Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

My brother will be driving to school next year so I'm giving him my 93 Buick Century to drive. I'm going to pick up another daily driver because I'm NOT using my 88 LX as a daily driver. I've been thinking about what I'd like to get and I'd really like to get another FOX body. If any of you still use yours as a daily how is it? I have some reservations about doing that though. For one the newest cars will be 20 years old by next year. Also I'm afriad I'd be doing something horrible by exposing one of these cars to salt and winter ravages. Any opinions on this?

Get a loaded V6 car and drive the wheels off of it. When it rots out, strip it and repeat.

Honestly though, if winters are harsh and they salt the roads, get a Nissan pickup. Older 4x4 one. They last FOREVER and just do not break.

Here in NC, the winters are too bad.  The roads are only salted once or twice a year.  I drive my Tbird daily and I love every minute of it. 

What I dont love is having to put it in parking lots.  For example, last semester, I was sitting in my car eating lunch when some moron pulls into the spot in front of me and HITS MY CAR.  Acting like nothing happened, the idiot just leisurely got her stuff and was about to leave when I popped out and said "Excuse me, you hit my car.  Could you back up please?"  I had to restrain myself a lot and luckily no damage was done, but thats exactly why I hate leaving my car in parking lots.  Nothing has happened yet, but I want to get a real DD whenever I have a good enough job.

Other than the parking lot deal, the car itself is a pleasure to drive every day.  The only problem for you may be the winters since they're worse there than they are here in NC. But 1 or 2 winters should not affect the car too badly (look how clean mine is).  If you have any more questions, feel free to ask :) .

I drive mine everyday.We don't have salted roads ever,so,no worries there.My car,19 yearsold,is still comfortable,gets great mileage on the highway when I set the cruise and keep my foot out of it,and other than needing paint,which I'm getting ready for,looks great.

Buy a MN12. Cheap and plentiful.
I picked up mine for $3500 96 with 120K and a 4.6

You can most likely find them even cheaper up there around Chitown.
Try looking here for a car. http://www.chitownracing.com/forums/index.php They seem to have stuff for sale all the time. Like this one. http://www.chitownracing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71732

The 83 is my daily.

I'd have no issues with a Fox as a daily if the salt wasn't roaded around here every winter (yes..I know what I said....it's that bad)...

I drive mine as my commuter.  I'm just really careful as to where I park.  Work isn't an issue as most everyone knows the car and how attached I am to it so they are careful and respectful.

Go with a V-6 car. If you go with the 5.0, you will feel the itch to modify.
Plus you don't want to take a chance on wrecking a good 5.0 car in the winter.

My heart sinks every time I see a Fox car out in the winter now. Good replacement parts (fenders, hoods, bumpers, lights, etc.) are getting pretty scarce in a lot of parts. As much as I love these cars, my tone has changed and I'm now advocating that people get themselves a different daily driver, and keep the Foxes in winter storage, if at all possible. Or, if you can find a Fox that's pretty beat up already, at least you won't have a lot of guilt. I quit driving a Fox daily about a year and a half ago, and haven't looked back...I miss driving one daily, but if something happens to the truck, I won't be nearly as upset. I guess it all depends on your level of attachment to the car, and also where you live. Do the best you can with the situation you're presented.

$3500 for a 4.6 MN12? Wow! Around here they are lucky to get $2000 for a cherry one. I have no idea why the market is dead up here, but it's DEAD. I pass on great MN12's everyday.
/offtopic

Anyways, if the winters aren't bad, by all means drive a fox Bird/Cat. I daily drove Layla for 2 years, even with the mods, and she's still my full-time summer car. I like having fully-optioned cars though, so my 88 Cougar LS 5.0 moonroof was ideal as a DD (in-town) for me. It snorted gas like an addict though, so I still used the TC as the highway car. In fact, with the .63 T3, Layla got 30MPG on my trip to Lake Tahoe and back in Christmas of 05 on the straight highway sections, about 28MPG in the hills, and 23MPG on the mountains. 5-Speeds and 4-cylinders are great for economy when you keep your foot out of it (8MPG in town while driving spiritidly).

I don't live to far south from him and even down here when the roads are clear it looks like they have snow on them. The roads in IL look white in the winter from the amount of salt they use.



I looked at some that were cheaper but there is nothing like this one. Its show room condition, completely clean inside and out. Its moon light blue with grey interior. I was told it was the rarest color becasue it was only used in 96-97 and very few got that color. But I can't find any numbers to confirm that.

I am daily driving my bird right now, but I plan to find a cheap beater 'stang as a daily driver for next winter.

I had/have no issues with the car, just keep washing it and keep the salt off it.

That's is another reason why I am keeping my truck. They don't salt all that much up here. but the under body has a lot of surface rust. That and I still don't know what is all wrong with it. Still wishing to win the lotto though. lol

theres a bunch of rust bubbling up underneath the frontmost corner of my pass. side lower quarter panel. and a couple tiny bits elsewhere that cant really be seen but thats enough for me to stop using it in the winter. i used it all last winter senior year of hs, wased it as much as possible, and even though this year its been out very little since im in college now, ive seen that area get worse and it breaks my heart. i LOVE driving this thing so much, and last year i thought id find a cheap beater. never got around to looking. this time its either i find one or i dont drive in the winter next year. simple as that. even when theres no snow up here, in the winter the roads are WHITE all the time. :mad: its so excessive.
 
dont let my signature picture fool you. the driver's door bottom edge is getting rusty too. cant stand to look at that. door definitely doesnt need to be replaced, just a wire brush and some new paint. but i gotta get on it sooner than later. fortunately in the 7 years my dad drove it he almost never used it in the winter, because it was rwd and he didnt want to wreck it going back and forth to work so he borrowed my grandparents monstrosity 1990 chevy conversion van :giggle:  it was just funny seeing him drive around in that.
 
mom doesnt really want m having another car around the house, though, so i gotta see what i can work out...
 
yeah its a great daily driver but as we all know these things just dont hold up to salt too well. (although this is really funny--my drivers side quarter panel is FINE. whats it got the other one doesnt got? the exhaust pipe. makes me wonder what it would be like if the car originally had dual exhausts!)

I'm DD my 84 turbo coupe. Like areobird said about 30mpg on the highway. I've been driving it for 2yrs as daily driver. No problems I did go through the whole car basiclly. But fox parts are cheap anyhow. I say go for it.

I haven't found any info on color breakdowns and the MN12 cars, but I do know that color...it's sharp. If I were to guess, though, the 1997 color Arctic Green Metallic Clearcoat (code D8) was probably the rarest as it had a very late availability (second half of the '97 model year) right before the car went out of production, and also because there were also two other greens that model year so this one just snuck in at the very end. Another uncommon color was the 1993-only Sunrise Red Metallic Clearcoat (code FC), again with late availability. It's a pearlescent red that flips to pink...very cool effect.

Moonlight Blue is stunning though...hang onto that one.

(Sorry about the hijack!)

buy a pos escort or something to beat on! Matter of fact come to RI buy mine 550 bucks TAKE IT AWAY. my mom said the lincoln or the escort IM KEEPING THE LINCOLN!

Rent a trailer and make a trip about 3 hours south. I have a 92 Tempo that needs an engine. It has a short throw shifter and 3 sets of rims that come with it.

PM me if you are interested.

I don't own a car I don't mind driving in the winter. I have an emotional attachment to my sport even though it's rotting away (6 years and counting... my first car) My  near mint turbo coupe, my 79 ranchero (slow as hell but just  cool) and my 84 SVO. The SVO is probably the one I care about the least as weird as that may sound...

The sport is the most driven with the ranchero in 2nd and the other 2 inside. The SVO needs to be finished and the t/c I wanna do up right and it's already been on fire once...

I used my 88 v6 one daily til the engine puked in minus 20 degree weather this year. Put some 50,000 miles on it the last 2 years. The winters have been harsh, and the amount of work needed to get it looking good again is extensive.  I regret it.  IMO, get the older Nissan pickup, like Aerobird Mot. said.  My dad had one for years.  Either that, or something good on gas, as prices are skying again.

, I put about 5,000 miles on in 16 months on my DD Cougar...

Hmm I'm getting mixed signals here. I'm not liking the idea of killing a FOX car with the ammount of salt we get here (slamedcat and I have the same winter salt problem). I've always liked two door coupes so I'm starting to lean toward a MN-12 T-bird or Cougar. It'll probably be a 4.6 car if possible. I'm not too concerned about gas milage as my daily commute is only 2 miles total. I actually only drive about 75 miles a week, most of it on the weekends. I've got about 5 months to figure out what to get though. Any one have any experience with MN-12 cars? Or should I just go all out and get a Crown Vic? :hick:

I've had my MN12 since October. The only recalls I found were for the door latch. The door would pop open if you didn't get it closed all the way and put pressure on it and the climate control blower motor would act up and it would either turn on high all the time or not come on at all.

I've grown to like the car it handles great. Plus you can get drop springs for them still unlike the fox.

A few years ago I was minutes away from buying a beat up, but in good-running-condition V6 '88 Cougar for $200 and I didn't do it.  I wished I had because I wouldn't have to worry about rusting out & the chance of wrecking it in winter like I do with this Neon (which is still a few million payments from being mine.)

i didnt read all of the posts but i put mine through hell daily... not quite daily driving, more like daily beating.  i've learned how to beat those similarly hp/wt cars that rev pasy 55 grand, hit second sooner and make sure to get in 3rd.  but really most of my driving is done on back roads just about wide open, i hit one deer, had at least 20 in my sights.  i dunno why but this car is so much fun to drive, so predictble (been driving it for years now) that i dunno if any other car other than a BETTER one, dunno if there is one i can think of any, that i'd drive.  but daily driving has its benefits and its losses.  my ac's gone and i have a sunroof.  i dunno about other guys but the electronics are tearing holes in headliner from it flapping like a flag (all sides and corners are taught, but it still sags a bit)  had to rebuild the s/r switch, back when my thermostat was screwed and all i could do is keep it out of the idling process with a switch under the dash,  i had to let it warm up and swich it over b/c once the thing was warm the thermo worked.  but i've sense replaced that.  dust gets everywhere.  mainly on my digi cluster and around the front of the steering wheel.  other than that everything stays sharp if you dont let people smoke in the back or throw trash around.  i'm paring up for 150,000 and i got the car with 94,000 miles.  i realize everytime im on the phone, im driving 85mph and honestly im driving those backroads blind folded or at least with only my periferial vision.  the cars just that good.  its not bad on gas unless you play, even with a 5.0 in it.  but the filling stations make things a bit harder.  i've put more than 1000 miles since the trans blew and was fixed and now its grabby... what can you expect?  but make sure your oil consumption is on par b/c too low and the car feels like it has no life.  i checked mine last wed, oil light came on it was about half full. my dad put oil in it and ddint tell me, so i had to stop and get new oil b/c the dipstick was dry yesterday, soon as it had enough oil, i could feel the car through my back again so oil on a daily is very important for fords.

Trust me, I'd have a DD beater/winter car if I had the money and means to do so.  I cant stand driving my Tbird in any salt at all, or seeing it get dirty in any way.  So far, though, no harm done.  As for attatchment, lets just say I plan on hanging onto this for for as long as I possibly can...hopefully many many many many many years if not more.

I should add.  I drive my Cougar as a daily, but It hasn't been on a snowy road in 4 years......Rain and freezing cold? Yes. Snow and salt? No for snow and they don't really salt here too often anymore.

Layla's driven snow, sleet, hail, biblical rain, 120* heat, just about everything. I have a cool pic of ice stalactites forming from the hoodscoops after driving in winter of 05. But we don't salt up here ;)