Earliest 1983 TBird August 24, 2013, 01:01:06 AM Doubt there are too many 83 TBird folks here but I'd be curious to find the earliest (build date) 1983, V6, V8 and TC. Quote Selected
Earliest 1983 TBird Reply #1 – August 24, 2013, 01:14:35 AM Good idea we the the newest coverd lolInteresting topic Quote Selected
Earliest 1983 TBird Reply #2 – August 24, 2013, 11:52:23 AM mine is a 6/4/83 build date which i think is pretty late build date. V-8 Car Quote Selected
Earliest 1983 TBird Reply #3 – August 26, 2013, 07:41:23 AM My red-ish '83 Heritage was built in July 1983. Not sure when they stopped making the '83's.My Gray Bird has a build date of Feb. '83 and it came with a 302.If I am not mistaken, didn't they start making the V-8 T-Birds in Jan. 1983 ? Quote Selected
Earliest 1983 TBird Reply #4 – August 26, 2013, 10:03:52 PM Good question, when did they stop making 83's and started production of the 84's? I recall someone mentioning a 83 w/ 84 some features or a 84 w/ some 83 features so makes you wonder if there wasn't a transition period? Motor Trend from Feb 1983 states the first 83's only came with the V6 and were to be available Feb 1983. The 5.0L V8 would be available March and the 2.3 Turbo would follow in May. There is a Ford commercial for the 1983 Thunderbird saying Coming February 17th which is in line with the MT article. Do you have a date stamp on your Feb car to narrow down the when in Feb is was built? Was your car built in Lorain? Sounds like you have a very early 1983 car.I believe Kevin Marti has all of the Ford records for our cars but he hasn't made it available yet. It will be interesting when he does! Quote Selected
Earliest 1983 TBird Reply #5 – August 27, 2013, 12:45:48 PM I will try to remember to take an up close pic of the door jamb the next time I see the Gray Bird. I do remember the sticker lifting from the paint.Wow, maybe I have a real early car.I know the vin sequence number is nothing special (not a low #) Quote Selected
Earliest 1983 TBird Reply #6 – August 27, 2013, 09:39:20 PM mine is a TC so it cant be an early car since they came later in the model year so it would technically be an 83 1/2 5/16/1983 and its 15 days older than I am Quote Selected
Earliest 1983 TBird Reply #7 – August 29, 2013, 12:49:40 AM Quote from: 83-88T-Bird Guy;420678I will try to remember to take an up close pic of the door jamb the next time I see the Gray Bird. I do remember the sticker lifting from the paint.Wow, maybe I have a real early car.I know the vin sequence number is nothing special (not a low #)Sounds like it could be an early car. I'll be curious to see the sticker.Quote from: 88turbo;420701mine is a TC so it cant be an early car since they came later in the model year so it would technically be an 83 1/2 5/16/1983 and its 15 days older than I am Technically it could be an 'early TC' since their production started in May. :hick: Where was your car build? Don't think I ever saw any pictures of it but would like to see some. Quote Selected
Earliest 1983 TBird Reply #8 – August 29, 2013, 04:45:39 PM Quote from: rodsterh;420780Sounds like it could be an early car. I'll be curious to see the sticker.Technically it could be an 'early TC' since their production started in May. :hick: Where was your car build? Don't think I ever saw any pictures of it but would like to see some.here's my 83, vin 1FABP46W5DA145967 I believe the car was built in Atlanta but I could be wrong. Quote Selected
Earliest 1983 TBird Reply #9 – August 31, 2013, 12:57:19 AM Looks like mine says 05/83, but the sticker is pretty trashed, so it's very difficult to make out. Quote Selected
Earliest 1983 TBird Reply #10 – August 31, 2013, 01:21:32 AM Quote from: 88turbo;420811here's my 83, vin 1FABP46W5DA145967 I believe the car was built in Atlanta but I could be wrong.No, you are correct, Atlanta built. Not sure where you got your build date of 5/16/83 but I believe mine is the same! Quote Selected
Earliest 1983 TBird Reply #11 – August 31, 2013, 01:24:43 AM My Heritage is a Lorain built car.... Quote Selected
Earliest 1983 TBird Reply #12 – September 03, 2013, 09:16:38 AM Mine too. And based on the date stamp under the hood and all of my other dospoogeentation I think I can safely say it was built on Friday April 22, 1983. The only way to know for sure is to wait until Kevin Marti makes his Ford reports available for our cars.Never found a date stamp on my 83 TC and the only dospoogeentation I have shows an in service date of May 16, so the actual build date was most likely about a week earlier, perhaps around May 9th.I was thinking maybe only TC's were built in Atlanta but have seem some Lorain built ones too. Would have made sense to just have one plant handle the TC but guess Ford didn't think so! Quote Selected
Earliest 1983 TBird Reply #13 – September 03, 2013, 10:27:33 PM Quote from: rodsterh;420903No, you are correct, Atlanta built. Not sure where you got your build date of 5/16/83 but I believe mine is the same!carfax :) Quote Selected
Earliest 1983 TBird Reply #14 – September 03, 2013, 10:32:13 PM the "odometer rollback" I believe is because of the 5 digit odometer and not being able to read past 99,999 miles. Quote Selected
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