The seller of this 1985 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe doesn’t give much info about it, just saying that it’s “in excellent condition for its age” and “must see.” They have uploaded a bunch of great photos, which may be more important than a description. They have it posted here on craigslist in Billings, Montana, and they’re asking $8,595. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the tip!
A black-over-red, square-eyed Thunderbird Turbo Coupe? Yes, please. Did I mention that the red interior was the optional red leather? Even better. The only thing that would put this car over the top would be if it had a 5-speed manual rather than an automatic transmission. Unfortunately, the seller’s asking price is above Hagerty’s highest valuation for this car, but maybe it’s meant to be a starting point. Here is a 1985 Ford Thunderbird brochure.
There are at least a couple of minor flaws with the exterior, such as a burned-out headlight (No! The humanity!), and the cover for one of the Marchal fog lights is missing. I believe it’s just a missing cover; what do you think? It looks like some of the red pinstriping is worn or faded a bit, but hopefully that wouldn’t be hard to redo. The trunk compartment looks great.
The ninth-generation Thunderbird was made from 1982 for model year 1983 until the end of 1988, and they were based on the Fox platform. This beautiful black and red example looks great overall, especially on the inside. That optional red leather looks almost like new, and the seller has even included a back seat photo, something we don’t always see for two-door car ads. This car has a touch over 101,000 miles, so it isn’t exactly a low-mileage car, but that’s only an average of around 2,400 miles a year since 1985.
Under the hood, things look clean, other than some flaking paint in a few areas. The engine is a Lima-produced 2.3-liter SOHC, fuel-injected inline-four, with a Garrett AiResearch T3 turbocharger, which powered the T-Bird Turbo Coupe between 1983 and 1988. It put out 145 horsepower and 180 lb-ft of torque. This one is backed by a three-speed automatic sending power to the rear wheels, and the seller gives no information at all as to how it runs, other than saying that it’s in excellent condition for its age, as I mentioned earlier. Have any of you owned or driven a 1980s Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe?
SG, good write-up. I like the four-eye Turbo Coupes. This one looks good. I don’t remember too many with leather, and in red it is eye-catching. But the automatic wouldn’t be my preference.
Nice but the late eighties Turbo Coupe had the intercooler for added power and responsiveness. Agree with Bob it needs a manual
I drove an ’84 Turbo Coupe 5 speed with the TRX package, for a number of years. It was always a fun car to drive until the snow fell. Great power and milage. The ’84 didn’t have the water cooled turbo bearings which shortened the life of the seals. Mine went out 50 miles from home and I fogged for mosquitoes all of the way home. The replacement turbo had the water cooled center section so no more problems there.
Odd this Ford flagship for ’85 has a hood prop rod, but my boxy homely looking base economy ’70 falcon had proper hood springs.