Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

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Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

March 10, 2014, 09:30:10 PM

My first car was a 1985 Turbo Coupe, second 1986 lx Stang, Third 1987 Turbo Coupe, Fourth 1985 GT Stang. I still want my 85 back. I got it from my Uncle when I was 15, it needed a ton of work. He drove it hard for 200,000 miles and then replaced it with a SuperCoupe. Lucky for me it was a five speed, and he always changed the oil regularly. It needed a steering rack, master cylinder, rear wheel cylinders, timing belt, v-belts, tune up. He parked it and let it sit three years while waiting for me to get old enough for it. He always loved it and couldn't part ways with it so he saved it for me. My pops towed it home, bought all the parts and a manual and let me at it. I learned a LOT about cars that summer. I still to this day miss my 85, the stangs and 87 might have been faster, but there is something magical about your first car, like your first love. Im writing this cause I read about the senior in high school on here that his first car is a Bird. Made me remember my high school days :p
Even yesterday, my oldest friend came over, we went for a ride in my 2000 GT. He loved it, I told him it was fun but Id trade it in a instant for my ol' 85 Turbo Coupe. So does anybody else still have those memories???

Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

Reply #1 – March 11, 2014, 01:58:40 AM

Y first car was an 86 cougar gs stripper model. had a digital dash, 5.0, and nothing else. not even a passenger mirror. it was a $110 police impound. I drove it like I stole it. I put near 100k miles on it (rolled it over 199k miles twice), and it looked every part of the $110 dollars if you assumed I overpaid.

I got it stuck high centered in a parking lot, smashed a fire hydrant in the drivers door, lost a tire going over 100mph, and never once really gave me any problems.

I've pretty much only driven $500 cougarbirds since. now I'm getting sick of fixing the same things over and over. gonna actually fix one instead of leaving them dead on the side of the road or dragging them into a junkyard when the trans quits.

Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

Reply #2 – March 11, 2014, 08:31:58 AM

78 Merc Monarch….

Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

Reply #3 – March 11, 2014, 08:41:31 AM

85 Thunderbird in my avatar. 5.0, CFI, AOD. Blew one 7.5 rear end and one 5.0 thanks to a bad oil pump. Gave the car all the hell a 16 year old could and it came back for more. My parents made me sell it after I bought a 93 Mustang LX 2.3 auto for a daily driver / college car.

Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

Reply #4 – March 11, 2014, 09:15:29 AM

My first car was an 84 XR-7 (first car on the left in my sig picture). I have probably told it's story a hundred times, but what the heck, here it is again:

It was my dads car, and he actually didn't like it. He got something else for himself, and parked that cougar in the driveway for me to have when I got my permit/license (I was 15 at the time). It looked like , and ran just like it looked. It was so rusty you could pick the bottoms of the doors up and look inside. My dad joked "at least if you get in a wreck, I'll know you weren't going very fast".

Basically, I knew nothing about cars. I bought the haynes and chiltons manuals for the car and studied them. This was before the internet, back when you actually had to figure stuff out on your own. Long story short, I put a new (junkyard) turbo on it, new injectors and a fuel pressure regulator and it ran great. My dad and I fixed the rust and painted it. I bought some new American Racing chrome rims, and put in a nice stereo. I loved that car, it looked great, and got a lot of attention. But at the time, all my friends had V8's, and I wanted to join that club. So I found an 87 XR-7 5.0 (the red one in my sig pic). I traded the 84 for the 87 at a car lot. I kept my rims, lol.

Now here's the sad part. I missed my 84 something fierce. I kept driving past that car lot, and eventually I saw that it was moved to the back lot. I stopped in to be nosy and ask why. Apparently the owner of the lot took it out and beat on it and did some damage to the engine. He said I could buy it back for $300. Well, I was still living at home, and my dad didn't want another car in the driveway... So I just kept lustfully driving past it, and one day it was gone. Then I spotted it up the street at a mechanic shop (the door was up, and I could see it on the lift inside). I thought "oh well, at least somebody is fixing it"...

The next day I drove by, the garage was burned down and my old car was still on the lift, a rusty, burned-out shell.

Goodbye old friend. I learned a lot from you. I learned body work, engine repair, and so much more. I also learned pride in a job well done. But most of all I learned how a car can really "fit" a person. No other car fits me like a fox Cougar. Most fox-bodies feel similar (and I have had dang near every kind), but a fox cougar always has a special place in my heart. I now have an 85 XR-7, which I feel is the best blend to me. It has the body, drivetrain and looks of my beloved 84 (with the bonus of the fog-light bumper), and the dash of my second-fave, my 87 XR-7.

I am sure others will chime in, I know many of us had these cars as our first. There's just something about them. I just can't seem to be without one. In my whole driving life, there's only been one stretch of a few months where I tried to go foxless. I couldn't do it, lol. I'm an addict. I even tried to ween myself off cougars by stepping to other foxes, thinking I could graduate to another vehicle. I just can't do it. I need therapy. No matter how py some of these Cougars treat me, I just keep coming back for more. At least when they do give you trouble, they aren't too expensive.

Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

Reply #5 – March 11, 2014, 10:03:44 AM

Indeed mine was........ 1983 Thunderbird Heritage, the one in my sig..............i was the 2nd owner, 17K on the odometer. 123K today, all original stock car. Under a tarp in the driveway since Hurricane Sandy.

Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

Reply #6 – March 11, 2014, 10:39:09 AM

1957 Ford Country Sedan station wagon, good for carrying surfboards, mattresses, assorted honeys, etc...

My First Fox T-Bird was probably around #130 or so....

Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

Reply #7 – March 11, 2014, 11:44:35 AM

This is my first car. 1988 Thunderbird LX 5.0. I'm a senior in High school and I've been driving it for 2 years now in May. 104,000 miles and climbing :(

Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

Reply #8 – March 11, 2014, 12:09:32 PM

The car in my sig was/is my first car. I got it when I was 16 and actually took care of it. I've had the Thunderbird for 12 years now. It probably helped that it wasn't a piece of junk when I got it. That and I had an 87 Plymouth Voyager that my parents gave me as a "first car" as well. I drove the Voyager when the weather was bad/in the winter in high school. I bought the Thunderbird because a van was not cool to have in high school. The Voyager was, however, good for other high school activities

Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

Reply #9 – March 11, 2014, 01:50:31 PM

Yes, It Was An 87 TC.

Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

Reply #10 – March 11, 2014, 02:06:20 PM

My first car was my '84 Elan, 5.0. Paid 300 bucks for it back in 2009, it had sat in a field for around 7 years before I bought it. My dad was able to get it to fire up without any issues, we got it home and I daily drove it for about 3 years. I remember him saying how surprised he was when he opened the hood and saw a 302 staring back at him. He was expecting a V6, and who wouldn't? I fixed what needed to be fixed, replaced the AOD with a T5. Learned everything I know about cars wrenching on it. Love it to death. It's back home, just sitting for now. I'm gonna drive it here next time I take leave after I do a little work on it. I want to redo the exhaust and replace the reverse gear in the transmission.

Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

Reply #11 – March 11, 2014, 02:25:54 PM

When my siblings and I turned 16, we had to prove ourselves for a year driving the family spare car. It was a 1981 Olds 98 Regency 4 door...had a 403 motor and I would smoke the white wall tires for blocks on end while riding in the comfort of plush La-Z-Boy style seats. After the year with the 98 was up Dad passed down to me my 1st car, the '88 'bird in my sig. My Aunt bought the bird new in Lake Charles, LA so it avoided salt for the 1st 5-6 years of its life. Dad then bought it from her and drove it from around '93 until '98-'99. I've had it for 15 years now and drove it through all the fun involved with HS and college. I've been doing changes/mods to it since about 2004 and have learned a lot by working on it and the '72 Chevelle.

I love the car and plan to keep it forever! I have had people make fun of it (Thunderturd, heard a girl say "I'd be embarrassed to drive that", etc) or ask why I keep working on it instead of the Chevelle or my Mustang. My answer is that there's just something about your 1st car. I have so many fun and good memories that its almost like that car is part of who I am! Plus its different from what you see at most car shows and I find it easy to work on and for the most part, cheap to get parts for, etc.

I have noticed in the last few years that I get a lot of people excited to check out the car. I think these old Foxes are starting to get old enough that folks are getting a little nostalgic about them.

Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

Reply #12 – March 11, 2014, 03:48:50 PM

Quote from: 50tbrd88;430410

I have noticed in the last few years that I get a lot of people excited to check out the car. I think these old Foxes are starting to get old enough that folks are getting a little nostalgic about them.

True about the nostalgia. Many people have had these cars in the past, and they always say they wished they hadn't gotten rid of them. Yet none of those people are buying up the ones that do come up for sale.

My car was part of my life from around the age of 6-7 (first grade). Long history. Lots of memories of long car rides, both as a kid and an adult, in the thing with my sister, who is now deceased. I didn't drive it much until college, but it has all been great from that point on. It was maintained reasonably well mechanically (things fixed when broken), so other than emissions related repairs, the car ran well. I suffered in traffic as a kid with A/C not working, so that was one of the things I fixed. The power gain from cold/freezing weather was huge according to my butt-dyno back then - a bit was to be gained by getting out the 10.8:1 or whatever AFR the thing seemed to normally be running at in open loop when I was still stock with some worn out sensors. Lots of good times through the years, and a lot of custom fabrication has made mine one of a kind. It won't be leaving my life anytime soon. It lost daily driver status after 10 years as I grew overly paranoid that someone was going to damage the car/run into me. It has partially become a memorial piece, which has its good moments and its bad moments. The memories make me feel guilty about making modifications to parts of the vehicle (body/interior), but it's something that is badly needed in areas. The interior especially needs fixing/upgrading.

I think the body is up around 250k miles now. Original motor came out at 220k or so and had over an inch of carbon buildup in the lifter valley. Burned about two quarts of oil every 3k miles. It did obviously have some mechanical maintenance neglect, but with all the receipts I had, very little other than typical wear items were replaced. Emissions related things were the biggest expenses until I got hold of the car.

Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

Reply #13 – March 11, 2014, 08:03:34 PM

Quote from: MechanicMatt;430366

Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

Cat

The only picture of it I have on this computer is this however the wheels were "photo-shopped" using MS paint or the software that came with our scanner we bought in the late 90s (it's been so long I forget what I used). It's one of those ideas in my head from last century that I hope to execute on my other LS I currently own. Whether or not that actually happens... who knows.

Edit ** I found some other pictures that aren't "photo-shopped." **

Was your first car a Fox Bird or Cat?

Reply #14 – March 11, 2014, 08:40:17 PM

1978 Trans Am. Then a '66 Galaxie 500. Then a 1980 Formula Firebird. Then came the first Fox, a light sage green, zero option 1985 V6 T-Bird.