I find this car to be interesting because my high school colors were orange and white. It was a new school and rumor has it that the head football coach, a University of Tennessee grad, had a lot of sway in recommending the school’s colors. Orange and white aren’t typical colors for either a high school or a personal luxury coupe such as a Thunderbird. In the luxury car field in the 1970’s, anything in the orange range was usually metallic, subdued, and called Burnt Ember or something similar. Well, there’s nothing subdued about this 1978 Ford Thunderebird’s special-order paint. It’s as orange as orange gets. This one-of-a-kind orange ‘Bird is located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and is for sale here on Facebook Marketplace for $27,500. Thank you, T.J., for spotting this bright ‘Bird and sending it our way.
The seller, who I assume is the guy in the photo dressed in orange and white and holding two trophies, only gives us the following description: “Special order. Marti report available. Special order paint. 400 V8 engine. Power antenna on rear deck. Always garaged.” It’s listed as having 46,500 miles on the clock and based on the photos and overall excellent condition of the car, I believe those to be the actual miles. The orange paint is shiny and glossy and is contrasted by a white vinyl top and white body side moldings and pinstriping. With a major restyling and downsizing the year before, the ’78 Thunderbird had minimal changes. The hidden headlamps are back along with the egg crate grille, and the Thunderbird logo adorns each headlamp cover and a stylized bird can be seen on the hood ornament.
The long hood, short deck styling was popular back then and Thunderbird continued its horizontal, full-length taillamp treatment.The chrome on those mandated big bumpers and bumper guards look good as does the vinyl top, trim, and glass. There’s also a power antenna on the rear deck.
The ‘Bird’s white interior is very ’70’s and appears to be in great shape. The pleated and button seats and door panels look great and the instrument panel, steering wheel, carpet, and seat belts are in a contrasting brown. The seller doesn’t list all of the interior options, but it appears to have a 6-way power seat, power side windows, and cruise control.
Even though these seventh-generation “Torino Birds” had been downsized and were now considered an intermediate, they’re still large cars weighing more than 4200 pounds. And luxury and a smooth, quiet ride were what they were built for, not performance. Nonetheless, this T-Bird was ordered with the largest engine option available back in 1978, a 400-cubic-inch V8 that generated 173 horsepower. It’s paired with a SelectShift three-speed automatic transmission. I realize that an “orange-orange” personal luxury car isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but this example is both unique and looks to be in great condition. What do you think?
I’m with Ron. Not my favorite colors, but certainly eye-catching. I remember Mustang II’s of this time in orange; it must be that color. The silver bumper fillers, which I assume would come from the factory with all non-stock colors, look fine. Appears to be in very good shape. Meager ad; go ahead and show us the Marti Report. A straightforward cruiser.
You said it, we see plenty of Pintos in this orange creamsicle colorway, and silver bumper fillers on fleet spec police cars and taxis from this era.
The orange paint is near & dear to me in ways. I had a pinto hatchback in the same color back in `78! GLWTA!
Yes – it very much reminds me of Kate Jackson’s Pinto in Charlie’s Angels – she had the exact same colorway on her car – orange with a white roof. Ironicially, the Bosley character drove this exact Thunderbird, only in all green.
That’s a first. I don’t think I have ever seen an orange T-Bird, from the factory or otherwise. Probably would not be my first choice in the color palette but it certainly is eye catching, especially with the white interior and vinyl top.
Nice one, Ron and T.J.!
I’m all in on orange, but that isn’t surprising. Ford offered Tangerine (orange), of course, seen on many Pintos, Mavericks, etc., of the era.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/nEcAAOSwJHheiJUB/s-l1600.webp
I’m with Bob, show the dang Marti Report, it’s not like they ran out of room to add photos. Sigh.
Ford Thundergourd
Strange corporate thinking back then. A 4200 lb car, but they switched to an aluminum air breather to save a few ounces!
Thoses T-Birds always attracted me. The rear side glass are beautifull. They were more common back then, there was 3 of them at same time in my tiny village, Dark blue with white vinyl top, Light Gray with dark red vinyl top and a black one with tan/brownish vinyl top. The blue one own by an elderly lady last until the mid 90’s if I remember corectly.
And that orange, well I guess the Marty report support the custom color because it’s hard to believe it came from factory that way.
I’m with you! I was obsessed with these when I was a kid. I remember when they first came out for ’77, and just how cool they were. My dad teased buying one , but never did , which was a big regret lol!
In retrospect, the powertrains in these were pretty anemic, and they did not handle very well. I learned this in subsequent years. But when they first came out , they were just awesome
I’m not really sure about this color. I tend to prefer these in more traditional colors , particularly black and red, like the one we looked at back in the day on the showroom floor. But undoubtedly, you would stand out at cars and coffee.
Nice that the owner matches his clothes color to the car!
Looks like a Cowboy orange car, but, he’s wearing Longhorn burnt orange pants.
Go Pokes!
It is a cool unique T Bird……
Ok….. quick show of hands…..
How many of you think the Marti Report is going to say 1 of 1?????
It is in great shape, and definitely has had geeat care over the decades.
It’s the same color combo as the 1974 Porsche 914 LE “Creamsicle” (the other LE was the black & yellow “Bumblebee”) although few would confuse the two.
27.5k for a ‘78 Thunderbird? Really?
I drove many 77, 78 and 79 birds. I dated someone who had them as company cars and they bought a fleet of them each year – loaded ones going to the execs. They were/are lovely cars to cruise in, smooth and quiet. It does have rare options like the power antenna. The bumper fillers should have matched the body. I have ordered several cars with special paint and they all matched. Not sure how I feel about the dual exhaust tips as the car did not come with duals. As a collector car, the orange paint doesn’t bother me but the price is nothing less than insane, even for a good one.
I was a Ford dealership mechanic in this era, and the engines were very anemic. The 400-engine had oil pressure issues crank shaft bearings were at fault.
ok the trophies. the hat and the pants would still not entice me to buy this. this color does not help this car in the least bit and neither does the 28k. good luck with that. 10k on a good day. these were slow under powered gas pigs and age has not improved them
My wife had a brand new 78’T-Bird when we got married.Living in N.J.and not having a garage by 83′ the vinyl peeled off,she traded it in on a 4-door Tempo GLX.
Obsessed. Man, what an outstanding car. Clean and well equipped. I’ll bet that 400 has it all over the 302. Gotta love the fellow wearing the matching duds. This is terrific.
In Florida it would fit right in!
A UTenn or UTx fan would love this
Love the color. The days when one was able to special order something different, unlike the boring limited choices of today’s cars.
This bright orange T-bird is in Oklahoma City and down the road in Stillwater is Oklahoma State U – whose colors are bright orange and white. – This bird is in such good shape, I wouldn’t be surprised if some big Oklahoma State Cowboy’s fan snaps this one right up.
A lot of people may think the asking price is too high, but that means they don’t understand the mania behind college football in Oklahoma – where money means nothing if it’s all about football. – This bird is absolutely perfect for an OSU fan to snap up and show off at the tailgating parties coming soon.
Side note: I had a ’76 Mercury Marquis Brougham, and after looking at this ’78 T-bird – I can see that Ford got every penny’s worth of that frame, body, interior, and format across several models and years of production – as this T-bird looks like my Mercury Marquis with some custom-shop work done to make it into a T-bird.
The tangerine color was very popular on the small & midsize Fords and Mercurys back then. I worked at a Lincoln-Mercury dealership from ‘77-‘80 as a kid in high school. Any of the “special order” colors came with the argent bumper fillers and stone shields. In the spring of 1978, Mercury had a “Lipstick Red” spring special Cougar XR-7 with special lipstick red paint, with white/red accents interior and with vinyl top/side moldings. The dealership sold a TON of those. The dealer principal’s son had special ordered a bright yellow XR-7 for a customer with the white vinyl top/mouldings/interior which I guess was “one of one” as well.
It wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but at 16, I thought it was a sharp looking Cougar. They also had a baby (pastel?) blue that also got the argent fillers.
I had a 1978 Mustang 2 with this orange paint, white GT stripes , wire wheel covers, white leather seats and black carpet. In my opinion it was absolutely gorgeous.
The car had a 2.3, 4 spd . Had the best stereo you could own at the time. The car ran great for the 1st 20,000 mile but then created a strange electrical problem. After it left me sitting on I-70 west bound in Kansas City Mo. the car became history!
I did love that car as long as it ran, good looking, great gas mileage, fun to drive until it wouldn’t do its job anymore!