What's a Thunderbird?

Topic: What's a Thunderbird? (Read 2176 times) previous topic - next topic

What's a Thunderbird?

August 15, 2006, 11:55:40 PM

It seems lately every time I fill up a High School kid comes up and asks me "Dude, what kind of car is that?" At first I thought it was strange but then I realized that these cars were out of production before most teens now were even born. What's cool is that they really like the body style...

Could the 83-88 birds/cats be the next 55-57 Chevy?

So does this ever happen to anyone else?

What's a Thunderbird?

Reply #1 – August 16, 2006, 12:03:10 AM

Yep. My little nephew has 4 years old and one time she said "how is your car called? its diferent from the others" I said "Its a Cougar" She replied "No, is Uncle´s car" and with her 4 years old, every time she looks a Cougar, she said "its like uncle´s car !"

Maybe ten years more and your statement would be correct.

What's a Thunderbird?

Reply #2 – August 16, 2006, 12:08:58 AM

When I drove my '88 daily, I'd hear comments like "hey look at that T-Bird"

I haven't noticed any comments from the younger crowd but then again I haven't really had the car out where I would normally get comments in over a year.

What's a Thunderbird?

Reply #3 – August 16, 2006, 12:58:34 AM

Everyone always laughs at me when I tell them these cars are going to be Barrett-Jackson machines in years to come, but I ignore them. The questions and comments I get about the car every once in a while are enough to convince me. You just don't get the same reactions out of the 89-97 t-birds as you do with ours. (Maybe because they're a dime a dozen and all look the same). Think about it, those who own 87-88's (Myself included) own a unique car whose production only includes two years.

Now that I think about it, I rarely ever see 87-88 T-birds or Cougars here in Tucson. (City is big, 1 million+ Population) I see more 83-86's, but even those I rarely see. I love my car, despite it's flaws, and would hang onto it anyway, but to be honest, I think if we keep these cars in half-way decent shape for 10 more years, we will be driving the next Chargers, Challengers, Firebirds, Barracudas, 440's, Etc. If we're all patient, the value will rise. Lets face it, you hang onto a car long enough, eventually it will become collectable, no matter how "Plastic" you think it is.

Hang onto these cars, even if you only have one. They're destined for fame. Maybe sooner than all of us tend to think.

That's my two cents on this.

What's a Thunderbird?

Reply #4 – August 16, 2006, 01:33:05 AM

I see 10 times the 87-88's than the 80-82's around here, then again I only see 3 or 4 80-82's lol

The value iof the 80-82's has been steadily going up fpr the last 4 years or so, the time is coming soon for all the fox cats/birds. i'll just be sitting back quietly waiting for mine to make me a millionaire:crazy:

What's a Thunderbird?

Reply #5 – August 16, 2006, 01:36:45 AM

I can't remember that far back, but maybe some of the...."wiser"...members can. If you went back chronologically to the same point in time that the Dodge Challengers/Plymouth Barracuda's were approaching 20 years old, did they carry the same value as today?

What's a Thunderbird?

Reply #6 – August 16, 2006, 01:47:42 AM

That's strange, because 3 Mcdonalds Drive thrus ago....

A kid at the window asked me. "Dude what model car is that?"

I said an 84 Cougar.

He said. "Looks good man!"

I of course said thank you.

The burger sucked, and I have since boycotted that Mcdonalds.

What's a Thunderbird?

Reply #7 – August 16, 2006, 01:53:42 AM

I was at a Checker Auto the other day trying to determine the extent of my fuel pump problems when I started to talking to the 3 guys working at the place. One of them asked my what kinda car I had and I said "87 Ford Thunderbird". Then another asked what kind of engine was in it. I said "302 V8, or 5 litre depending on who you ask". As soon as I said that, one of the guys said "Is that it out there!?" pointing to the car in the lot. I said "Yes", and he said "Cool car, how much do you want for it". I joked around a little bit more, and as I was leaving, the same guy looked at me and said "If you ever want to sell it, let me know and I'll make you an offer".

The whole incident really made me think about hanging onto the car a lot longer than I thought I was going to.

What's a Thunderbird?

Reply #8 – August 16, 2006, 02:11:47 AM

Quote from: DMC24guy

I was at a Checker Auto the other day trying to determine the extent of my fuel pump problems when I started to talking to the 3 guys working at the place. One of them asked my what kinda car I had and I said "87 Ford Thunderbird". Then another asked what kind of engine was in it. I said "302 V8, or 5 litre depending on who you ask". As soon as I said that, one of the guys said "Is that it out there!?" pointing to the car in the lot. I said "Yes", and he said "Cool car, how much do you want for it". I joked around a little bit more, and as I was leaving, the same guy looked at me and said "If you ever want to sell it, let me know and I'll make you an offer".

The whole incident really made me think about hanging onto the car a lot longer than I thought I was going to.

Well, it is prime time for the crushers for our cars. There are constantly fewer and fewer that look good/are in good conditions and have options. Only after the car is Rare do people realize what they really wanted to crush one day, rocks now!

What's a Thunderbird?

Reply #9 – August 16, 2006, 04:13:21 AM

The blue book on my 86 with the same options/miliage(Sorry cant spell) went from $100ish to about $500. At least I think I filled it out the same.

What's a Thunderbird?

Reply #10 – August 16, 2006, 06:28:15 AM

Travel to the South, Fox Birds/Cats are a dime a dozen. And people still ask me what my car was. I got a lot of stares when Darkthunder was in it's prime, and I got a lot of compliments from the Mustang crowd. But that is nothing compared to when I'm driving my buddies Stang. Someone is always asking what year it is followed by... "You wanna sell it?". Or I'm getting rev'd at... which never happened in Darkthunder... and it was loud. And I still couldn't get no play.

What's a Thunderbird?

Reply #11 – August 16, 2006, 07:32:22 AM

I'm not worried about my cars being "collectable" I could care less about that . I don't buy them as investments.

Anyway, I always get the "You don't see these around any more, at least not this nice" in regards to the '83. In fact just yesterday the guy who helped me push the car into the parking lot after the clutch cable broke was pouring over the car and commenting on it.

I haven't seen another clean Fox Tbird/Cougar around here in a long time. There have been a couple 4-eye Cougars driven by younger females that I have seen on the road in fair shape, but the rest have been beat to shiznit.

What's a Thunderbird?

Reply #12 – August 16, 2006, 07:39:09 AM

Quote from: Dogcharmer

It seems lately every time I fill up a High School kid comes up and asks me "Dude, what kind of car is that?" At first I thought it was strange but then I realized that these cars were out of production before most teens now were even born. What's cool is that they really like the body style...

Could the 83-88 birds/cats be the next 55-57 Chevy?

So does this ever happen to anyone else?

You say next 55-57 Chevy’s? I agree and I read in a magazine (I think Hot Rod)that the 79-93 fox stangs are the next closest thing to the 55-57 Chevy’s because over abundance of cars and many, many bone yard parts and now the aftermarket world. It just doesn’t make more sense the way they compared the two. Now I know I'm telling you about the mustang but my fellow foxtbirdcougar friends one day years from now at the car show after sharing the nice sights of the old fox mustang they will point at our fox T-Bird or Cougar and say that’s the other ford fox car and its even more rare then the mustang.

What's a Thunderbird?

Reply #13 – August 16, 2006, 10:22:02 AM

Nobody can tell what will be worth some money in the future. I mean, did anyone ever think that a Chevy Vega or Ford Maverick would be sought after? It seems that cars that were once cheap shiznitboxes become expensive shiznitboxes, while the ones you'd expect to be expensive don't get terribly so. Of course there are always exceptions, and muscle/pony cars are those exceptions - they are almost guaranteed to go up in value, even modern ones.

Case in point: My first car was a 78 Trans Am. I bought it for $600 in 1990. I sold it and bought an '80 Formula for $800. The Formula was nearly mint. Back in the early 90's those cars were just $800 cars that high school kids beat the hell out of. Now, 16 years later, just TRY to find a drivable 2nd-gen F-body for that much. If you can find one under $1500 it's a parts car.

I ended up selling the Formula and buying my first Fox Bird, an '85 base V6 model. I paid $1500 for it (this was circa 1993). Now, 13 years later, a base V6 'Bird in excellent condition might still pull $1500. That '80 Formula would go for about $8k. So the Firebird increased in value by a factor of ten, while the Thunderbird has pretty much stayed the same.

Of course, the Firebird has a five year head start on the Thunderbird (really, it has a 13 year head start, if you want to compare 70-81 Firebirds to 83-86 Thunderbirds), so the Thunderbird still has a chance of catching up some, but I highly doubt it'll ever achieve Firebird/Camaro/Mustang status.

One thing I've noticed with car values is that it seems the high volume "bottom feeders" seem to achieve greatness the most. I think this is largely because so many people were exposed to them - many families had them, many people learned to drive in them, many had them as their first car, many relied on them to take them to college, etc. People see those cars and they are brought back to younger, more trouble free times. That's why VW Beetles are so popular. It's why Corvairs are valuable. It's why Mustangs are valuable (the first Mustangs were, after all, economy cars). It's why Vegas, Mavericks, Monzas and Pintos are gaining value. And it is why I can say with a fair bit of certainty that the big collector cars from the 80's are gonna be...

...wait for it...

Chevettes. Yup, you heard me, the lowly Chevette. And I say this with a straight face. The lowly Chevette was a huge part of the American society throughout the late 70's and early 80's. Crude, ugly, slow, rough, but very simple and reliable - it had all the hallmarks of a basic trasportation device. Those hallmarks made it extremely popular, very prominent in the minds of many. They were the #1 "High school car" at the time I was driving my Firebirds, and a lot of those who drove them to high school (or rode in friends' cars) look back fondly on them and the memories that came with them.

Just like the 55-57 Chevy. Just like the 64.5-73 Mustang. Just like the Vega and Pinto. But more importantly, just like the Volkswagen Beetle. Mark my words, within ten years you'll see a surge in the popularity (and value) of Chevettes. And by association, several of the Chevette's compatriots will be popular as well: Omni's, Corrollas, Tercels, Escorts, 323's, etc.

I guess it can be summed up as such: Cars that were very popular when new were popular for a reason, and those reasons hold strong in people's memories. Even if you've ever owned a Chevette, you've seen one, and if you're my age, you've ridden in one if not owned one yourself. Just about every other car on the road was a better car, but those cars did not work their way into the phsyche of an entire generation the way the "common" cars did. Those "superior" cars are gone and forgotten. And as sad as it is to say it, our beloved Thunderbirds and Cougars are on that list. There just ain't enough people that even recognise these cars, much less have fond memories of them, to bring their values up much in the near term. In the long term, maybe 20 years from now, a person remembering their long-lost $500 "first car" T-Bird or Cougar (maybe even a member of this message board) may look back fondly and say "Ya know, I've really got to find one of those".

Unfortunately, if you're into these things for the investment, there simply ain't enough of those people out there. Just enjoy your car, mod the hell out of it, beat the hell out of it, and keep our little secret (the potential of these cars) to yourself :D

What's a Thunderbird?

Reply #14 – August 16, 2006, 10:22:03 AM

There was never any doubt in my mind, since the day the '83s came out, that these cars were head and shoulders above nearly everything else from the 1980s. Had they been given more power, they'd have probably achieved 'legendary' status right now, alongside the Mustang 5.0. But the stigma of the 'old person's car' and 'luxobarge' still carried through for some--including auto journalists--and I think that prejudice had a lot to do with why they never became more mainstream. I mean, it was obvious that people bought them, drove them, used them, moreso than their GM competitors at the time. Sales numbers were never an issue. Perception...that's an issue that still haunts us to this day.

Ford milked these cars, but not in the media--they milked them in the profit margins, which Ford desperately needed at the time. Sometimes I feel like they didn't push the cars enough back in the day. For example: why did we never get a Cougar matchbox car or Cougar 1:24 plastic model kit? There were so many other cars that, for one reason or another, were so undeserving of being made into a model...yet they were, and we weren't. So what's up with that? I'd also like to know why all 1980's Monte Carlos are revered because of the SS model, but why the base model Cougars and T-Birds--which were light years in quality, ride and performance vs. the base model GM competitors--never get respect. Why does it work for GM cars but not Fords?

It is this perception that I'm talking about, and like it or not, that starts with the media. There weren't lots of TV commercials for these cars--there were a handful. There weren't lots of magazine ads--there were one, maybe two a year. See, in today's market that just doesn't cut it, but back then nobody thought any differently, so they just kept on doing what they'd been doing for years. Trust me on this, I have amassed a pretty large collection of Cougar memorabilia from the 1980's (Karl also has a staggeringly fine collection). We didn't have much support from Ford in the advertising department. And I really feel that's why we've always been the underdogs in the Ford world. I hate to think of our cars as "also-rans"....while I do relish subtlety, it seems we could have been pushed more in the awareness department. Yeah, we won in sales, but the GM cars won in perception. And right now that's more important.

We need Foosed!!!