Well I brought home my first TC today. It may not look like much, but after a decade of searching this is the first TC I have found that the person didn't want a mint for (I've found a few in similar shape to this that they were asking $3k+ for). There just ain't many left around about here.
Unfortunately, as mentioned in my other thread in the lounge, this poor car has terminal cancer. You can see some of it in the pics, but alas, the pics make the car look better than it is. In addition to the rot you can see here there is some serious structural damage: The front strut towers and subframe have rusted away. For this reason the poor old girl will be put down and parted (most parts will end up on my white '88). I hate like hell parting a TC, but it's just too far gone.
Side view:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/tc1.jpg)
Rear view (with my white still-being-winter-driven-because-the-Volvo's-still-broken 88 looking at its butt):
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/tc2.jpg)
Some of the cancer:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/tc3.jpg)
Front shot (there is NO paint on that header panel, it's bare fiberglass) - you can see the brand new headlights and the still-in-good-shape foglights:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/tc4.jpg)
Right rear quarter shot - almost as bad as the left rear quarter:
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/tc5.jpg)
The sunroof (or moonroof, depending on who you ask ;)):
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/tc6.jpg)
And finally, the underhood shot (in which you can see the new alternator, battery, solenoid, and other stuff):
(http://www.foxthundercats.com/images/tc7.jpg)
The thing has an incredible gold mine of spare parts in the trunk, back seat and passenger seat, from an '87 Sport that the owner parted out as well:
Complete dash (zero cracks) (blue)
Two tail lights
Two headlights
spare console (including leather lid) (blue)
Complete heater box
Full digital cluster
Two door panels (blue)
"Brushed stainless" Dash and console-style radio bezel
Grille
...And more - this is just the stuff I found while poking around in the rain/snow mess.
I also found receipts from the past few years showing the rear calipers, steering rack, fuel pump & bracket, radiator,
and many other items replaced, plus work orders where the turbocharger was checked and verified OK.
I'm rather giddy with excitement :D
Good find. I actually thought there would be MORE rust on a maritime car. Maby the rims are slavagable, if you like the snowflake look. Also, keeping the glass may prove a worthwile investment if you have storage space: if your anything like me and break a windshield every
two years :)
The rims will be restored and installed on the '88 (it will look like a Tc clone when finished, except it'll be 5.0/5-speed powered).
The glass will be saved as well (except the windshield, which is already broken) - in fact, everything I can get off the basic structure of the car, right down to the nuts & bolts, will be saved. There will not be one usable part on this car that will be going to the crusher...
As for the rust: the pics make it look good. It is really very, very rusty in several very, very important and hard to repair spots.
The sunroof appears to be aftermarket. I have one similar in my red bird.
What color interior is it?
The sunroof is indeed aftermarket. I'm toying with the idea of installing it into the white car, but still not sure whether I want it or not. The interior is blue, which, if I go ahead and swap the whole thing into the white one would kill my plans of painting it bright red. I may sacrifice one of the spare blue door panels to see how dying the interior black would turn out - of course, Hawk's car shows that these things can look very good in blue...
...Oh, and the ABS still works. I found that out when I tried slowing down to turn into the driveway. I wonder how hard it would be to install that system in the '88 (I know it'd be a hell of a lot of wiring, but wiring is what I do...)
DONT install the sunroof in your sport, i have one that looks almost identical to that in my red bird, and while its nice in the summer, when it rains, it almost always leaks
as for the ABS, i wouldnt recommend it, because stuff like ABS rotors are expensive as all hell, the wiring is incredible, you have to add sensors to things like the steering column, and tie stuff into the EEC. Not to mention it is an obsolete and not-so-reliable system. Id love to see someone put hydra-boost from a late model mustang in their car though.
Great find. Just wondering why don't you drive the Turbo Coupe if it's drivable and park the 88 5.0? I mean if the Turbo Coupe is drivable why don't you just drive it untill the Volvo is fixed? It's already rusty so if you drive it you won't be screwing up the 88;)
I would think getting stranded on the side of the road once a year is enough ;) Hehehe.
Anways, glad you'll make the most use out of this turbo coupe. Strip her clean! No mercy!! Yarrrrrrr!!! :sawzall:
Good question. A few reasons:
1) The 88 is already bathed with salt, so it ain't gonna be hurt any more by driving it for a few days. It's getting painted this winter or spring anyway.
2) The TC has serious structural rust in the strut towers and front subframe, according to the seller. I haven't had a chance to look yet, but if the front end is ready to fall apart I would rather not be driving it when it does
3) If I drive it, I'll have to register, license, and insure it. Registering it means paying 15% of whatever the DMV thinks the car is worth (not what I paid, but what they think I should have paid, a price they come up with without even looking at the car). If they go by Kelly Bluebook, and KBB says it's worth $2000, there's $300 registration fee. Then there's $200 for license plates (the one on it was "borrowed" from the Dakota just to get it home). Then there's insurance, which would be another hundred bucks for a month. $600 to drive a car for a few days is a bit much - I'd be better off renting one ;)
If I don't drive it, if I choose to part it out, I don't have to register, license or insure it. To tell the truth I haven't convinced myself that I'll be tearing it apart yet - I have to check out this so-called structural rust first, and if it's fixable I'd have a hard time justifying destroying it, but in the mean time I'd rather hang onto the $600
Your new TC is almost as bad as my Sport - rust wise. :(
Good find though! I'm still trying to get the guy who owns the white TC to sell it to me whole rather than part it out. No luck yet though.
I wish I had tail lights like that. My drivers side one is busted so bad that I'm getting 3in of water in the trunk where the spare tire goes. The right one has a crack in it.
and I thought $70 every 2 years was expensive for regisration........Plates are only like $20. Oh wait $300 CDN=$5 US:giggle:
I know you're exagerating, but when's the last time you checked exchange rates? ;) We're at 86c/1d now. We may be able to use that joke on you by the end of the decade. (so long as Harper doesn't get a majority)
Sunroof sunroof sunroof sunroof sunroof...
:D
No, no, Zach, there is only one. Are your eyes OK? :flip:
The joke IS already on us.....Look at the EURO. I used to be able to get a great price on an item in Europe if I showed American green. Not anymore.....
USD --- GBP --- CAD --- EUR --- AUD
1.000 1.7618 0.857485 1.21099 0.746898
Holy ! Even the Ozzy dollar is catching up. I had no idea they had made it up to 75c.
thunderchick sounds like urs is as bad as mine but my dad picked up a old couager junker with a solid frame to fix teh frount end cause the frame rail pass side rotted out on mine from sitting
daboss: I've already got an '88 Thunderbird in near perfect condition with only 62k miles (the white one sitting behind the TC in the second pic above). While in theory the frame could probably be fixed on the TC it's more work than I'm willing to do given the condition of the rest of the body, so the TC will be giving up its good stuff for the '88
i get where ur going on mine we bought a donor car with a bad trans, and motor was knocking bad. so we sued all teh body panles fro it to fix the one wiht good motor to get it bad up adn running now all it needs is the frame fixed, adn a new trasn 3rd slips