http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/car-runs-and-rides-nice-22-28-miles-per-gallon_W0QQitemZ170140073980QQihZ007QQcategoryZ6339QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Interesting color combination. I'd love to see some shots of the interior.
Note the wheels. I assume 1985 was the first year for the wide side trim and 10-hole wheels. I do know '85 was the first year for the Marchal fog lights.
Man, I wanted a 2.3T, but got stuck with my 5.0, I'm happy with her though :-D
I don't think that's a standard 1984 XR7 color. But the wheels are stock.
1984 XR7's were on their own. 14" rubber cast wheels (or optional TRX aluminum rims), no fog lights, its own interior color combination (Charcoal and Oxford). Very odd stuff. A 5-speed '84 XR7 is even rarer because of the shifter panel on the console. Even back in the day I don't recall seeing many '84 XR7's on the road. They're very uncommon, stick or auto.
A 4 cylinder? I would have thought the body was too heavy for a 4 cyl.
I do like the color, except I would prefer the bottom part to be black.
That one is an oddball. Are we sure the color isn't factory?
I had a chance 4 years ago on a silver 84 XR7 5-Speed and I've been kicking myself ever since.
It could be a very late addition color. But I've never seen it documented in any of my dealer books (I'm sure Brent can corroborate this).
http://www.coolcats.net/fox/1984colors.html
There were supposed to be a whole bunch of two-tone combinations for 1983 but they all got discontinued save for two. This is all the info I've ever seen for 1984.
I don't have anything other than what you have either Eric.
My first thought is that the upper color has been changed to the current red.
Especially since the bottom appears to be the correct silver color. I would think that if it was a late addition color that it would be dark charcoal on the bottom like the '85-'86 XR-7's had with the red upper which I think looks the best. :D
I contacted the seller to see if there were any pictures of the engine compartment and he said he has more and that he would put them up on the auction.
Does that mean it started life as a 1-color (Silver) car? Or was it some other 2-tone that used a silver lower?
Nope; you could not get an all Silver Metallic XR-7 in 1984. All '84 XR-7's were two-tone with the lower color being either Silver Metallic Clearcoat (1Q) or Dark Charcoal Metallic (1Y) depending on what color (the upper color) the car was ordered with.
In Eric's second reply he posted the link to his
very cool interactive color chart that shows the four color combos available.
http://www.coolcats.net/fox/1984colors.html
Brent
:cougarsmily:
Are you using the '84 color and upholstery guide that also has the little paint swatch book in the back?
I wish I was; unfortunately the 1984 Upholstery Book is one of the few books that I still need to find.
I'm using the 1984 Product Facts Book.
Brent
:cougarsmily:
Ha! Eric FTW!!! :P
*does a little dance*
Well...I have an '84, you
know I had to hunt one down. ;)
I figured you would have one Eric. I have a fairly good sized collection of FLM stuff but I would bet that you easily have more factory issued Cougar stuff than anyone. :bowdown:
Brent
:cougarsmily:
Brent, between you and Karl, you guys definitely have more than I do. But put the collections together between the three of us and we are INVINCIBLE, I tell you! Ha!
So it was a white, black, or dark charcoal one before the respray? (I'm saying those are the colors we need to look for underneath the red to see if the red is real or not?)
My '84 XR-7 was that exact color combo......
(http://www.turbochuck.com/images/84XR7/Sped_2.JPG)
you've heard of turbo coupes, right? same thing.
Mystery solved.
Do you know what the paint code was on your car Chuck or when it was built?
I wonder if there were any other additional colors that weren't in my or Eric's books.
Brent
:cougarsmily:
I'll need to see if I still have the original window sticker at least. I might have written the build date down in my repair log book, but I can't guarantee that.
But yeah, unless they pulled the entire interior out and painted the floor and the inside of the trunk, etc...it's the original color....
Must be a late-addition color then. Or, knowing Ford, they didn't communicate the information to the publisher of the dealer books.
I can't recall ever seeing that color on an '84 XR7 before. Was it available on '84 Turbo Coupes also? Anyone have that info?
EDIT: Looks like it *should* be 2U - Medium Red Metallic.
Well...according to the info I have (which may or may not be accurate now LOL) there should have been only one interior combination for the '84 XR7, which is a two-tone Charcoal/Oxford (BEHOLD the large photo):
(http://www.coolcats.net/fox/images/84xr7interior.jpg)
I have an '84 XR7 console from a wrecked car and can confirm that the console lid was Oxford while the console itself was Charcoal. Wish I had more interior parts from that car. Again, 1984 was its own interior on any Cougar, but especially on the XR7.
Eric, you are correct on the interior. My car was the leather interior (with the seats being charcoal), but the rest was the charcoal/oxford combo. Also, as I have referenced, the console lid was the "thin" one in Oxford.
The other one I have seen and thought about buying a few yars ago was silver with the cloth interior and it had the two-tone seats like your pic and the thin console lid.
...and I have the thick Oxford console lid. F&#kin' Ford LOL.
Back in tha day my buddy had a silver '84 Turbo Coupe with the cloth seats, and his interior was exactly as you described, Chuck. I can't remember which console lid he had...I want to say the thicker one. But I do remember the squeeze-ball lumbar. ;) IIRC those seats had the same stitching as the base Cougar/T-Bird seats, very plain, straight lines, nothing fancy. In fact I'd bought a pair of those in 1992 for my old black '86. The stitching was definitely not 1985-up; had to be 1984, maybe 1983.
In the '84 Thunderbird brochure (dated 8/83) it shows six colors available for the Turbo Coupe:
- Black
- Bright Canyon Red
- Silver Metallic
- Dark Charcoal Metallic
- Medium Red Metallic
- Light Desert Metallic
In the '84 Turbo Coupe brochure (dated 10/83) it shows in addition to the colors above:
- Oxford White
- Pastel Academy Blue Metallic
It list the
Charcoal lower accent treatment as being available with all the colors except for Black & Dark Charcoal Metallic.
It makes no mention of a Silver Metallic lower color available.
I have a feeling that the thick/thin console lid issue will never be 100% figured out. :crazy:
Brent
:cougarsmily:
I have two of them. One has changes and one doesn't. I was just wondering if there were more sources other than the facts book and color and upholstery books.
Does either one of them have the Medium Red color in it?
In my experience here is what I have found:
[LIST=1]
- The best reference you can use is the Order Guides. They usually are the most accurate and get updated throughout the year with revisions and it is up to the sales manager to keep them updated so it usually happens. The problem is that they are more difficult to find.
- Most of the time the C & U books are pretty accurate if they were updated throughout the year as any revisions came in.
- The Facts or Source books are usually accurate, again if the they were updated with the revisions but most of the time the salesman weren't very diligent at doing that. How many sales people have you met that knew as much about the car you were buying as you did? ;)
- Then would be the press kits, they have a lot if information in them and I have found them to be accurate but they aren't going to have the updated information or revisions.
- Then of course there are the sales brochures which commonly have errors in them and are rarely corrected and reprinted.
Unfortunately the sales brochures are what the majority of the car people use for reference so they can cause a lot of confusion as to what is really correct and what isn't.
Brent
:cougarsmily:
Did they make press kits for all of the years? I have the 83 and 84 TC versions and I've seen the 87 on evilbay.
Press kits have probably been around longer than dealer books. A friend of mine who collects mostly Mopar literature has some press kits from the 50's & 60's.
The funny thing about press kits is that out in the market, they rarely are worth as much as a basic brochure unless it's for a real special model or you have more than one person on ebay who
really wants it. ;)
Do you have any pictures of the kits you can post?
Brent
:cougarsmily:
They're not complete. I just have the big book (~30 pages?) That have the silver TC on the cover, and say "1983(4) Thunderbird Turbo Coupe Dealer Press Kit" on the cover. See the 83 one on eBay all the time.
The only parts of the 87 kit I have are the Car of the Year decals (2 sets), and the promotional Car of the Year table-top doo-dad (like for the dealer negotiation tables).
I'll gather up all the stuff I have and make a thread tomorrow. Most of it is the brochures and easy to find stuff.
My original '84 interior is oxford with a fat lid. XD
Sounds cool, I'm looking forward to seeing them. The oldest press kit I have in from 1986.
Brent
:cougarsmily:
I posted every darn print thing (from Ford) I could find in a thread in General Discussion for you.
No
Ok, I have most of that stuff.
Yes. When I sold cars on the side, several customers told me I was the first car salesman that knew more than they did, that knew that much about every car, could answer all their questions, they learned more from me about the car then all other car purchases in their life combined, etc, etc, etc.
I knew my facts books pretty well. At a training convention for the 2006 Sonata, before it came out, I asked one of the writers of the facts books several questions which he said were good questions that no one had ever asked.
Oh, I could do well in car sales. If I worked at a dealership where EVERYONE was professional and the dealer had their act together with a long-term approach rather than the instant "sell now at whatever it takes" for that instant gratification...
I just asked the guy about this car. I live 2 hours away from him so I might be able to get a nice deal and have a daily 84 Cougar :]
One other thing I noticed. It looks like it has the electroluminescent coach lights. Cool!
Those should be the XR-7 specific c-pillar emblems.
Or am I wrong? Were those introduced in '84?
Eric?
Brent?
I know the electroluminescent cats were around in 1984 because my car has them. It could be the XR7 logo but I kinda thought it looked like mine.
Dude want 800 bucks for the car. Bet I can talk him down from that. We will see, I'm gonna go look at it on Saturday. If I don't get it I will still take pictures for all to see so you guys can see the interior and all that. Maybe add another fox to the family? We shall see.
:birdsmily:
The XR7 emblems never lit up...sorry. All LS models had the E/L lamps; they were optional on the GS in 1984.
This car is sold!
Brian
Did you get it?
Reserve not met.
Check it out in the lounge. I met the reserve.
Brian