Ah, turbocharged Ford products: a curious subset of domestic performance vehicles that doesn’t seem to get much love from enthusiasts. There’s obviously a subset of gearheads who know and love these boosted blue oval products, but it’s a small contingent in the overall enthusiast universe. This 1988 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe listed here on craigslist is equipped with the preferred 5-speed manual gearbox and benefits from a recent paint job.
The Turbo Coupe took the rather bloated Thunderbird and gave it a once-over that transformed the big-body luxury coupe. It’s amazing to think of Ford sticking a 5-speed manual gearbox in a car clearly built for shuttling the retiree set back and forth to their bridge game, but in the 1980s, all bets were off. Cars were built with far fewer focus groups and bean counters, all of which is completely obvious when assessing a car like this. As you can see here, the paint work resulted in the door and fender moldings getting left off.
The Turbo Coupe came with the same generously bolstered sport bucket seats as found in the Lincoln variant, the Mark VII. The Lincoln also had a sporty side, getting color-matched basketweave alloy wheels and other cosmetic upgrades. Speaking of upgrades, a turbocharged Ford product isn’t necessarily the first car you think of when considering a turbo car project, but it benefits from all of the same “easy power” upgrades that we associate with boosted performance vehicles. The seller notes the door panels of this Turbo Coupe have been removed to address repairs to door glass that came off the tracks inside the doors.
The Thunderbird is in Maine, and the seller does disclose that there are some rust issues to sort out. Hopefully, they are not significant, as I can’t imagine why you’d treat a car to a respray if it had major Northeast ruse issues to resolve. The trunk cavity appears dry and clean, and it occurs to me that with a good detailing, some mechanical sorting, and pressure-washed carpeting, this Turbo Coupe with the rare and sought-after manual gearbox is entirely deserving of a rescue.
Whenever I think of these Turbo Coupes, my thought goes to how nicely styled they are, and how the styling has worn well over the years– they still look good today.
Despite the new paint, my sense is this one is still pretty rough and needs more attention. But it is cheap.
Junkyard dog, different color seats as well as who knows what came from donner cars. No matter how cheap. These, are turbos for lunch ever 5k miles. And the dashboard usually went blank or very dim.
People on here need to realize no every third, mustang, Camero, etc are “muscle cars or collectable. Especially after 72 or so.
This needs your mullet and plastic disco ball thrown in and sent to the great beyond
That car is screaming for the new Ford I4 turbo engine and some love and care. Who cares about collectibility? Its a love business.
Looks like it may be a car that was at one time in a couple of feet of water.
Lip Stick On A Pig
Really ???
I tried out one of these in 88 and while a nice car it just had no low end power much like most early turbo cars and it needed a manual transmission to help. What I ended up buying coincidentally was a Lincoln Mark VII LSC as it had the GT Mustang’s drivetrain with more useable power and was a lot more fun. Well except for that dopey air bag suspension.
Mike, sounds like you test drove an automatic. These 2.3 turbos were absolute dogs unless you got a manual. Actually, every turbo made in the 80s and 90s were dog slow with an automatic.
We’re you even born then? Two words GRAND NATIONAL
300zx Twin turbo moved out with the autoloader.
It was an automatic and my buddy who was the salesman kept wanting me to wait until a stick came in but I ended up with the Lincoln and the 88 LSC had a similar interior and was fairly fast. Funny thing is I seem to remember there being a switch on the dash in the Tbird having something to do with the blower but I can’t remember what it was supposed to do. Hazard of turning 68.
Syclone, typhoon quickest of them all bud
Oh yeah, I was there, owned several turbo cars.
Just pulled this from a GN article dated 2019:
“The idle is lumpy and reminds you of all that big V8 heritage from Buick at that time. However, the typical muscle car characteristics stop there. Dip into the throttle and things get eerily quiet as the turbo spools and hushes all the exhaust noise. The turbo comes on strong in the mid-range and never seems to stop pulling in the top-end. Turbo lag exists, but boost builds more linearly than most turbo four-cylinders I’ve driven recently. ”
I’ve also owned an Audi S4 with V6 twin turbo – a car with a far better engineered engine than a GN – and there was very little lag, but lag there was.
Motortrends 1988 car of the year!
The 1987 Turbo Coupe was Motor Trend’s Car of the Year.
Motortrends car of the year for 1988 was the Pontiac Grand Prix. 1987 it was the Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe & 1989 it was the Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe.
Should’a had a V8! Otherwise one of my favorite body styles of the year.
My 83 with the grey interior from the 86 and a 358 Clevor under the bonnet was jolly good fun. Always preferred the four eyes over the pointy nosed flush headlight 87/88’s. Better looking back window as well on the 83-86.
Yeah. These ‘Birds were shuttling around retiree’s to bridge games. And setting speed records in NASCAR that still haven’t been broken. This one looks a little used up, though.
You’re exactly right Big C. I can’t remember if it was 1987 or 1988 that Bill Elliott set the fastest lap record at Talladega in the Coors Thunderbird at 212.8 MPH. It was a NASCAR V8, not a 4 banger turbo, but it says alot about the low air drag body of the 87-88 Thunderbird. And why is it with everyone on Barn Finds that every car has to do a quarter mile in under 15 seconds or it’s a slow car? I do own a 1987 Turbo Coupe that I enjoy driving like it’s made for a road course, not a drag strip. You guys keep hating on those Turbo Coupes, keeps the price down so I can get another one. Thank you!