While there’s always a temptation to seek out an exotic barn find, there’s a strong argument for buying a car that will provide some level of driving satisfaction while being fairly cheap to put back on the road in the process. This 1983 Ford Thunderbird is a great example of a model that has some level of enthusiast appeal owing to the 302 V8 under the hood and its comfortable interior, built for short- and long-distance cruising alike. This particular car is called a barn find that apparently was put away in decent shape, as it looks quite presentable here on eBay where it’s listed with an opening bid of $3,500.
The Turbo Coupe is the trim line that gets most of the love when we’re talking about a Thunderbird from this era. And while it deserves the attention it gets from enthusiasts, we shouldn’t sleep on the grandma-approved 302-equipped luxury liner. Although I am a big fan of Ford’s turbocharged offerings from the 1980s, it’s hard to beat a burly 302 for a motor that tickles all the senses, from the respectable performance on tap (for a 1980s vehicle, anyway) to the audible qualities if you slide in an aftermarket exhaust. I wouldn’t put anything super obnoxious on this car, but a slightly throatier exhaust would wake it up a bit from its sleepy, luxury-barge state.
It’s the little things that make barn finds so interesting, particularly as it relates to details like the 5.0 decal on the air cleaner still presenting like new, or the fact that the paint hasn’t all flaked off. In a similar vein, the hoses still bear signs of the factory lettering being visible, and even the oil dipstick looks like new in its bright yellow plastic. The seller confirms that the photos are not playing tricks on us and that the Thunderbird really is that nice throughout. The car supposedly sat for the better part of 25 years before being woken back up, and he believes the 29K miles on the odometer to be correct based on the mileage noted on the title. The car will still need fine-tuning but the listing confirms it benefits from a new battery, gas tank, in-line fuel pump, in-tank fuel pump, and fuel filter.
Those super comfortable bucket seats look absolutely perfect, and you’ll recognize them from doing duty in the Thunderbird, Cougar, and the Fox body Ford Mustang. What’s unique about these is just how damn near perfect they are. This is the biggest appeal of buying a low-mileage car: so many details remain factory-fresh, in a way that’s very hard to re-create. The seller’s Thunderbird may never be a priceless collector’s item, but it will always be a great story of a barn find you can get in and drive with the added bonus of a near-new car experience owing to its crazy low mileage. With no reserve, this Thunderbird barn find looks like a potential bargain waiting to happen.
A nice, low-mileage example of the restyled 1983 T-Bird. It looks rather tame with the whitewalls and wheel covers, but with the 302 it should perform fine. I’ve always thought these looked good. The market responded well to the restyling: 1982 production 45,142, 1983 production 121,999. I suspect this won’t go for big bucks and should make for a neat cruiser.
As of now,no bids on this.This would make someone a
great daily driver,& the 302 is the engine to have in these.
Buyer beware. This is a 5.0 EFI. Electric throttle body. Mostly junk that did not work very well. Inside the throttle body is flat piece of alloy that would slide open and closed depending on the gas pedal smash. They would stick alot. I’m assuming that all the gasoline components that were replaced to try to get it to run good were just bandaids. You used to be able to buy a replacement kit to fix it. Sorry for the bad news.
I had an ’85 LTD LX with a 5.0 HO.It had the same setup,
but never had that problem with it.
Are you sure about that, anglia? I would think a 1985 5.0 High Output would have to have the Holley 4-barrel like the Mustang GT. I don’t think you can mix EFI throttle body and High Output on the same engine.
They came with CFI.
I meant to say that the LTD LX came with CFI.
As long as you’re aware of the inherent weak points in every vehicle there are viable solutions at your fingertips 😉
Pretty sure you’re confusing this with the variable Venturi carburetor. Yes, they were nothing but trouble. This TBI setup worked pretty well.
In a perfect world, the VV carburetor was actually pretty good, and a good concept, the problem was the elements, they didn’t take well to dirt and dust.
gotta agree Woofer – We had one of these (also an 83) and the dang thing tried to kill me. Nice slick snowy roads late one night coming home from work, had to back off the throttle to stop a slide and the RPM never dropped. I quickly kicked it up into neutral and got control back from the slide, but it was probably another 4 or 5 seconds after that before the RPM’s finally dropped to an idle. Sold it as quick as I could
Say what flaws that some may have had but this car is 1. A perfect unassuming sleeper and 2. A perfect car to take to those Radwood car shows. I am NOT wrong.
This is cool. Great find, and I’ll have to see where it is located. I have absolutely no use for it, and I won’t buy it because it is so nice that it deserves to be garage-kept.
I would be interested if it was closer. However, a number of years ago I bought a 90 T-Bird in the same condition as this one, maybe even nicer. When a car sits for some time, things can go wrong. The owner started it occasionally, but didn’t let it run long or drive it. The exhaust looked perfect but it rusted through from the inside out. Also, it was the year Ford decided to use 141/2 ” tires , you could buy them you just couldn’t afford them. Lots of little things popped up, the biggest I thought it was really cool to have an old car that looked brand new, my wife not so much.
Be careful- car has a branded title for “not actual miles”. Could be a reporting snafu and the miles are correct, but the title will still say they’re not. Check the car history report in the Ebay listing.
85 mustang 5.0 automatic was CFI. 85 mustang 5.0 stick had holley 4 barrel. 83 cars lik this were EEC-III NOT A GOOD SYSTEM. 84 and newer had EEC~IV electronics, a much better system. I was a Ford dealership mechanic at the time.
I was a Ford mechanic back then too. The worst thing I remember about EEC-III, was diagnosing it, along with EEC-IV, came the “Star Tester”, and suddenly, life on the line got much better.
The 83 TBird was EECIV.
it IS a fox-bodied (’75 Grenade-a thru ’04 stang + ). May even B same gen as the yamaha trick motor? I like these dwn sz-ed ‘executive’ cars. Add some speedy bits (suspension, breaks, tires, etc) and challenge the continent’s best.
Here’s one in fine fettle to start the process with price to match. Lets think “easy to achieve” vision. See it off in the not too distant future? I do asa ford guy (got it’s stable mate the ’83/6 waggy).
There’s nothing about this car that’s related to a ’75 Granada. The ’75 Granada was based on the 1960 Falcon platform. This is a ‘Fox” platform car, only dating to the 1978 Fairmont.
Out of the wind tunnel came a great body style Thunderbird this year, especially in contrast to the previous gen. I’d get rid of the electronics, and make it a carbureted motor, it’s 40 years old, nobody’s gonna care. And with the vast array of 302 performance goodies available, it could be much than just a cruiser. Very nice car, that will probably be had for a reasonable price.
How come nobody mentions the crap shoot of buying a car that’s been sitting for decades and the potential for oil burning due to it’s non use?
That being said, I Like the body style of the 82 to 85 T Birds.
Don’t like the long nose look of the 86-88 models.
“83-86” 87-88 had the different nose. And I agree, the earlier ones looked better.
I like it but I don’t really have a use for it because of the cars I already own
Leaking oil would be more of a concern than burning it, nothing is wearing out while not in use, but seals and gaskets get hard and rotted.
Burns out the tailpipe also.
Had it happen to 2 vehicles that were sitting for years…….
Probably valve seals gone bad.
As I said……….
I have a 63 Dodge with 34 K miles on it and the valve seals are shot. I can’t find a mechanic who will perform a valve seal change without having the entire heads removed. Smokes like a bandit on start up, after it’s fine.
And as I said……..seals and gaskets.
Valve seals are a piece of cake to replace, no reason in the world to remove the heads.
Bob Glidden raced and won lots of NHRA races in this “grandma approved” T Bird. Just sayin’.
And Bill Elliott, Rickie Smith, alan Kulwicki, Mark Martin, to name a few. This era tbird combined with amazing talented drivers kicked butt.
I worked on this set up with v6 and v8 when came out,no problems once u fine tune.owned a 83 by personally,great car
Well, taking the engine out of this long nose bird to re-seal would be a cinch. Also, it would be a good time to replace the HCI, put on a Sniper (fuel pump and O2 sensors are already there), bundle up the stock wiring and tuck it away.
Nice cruiser!
83s weren’t “long nose”
Very nice time capsule. No Fords on my radar during these years. Would have preferred an Imperial, Mirada, Cordoba or 6000 STE during this time frame.
Calm down woofy very dependable set , even the 3.8 seen many with over 200 k .
$3500 for this seems like a steal,,,,,,compared to $10K for the Pinto Wagon.
You could have a real car…..instead of piece of junk that could explode.
And $6500 still in the bank.
As already mentioned more than once, beware of the “Electric throttle body.” A friend of the family had one from new and, after a few seasons, had all kinds of problems that the dealer struggled with. They took it in on trade and sold it at auction. We saw the car around town and on the side of the road several times in the years that came and went. Eventually, the tin worm got to it, and last I knew, it was in a local salvage yard sitting in the dirt. On the windshield was written “77K”.
It has to be unusual to find a base model like this one with the optional articulating bucket seats.
Its not a base. They somehow fail to mention that it is an Elan or that that only two trim packages came in Charcoal, The Elan and my beloved Turbo Coupe
The person taking the pictures must be standing on his head.
Its not a base. They somehow fail to mention that it is an Elan or that that only two trim packages came in Charcoal, The Elan and my beloved Turbo Coupe
No Elan in 83 so it’s a base car. In 83 the top trim was a Heritage. $5400 and 11 bids so not too shabby.
I am the original owner of a 83 5.0L Heritage and despite the shortcomings of the EECIII and what other people mention about the CFI issues, mine has over 130K carefree miles and still looks like new. Worse comes to worse there is a lot of new technology to eliminate the CFI and no one would ever know. This is a great solid car with lots of potential.
buyer beware x3. This was my dream car my first year of college. Well, during
my first semester the Turbo bird came out and replaced this version. This car has issues, is it a salvage title rebuild? Red flags include a different color driver side fender and hood. 2nd red flag is those seats. Recaro’s were available 80-82, but if memory serves me, Ford went inhouse on this style of seat in 83 and beyond models. These look like Ford sport seats offered in the Turbo coupe and Mustang GT models in 83. I could be wrong. Buyer beware, otherwise, beautiful bird. I just suspect it may have had it’s feathers plucked and glued back on. Just saying…..
The turbo coupe did not replace the base version, it was in addition to. The seats are correct for a base model. I doubt anyone would take the time to try to rebuild a base 83 TBird. This is just a solid 5.0L base model 83 TBird.
$5400. What a deal for a solid original car.