Before I begin, I must admit to having a sweet spot for this car, having spent many of my formative days cruising around aimlessly in my dad’s hand-me-down Silver Metallic T-Bird with the Crown Vic-spec five-point-oh under the hood. A five-speed Turbo Coupe was aspirational: that nose, those hood ducts, that red stripe around the perimeter. It was perfect. This one comes close, although I’d forgo the body cladding and the sunroof. If those fashion statements speak your language, however, read on.
Mitchell G. found this clean Turbo Coupe and passed it along to us at Barn Finds. It definitely nails the ’80s look with that aforementioned ground effects kit and rear spoiler, although I’m not sure what’s going on with the trim around the moonroof.
What made the Turbo special was its 190-horsepower 2.3-liter four cylinder. With 240 lb.-ft. of torque to move the big ‘Bird around, quarter-mile times in the low 16s were common, along with a top speed in the 140-mph range. The slippery NASCAR-approved shape certainly helped. The engine compartment looks as good as new here, with that imposing intercooler sitting right on top.
The interior is also clean, with two-toned leather in a complementary gray. This manual-transmission Turbo Coupe is the one to have; the optional automatic gave up 40 horsepower, and at that point, you might as well have bought the Thunderbird Sport with the V8 and automatic.
The gauge cluster in the TC was certainly better than the digital speedometer flanked by a gas gauge and a temperature gauge in my base-spec ’87. This one has under 56,000 miles. Notice the “firm ride” light; Turbo Coupes had a switch to adjust the suspension settings, pretty slick in 1988.
Now comes the weird part. The Craigslist ad shows that the car is located in Connecticut. The ad itself says that it’s an original North Carolina car, but it has a Florida plate. It apparently has a clean title, and the asking price of $15,900 is likely too high to be a scam, so perhaps the owner has done some moving around in his/her life. If everything checks out and you’re OK with the additional accoutrements, this looks like a clean T-Bird. Aerobirds have practically disappeared from our roads, which is not unexpected considering that the newest among them is almost 40 years old, and not too many come along as nice as this one these days. Thanks again to Mitchell G. for the tip!
These are nice cars, IMHO.
My 88 Turbo Coupe I had back then is still my favorite car I have ever owned. These are great grand touring cars, they just eat up the miles at a high rate of speed. And the mods needed for some more power are well-known and fairly easy to do.
A few notes about this one: I HATE this body kit and spoiler, it ruins the clean lines of this model. I think the seats have been recovered. What is up with the bars behind the sunroof, this must be an aftermarket sunroof, which is enough for me to say this is not the one to buy. And this is really nitpicking, but it is worth having the upgraded stereo with the EQ, because special 80’s cars deserve a primo 80’s stereo and EQ! This one lacks that, another strike, but a small one.
The seats are the optional factory leather, which is a good way to go since all the cloth turned sunfaded blue after a while. I love me some 87-88 turbo coupes….
I agree, these were interesting and desirable cars. Their smooth styling has aged well, though I agree it would look better without the added trim. Overall I like it.
Agree Rw, Raoul, and Bob.
Boy that interior looks so comfy, compared to our 89LX model w no options. Ford was delivering the goods in the late 80s w their lineup. Great trucks, SHO, affordable 5.0s, Crown Victoria, and this neat TBird.
Awful wing and ground effects. Ruins what is otherwise a beautiful design.
Steve R
Love the ground effects. The aftermarket sunroof is a total deal killer though.
I consider myself almost an expert judge of 83-88 Turbo Coupes. I have owned 4 or 5 through the years, and currently own an 87, silver (original paint) with black interior and 5-speed. Please allow me to pick this one apart. $15,900 is priced too high for this car. It has been repainted, maybe to match the ground effects to the body, or it has some bondo under there. Beware of the sunroof, it’s not an original FORD item, 80% chance it leaks. The first buyer did not check very many of the ‘cool’ options these could have, No electronic climate control, no power passenger seat, no power antena, sry, no cornering lights, no keyless entry, just to name a few. Not a loaded car. So I would value this TC at $7K, maybe $8K. It’s a nice car but will not bring what owners would like to get for them, sry.
If anyone has any reservations about how strong the “Pinto” motor was, this should clear up everything. We laughed at the Pinto( and Vega), what’s that, a BELT turning the camshaft? Good heavens, who would ever fall for that? Clearly an attempt at future repairs, I thought, yet,( and still do today, I won’t own a vehicle with one) it went unnoticed to the masses. Performance was the absolute last thing on a Pinto buyers mind, and the 2.3 was adequate until the belt broke. Luckily, no harm done, belt is an easy fix to some, but basically kept the service dept. working long after the sale.
These cars changed everything, and while racing had proven what a great motor the 2.3 was, I think it was the T-Bird that really made it famous. While I wouldn’t expect Boss 429 performance, it did do the 1/4 mile in 15.6 at 87mph and while 140 is a bit of a stretch, it just doesn’t have the cubes for that, and 120 was more like it. Still, for a 4 popper, that could do mid 20s mpg, if you kept your foot out of it, but more like high teens, in a classy car like a T-bird, it was an unusual place for a Pinto motor. I say, this motor in a host of classic oddballs would be perfect, if anyone cares, that is.
Had an 86. Great car. Only in the shop once.
Forego the sunroof! Are you a vampire?
I had a 88 Turbo Coupe, loved it fun to drive and bang the gears in. What I didn’t love was changing the alternator every 6 months because it failed. This one with the funky sunroof is definitely over priced. But hey if you like the ugly sunroof offer them half of their asking price and work it from their.
I owned one of these for four years. It was a beautiful car that I enjoyed driving when it wasn’t on a rollback. In four years I had to call the wrecker numerous times for a clogged catalytic muffler (the day after I bought it), a broken timing belt, a failed ignition module (twice) and a failed alternator. For a car with 55K on when I bought it, I thought it would do better. Sold it when I bought a Taurus SHO, and had a lot of trouble with that one too. Bad luck I guess…
The turbo coupes were pretty cool! When I was young my big brother had one of these (forget which year). Was an Elan with the 5.0L engine. Was the first “talking car” in our family.
I just keep remembering, “The door is ajar, the door is ajar.”
Always wanted me a 87-88 Turbo Coupe and remember when these were new and wanted to buy one in Enterprise, Al but couldn’t afford it. These are some slick cars but this one needs to lose the ground effects and that spoiler (the car already looked good without it) but if it pleases the new owner so be it.