With 4.4 million examples produced over eleven generations, Ford’s Thunderbird has been one of the more popular passenger cars in history. The first models carved out the “personal luxury” niche – an enduring innovation that inspired plenty of copycats. This example, from the seventh generation of 1977 to 1979 has clocked fewer than 21,000 miles from new. It’s listed here on eBay for $16,900 or best offer. The selling dealer has 100% positive feedback. The car is located in Newfield, New Jersey and it can be driven home if the buyer wants to rack up some miles. A Marti report accompanies the sale – a thoughtful touch given that this is not a low-production Mustang or other specialty model.
Born smack in the midst of the Malaise Era, this T-bird is powered by a 351 cu. in. V8 equipped with a two-barrel carburetor, good for about 150 hp and backed by a three-speed automatic. Despite the downgrade in engine size and power versus prior generations, the car was a handy enough performer with – for the day – decent gas mileage. The stats were aided by its smaller platform, reduced by six inches in a downsizing move that continued for two future generations. I’m pretty picky and I can’t find fault with this engine bay, though slightly contradicting the seller’s claim of “survivor”, the car has a new after-market aluminum radiator installed after the photos were taken.
Exuding ’70’s style, the interior offers acres of plush seating accented by a matching steering wheel, dash, armrests, and door caps. The requisite faux wood trim around the instruments is a reminder of its luxury niche. The eight-track has Elvis Presley’s “Canadian Tribute” queued up for your listening pleasure. You know how seat belts rough up over time as you pass the material through the clasps over and over? Well, these look perfect. The cabin appears like it should still smell new.
Early ’70s Thunderbirds were designed with a fat C-pillar. My father owned one (blue), and he grew to detest the lack of rearward visibility. (The car after that was a Jaguar XKE which provided only marginally better sightlines, while also challenging all preconceptions we had developed about reliability, having owned only American cars before acquiring this British provocateur.) Ford fixed that dense C-pillar on the ’73 ‘Bird by adding an opera window. This car exhibits a variation on colonnade styling, with an ingenious vinyl roof arrangement, leaving a slender painted section extending from one side to the other. We still have headlamps behind doors in the front, about five inches aft of the “park bench” bumper; this feature disappeared in 1983. I admit I am an easy mark when it comes to any car that’s been this well-kept, this lightly used, and conveys the ambience of its era so well. That said, little-used Thunderbirds can be found readily; this example sold for $10k and its odometer read 23k miles. What would you pay for this ’70s example of a personal luxury car?
Wow. Astonishingly Lo-mile Bird.
I do like these Birds. Didn’t they share the chassis with the Mark that year or maybe it was the LTD II? I’m a bigger fan of the turbo coupe though and am on the lookout for one in Barn Finds.
Good choice Fox owner. Super looking cars, w great interiors, and the dogleg 5sp shifted models are especially nice runners.
These 77-79 Birds shared the same chassis platform as the LTD II and Mercury Cougar of the same years which was a continuation of what used to be the Torino platform that started in 1972. Previous Thunderbirds (72-76) were bigger shared the platform with Lincoln Mark series.
This generation of T-Birds were very nicely done. Take an existing platform, give it T-Bird styling cues, price it attractively, and the result was a successful entry in the then-hot personal luxury coupe category. I prefer them with buckets/ console/ sport instrumentation, but this looks like a very nice example.
No power windows. I had a new bird same color as this in 77. Had the 400 motor and power everything. $7,200 sticker. I can’t believe how many people ordered Thunderbirds without power windows!
Long reach req’d to roll down that other window 🪟 joeey
I noticed that it did not have power windows too and no power seat but it has all other options right down to right mirror control and a am/fm 8 track. Still a very clean Thunderbird!
I can’t believe how many people ordered ANY 2 door car WITH power windows whose rear side windows do not roll down or are not even there. lol
Even power door locks seem silly to me on any 2 door – moving a switch instead of moving a plunger.
& what if the battery goes dead or p/w motor burns out before a rain storm & the windows are down? Or you are under water & the windows are up?
I also can’t believe that very few cars from the ’60s & ’70s were ordered with cruise control. & this bird doesn’t seem to have it either.
Those wheels look like the ones that would weld/rust themselves to the rotor hub here in Michigan, causing their removal to be nearly impossible. I recall the need to put a torch to more than 1 set. No amount of prying could release some. (Yes, the customer approved)
You loosen the luggage nuts and do doughnuts in the parking lot. They will come loose without deploying the gas-ax!
I’d beat on the tire on both sides. They were hard to remove for sure!
In NH, ALL wheels would freeze themselves to the hub. No amount of trickery would prevent it from happening. But, no matter how hard it was to get the wheels off, it was 10 times harder getting rear brake rotors off.
Isn’t it missing the lower rub strip/molding that runs the length of the car?