Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/ctd/4339458316.html

Check out the passenger mirror delete. Was the side body molding a delete option, or is that the end result of a careless repaint?

I once found a Thunderbird in a salvage yard that didn't even have power locks, so the factory installed delete plugs where the door lock buttons would have been on the door panels.

I did not see power lock buttons on this car either.
They claim the car is mint, of course the faded carpets don't count, San Andreas Fault of a crack in the dash, the left corner missing yellow light on the left front, and last but not least the missing trims.  Mint otherwise, on the crackhead i need some cash right away scale.

The light is there in some of the other pictures which struck me as odd.  I also thought the rear wheels sat a little far forward in this particular car, so I did a Google image search typing in "1983 Thunderbird."  Looking around I realize it was a combination of shadows and the fact they do in fact sit a wee bit forward.


Interesting side note:  Found this photo in the same search.
(http://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Ford-Thunderbird-1983-TRX.jpg)
It is on this website:  http://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-michelins-trx-tire-reinventing-the-radial-tire-didnt-work-as-well-as-inventing-it/

For those of you that do not know, this is in fact Dave's '83 Heritage.  One of 2 persons took this photo.  Myself or Dave.  This was a photoshoot we did together in Hauppauge....

*Edit*  My exif reader in my browser confirms it was taken with a Canon 7d.
My Photo....  Interesting.

Kind of seems a bit odd that the factory would have built them that way, but back then, on the base Thunderbird, they were actually an option.
The option was called "Bumper Rub Strip Extension".
The thin rub strip molding between the wheels was standard though.

Here is another '83 without that option.

Looks unfinished without the moldings...Maybe if there had been a rounded cap on the end...

My 86 doesn't have power locks, but does have power windows and mirrors.

Brent, I didn't know that about T-Birds…all Cougars had the bumper extensions, at least according to my info. I've never seen a Cougar without them, unless it was repainted and the molding was left off or discarded.

Strange times, the early 1980s...

How did the carpet fade that bad?

To me it looks it was stored with some protection for the seats, but the carpets were exposed to sun . Strange fading indeed.

Yeah, everything that I have shows that they were standard on the Cougar's from the get go.

With the new aero Thunderbird being such a "halo" car for Ford at the time, and with such an visual impact that it makes without them, the decision to make them optional seems strange to me. But apparently someone realized that "mistake" because in '84 the extensions were standard equipment and no longer an option.

I can just imagine a few dealers that may have missed that option were a bit puzzled when the first few cars started arriving at the dealerships.

So it ended up being a one year only oddity.

BTW Paul, that's a very nice picture that you took of Dave's car. :cool:

That is optioned the way the '88 was that I pulled all the parts from over the last couple of months.

not buying the low miles,,

my 85 did not have the side moldings at all, and yes, it was repainted.