the original Mustang (and Cougar). These were some of the first cars in the 1980's to truly cater to everyone, and Ford was extremely savvy at recognizing that.

However, look at the legacy that left behind: the mess of wires behind the dash and under the carpeting for all the different combinations; not knowing what was standard from any given model/year to another; not knowing what was correct for the car/model year...hell, we can't even verify some relatively simple things now. There was no rhyme or reason back then. We can't even swap one cluster to another without rewiring half the frickin' dash, for the love of God!

Obviously there's a smart way to do everything, and it could have been that manufacturing techniques weren't as sophisticated back then, or perhaps the cost was too inhibitive. And to Ford's credit, things did get a lot better with one model (1987-88 Turbo Coupe), as far as standard equipment and slimming down options. But the end result for the rest of us is the clusterf@*# of components that we deal with regularly. There is a LOT to be said about newer cars in that respect. At least you don't have to go through the hell that we do...you know what is standard (usually nearly fully loaded), and options run few for simplicity's sake. And you can actually (gasp!) go onto that thar Intarwebs and FIND INFORMATION EASILY about your later model vehicle...whereas you'll have up to a dozen of us frickin' nerds piling through our shop manuals and EVTM's to find an answer to the simplest question for our cars.

Yeah...newer car features FTW.

That being said...the non-cruise, non-leather steering wheels are WAY cool and I have a few of them...photos later...

Rare find in the yard today.

Reply #23 – November 03, 2008, 01:38:27 PM

My car originaly had that buttstuffog clock too. I bought a digital one off the Cool Cats garage sale section almost 10 years ago! 5 bucks shipped, thanks Eric!

Rare find in the yard today.

Reply #24 – November 03, 2008, 01:43:14 PM

Quote

For most 1983-86 models (at least with Cougars) the buttstuffog clock was standard

Even still I've yet to see one installed in a car in person....even in a salvage yard. It's either digital or gone altogether...Weird, huh?

Quote

I have a whole box full of them...do you want one?

I'll pass :hick:

Rare find in the yard today.

Reply #25 – November 03, 2008, 01:58:43 PM

OK, just thought I'd offer. :)

It seems as if the 1988 models all had digital clocks, at least according to my information. That sounds about right, as every '88 I've ever owned has had a digital clock. I did pull an buttstuffog clock from an '87 in the boneyard a long time ago.

The 1983-84 cars seem to have the largest percentage of buttstuffog clocks standard. It's uncommon to find a digital clock in those, unless it had the digital dash. And for those two years the digital clock lit up the bluish-green color; the 1985-88 digital clocks were spinach green.

So when I bought my latest '84, it had THE noisiest buttstuffog clock. I remember my first '84 clock being rather noisy also, but this one...wow. It was almost deafening. My thoughts drifted toward swapping in a digital clock, but my wishes are to keep things as stock as possible on this car, so I found a NOS 1983-84 clock on eBay for a whopping $15 shipped. Tore apart the dash (the older dashes required quite a bit of removal to get to the clock) and got the new clock in...hooked the battery back up and what do you know.

Same deafening whirring of the gears. :hick:

So maybe that's why you see buttstuffog clocks missing in boneyard cars. Hoping they're less noisy than the one they already have, people are simply trying to keep their sanity!

Rare find in the yard today.

Reply #26 – November 03, 2008, 02:16:57 PM

I wish my 88 didn't have cruise buttons on my steering wheel it doesnt work and all those buttons are annoying!

Rare find in the yard today.

Reply #27 – November 03, 2008, 03:13:09 PM

Quote from: EricCoolCats;241461

So when I bought my latest '84, it had THE noisiest buttstuffog clock. I remember my first '84 clock being rather noisy also, but this one...wow. It was almost deafening. My thoughts drifted toward swapping in a digital clock, but my wishes are to keep things as stock as possible on this car, so I found a NOS 1983-84 clock on eBay for a whopping $15 shipped. Tore apart the dash (the older dashes required quite a bit of removal to get to the clock) and got the new clock in...hooked the battery back up and what do you know.

Same deafening whirring of the gears. :hick:

So maybe that's why you see buttstuffog clocks missing in boneyard cars. Hoping they're less noisy than the one they already have, people are simply trying to keep their sanity!

Funny you should tell that story. My 85's digital clock was noisy as hell too, and not only that, but it kept terrible time. A friend of mine then bought an '85 almost just like mine (same rare light sage green colour, too, but his interior was the light beige, or "biscuit", or whatever, while mine was charcoal). It was funny, his car was almost as basic as mine, too. His had cruise and a digital clock.

He hated the digital clock, though. He prefered the old-school buttstuffogue clock, so he offered to trade me. He knew mine was noisy and inaccurate, but he didn't care. Needless to say, I traded him :hick:

Rare find in the yard today.

Reply #28 – November 03, 2008, 03:58:55 PM

I'd much rather have power windows and mirrors on a car I'm driving on the street. The Zephyr I had a year ago had manual windows and mirrors and it was just tedious.
I made sure I kept both those options on the Tbird.

Rare find in the yard today.

Reply #29 – November 03, 2008, 05:01:54 PM

pw&pl ftmfw

i could live without the pwr seats and mirrors as well as cruise.