Red cars usually draw attention. This red 1990 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe is not an exception! But this is not any red Thunderbird, it is a low mile grand tourer with an intercooled, supercharged powerplant. Ford produced a turbocharged version of the Thunderbird from 1984 to 1988 and a supercharged version from 1989 to 1995. The car looks to be in excellent shape and is listed here on eBay. There are 2 days remaining in the auction and the bids have only reached $5,000. Even though the current bid seems low, there have been a number of bids, currently totaling 27 to date. The car is located in New Baltimore, Michigan.
One of the reasons for the amazing condition of this 1990 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe is that the odometer reads only 21,000 miles. It is said to have been in the same family since new, lady driven and unmodified. The velour seats look unworn and there is no fading except for the carpet but that might due to the lighting in the pictures. The Super Coupe is said to have been owned by a nonsmoker and is well optioned including power windows, power seats and power locks. The car also has power mirrors, moonroof, cruise control, tilt steering, digital climate control and adjustable Tokico suspension.
The supercharged intercooled 3.8 liter V6 was rated at 210 horsepower and 315 lb ft of torque. The engine was available with either an automatic transmission or a 5 speed manual transmission. This car is equipped with an automatic transmission. At 5,600 rpm, the engine delivered 12 psi of boost. A number of modifications can be made to get more power out of this but it was considered a respectable grand touring car. Today, once concern is that the replacement parts can be hard to come by.
It is hard to believe but the 1989 to 1997 Thunderbird represented the 10th generation of the the nameplate. The car is referred to as the Thunderbird SC for short. The car was the Motor Trend Car of the Year in 1989. This one looks all stock and unmodified.
I worked for Ford as an engineer in the early 1990s. The 10th-gen Thunderbirds were pariahs among the engineers. Nobody wanted to admit that they worked on the MN12 project, because Ford’s executive leadership lambasted the project team for delivering a car that was over the weight target and over the cost target. The team was expecting a celebration for winning MT’s Car of the Year, but instead they were reamed by the CEO. Nobody wanted anything to do with the car after that.
I agree Ford missed the boat. The Super Coupe was a big car. It was nice but all that girth combined the earlier cars having a four cylinder the only cool thing was to look at the turbo gauge while listening to the turbo hiss. A nice ride with typical 1990’s electric problems.
Ford would have been smarter to give us a hot performance Escort ot Tempo the same that were handed to the UK. An Escort RS would have put Ford square in the tuner market that would still hold up today. Who knows. Get into select restoration parts market. The Japanese are doing quite well with reissuing parts for Miatas, Skylines and Supras.
But at the end of the day (today) it’s all about the Mustang and F150…..oh and going electric. Don’t forget daily recall notices.
Ford was heading into the wilderness in the 90’s. Trying to kill off the Mustang, killing off the Bronco, appointing a woman who didn’t know her butt from her elbow to run Mercury, etc. Sort of what they’re doing now.
I had one just like this one. Loved that SC.
Always liked how these looked. The only thing missing on this one for me is the 5 speed and fog lights.
Ford was good at not making the 83 and up tbirds chromed out crap. The clean solid look was awesome. I had an 83..My all-time favorite car
Engine sure doesnt look like a 21K, more like 121K…..
I had a black 89 SC and when my wife totaled her 82 Supra, we bought her a silver 91 SC. Loved those cars! Then we had our first child. MY 89 was traded in for a 93 Explorer that she was going to drive so I got her SC. 3 weeks later, she wanted her car back because she didn’t like the Explorer. She eventually traded for a 96 Taurus wagon. We went from bada$$ mom and dad to your everyday ‘minivan’-type parents… yippee…
I owned this model year and exact color. The new owner should enjoy the next 79,000 miles because, after that, the head gaskets will blow. Just looking at that motor gives me PTSD.
Head gaskets and brake unit. Other than that….bat outa hell.
I owed a 1989 SC, your right around 100000 miles I blew a head gasket and had my heads redone, it never run quite right after that.
I’ve always seemed to have had a “bouncing back and forth” relationship with the Thunderbird and it’s soon to be look-alike cousin Mercury Cougar which primarily began in 1977 and that simply revolved around styling and nothing more than that being I thought I was never going to purchase either one but that wasn’t the case. In my younger days as I stated I was never interested in buying either model. However my admiration developed when Mercury introduced the restyled base T-Bird, T-Bird Landau and the Cougar along with the Cougar XR7 of 1977. I somewhat began to follow these two Ford division models for which I slowly began to favor the Cougar more from 77-79, I loved the Lincoln inspired trunk design of the Cougar and I wasn’t much of a fan of the T-Bird hideaway headlight design at all. I even felt the Cougar’s hood ornament was much better than T-Birds hood ornament design being I like the Cougar’s side profile lol and most of us know that back in the 70’s a great deal of automobiles were designed with hood “emblems” and were very popular among buyers of American cars. Then entering into a new decade and Ford and the Mercury division of Ford once again introducing restyled versions of their “personal luxury coupes” Incidentally my cousin purchased a Ford T-Bird “Town Landau” brand new in 1980 which was fully loaded dark blue exterior, light blue leather interior, digital dashboard, keyless push button entry, hideaway headlight feature which I took a liking to all of a sudden. Despite a lot car enthusiasts who hated the 80-82 Thunderbirds I saw nothing wrong with the new styling at all. It kinda mimicked the styling of that time period when Oldsmobile had the Cutlass Supreme, Buick had the Century/Regal, Chevy had the Monte Carlo and Pontiac had their airplane dash inspired Grand Prix . So in my opinion Ford just started three years late. I favored the 7th generation Cougar over the T-bird through 1988. The XR7 last year in production was one stylish and strong vehicle with it’s 5.0 engine beautifully styled side back windows was one of a kind and never duplicated. I can honestly say I was not in favor of the 89-97 Cougar nor was a fan of the T-Bird, however I did like the SC model introduced in 93. I favored the kit like fender and quarter panel design on the SC but the base model LX was corny. Lastly it all went down the drain in 1999 when the Cougar and T-Bird were transformed into economy size unattractive examples of two last generation productions. I’ve never owned a Thunderbird although I was fortunate to own an 88 Cougar XR7 Black/Grey leather interior with a moonroof to add to the luxury accents. I had sold the car to get my wife an engagement ring which was in 2001. I’m sad that Mercury is now gone, but It’s a good feeling knowing that I can claim I once owned one of Mercury’s most popular models to ever exist.
This is the fourth time they have listed this SC, three previous sales that fell through? 1st sale $13.6k winning bid, 2nd $9.6k winning bid and the 3rd had a $10k winning bid.
So wonder if they pocketed the $500 each time, via Paypal ???
Adding up to a cool $1500.00
I can’t believe I’m even looking at this SC on ebay. Considering that i bought a brand new one (1994 SC) and that car while fun to drive, it was like a rocket ship. Caused me so much grief, over the years I had it…until I luckily totaled
it in 2000. Even sent a lengthy letter to Ford about the engine and some Ford dealerships who refused to work on it. It’s sort of like an old GF you really thought you loved, but over the years overlooked all the other grief they caused. No No No !
It looks like a copy of the first gen 6 series BMW. Cons are no
folding side mirrors no amber turn lights and digital instruments.
Remember to replace them as Ford doesn’t stock much parts
for this model. Here they go fresh inspected for about 1500