My brother showed this thing to me last night- I can't believe how nice of shape this car is in. It's just begging to be hot rodded. If I was in a situation to have another car right now I would totally buy this thing and throw a 351 in there.
At any rate someone needs to rescue it!
http://www.grmotorsports.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=18273
The car is in great shape. But 1,000 for a 6 cyl is a bit much for me. Besides, I have too many projects as it is. :(
Hey 5.0willgo I'll send you the money. Buy it and put a 39 cent stamp on it and stuff it in the mail box. They'll ship it to me right? :giggle:
:laughing:
You want it bad enough, pay the guy for the car and I'll pick it up and drop it off at Cat Jam. You pay for gas. I don't know how I'd drive a non-tagged, non-insured car and not get caught though.
! I'd pay $1000 for that car. Presuming it's all sheet metal under that shiny paint. You just don't see cars that solid around anymore. Especially an '84! Regrettably, though, I don't have the funds.
Answer: Drive faster than the police.
An '84 3.8L car is not capable of that. Unless maybe they are mounted police. But that's only in Canada and for Riot Control.
Plan B: Make sure you have more gas than the police. ;)
That thing has the backup light in the middle of the lense. My friend spend a year and a half looking for one to fix his car.
That thing is spotless from the pics he has posted.
Ok, this rescue business is how we ended up with 5 cats, real cats, of the feline persuasion.
Anyway, is there really anyone here that would buy this car at Cat Jam for $1K?
He's now sunk money into it and wants $1.5K.
Would anyone here really pay $1K at Cat Jam this year, like in one week, for a car they haven't seen until payment is due?
Man that looks so clean.
Actually there is a way to drive a unregistered, uninsured vehicle from point A to point B...I did it when I bought my TC. Go to the state police office, for a couple bucks they give you this tag to put up in your window so you can make a one way trip in a car youve bought.
Now, if you were going across more than one state, I dunno.
round here they will give you three days to drive it with no plate after the sale was made.
...that just came off eBay with possibly a shiny new paint job that could be hiding anything?
Are you hinting that "If it looks too good to be true...."?
Must want to get his money back plus a whole bunch more.
Here's the completed eBay listing.
Went for $300 ($400 with "processing fee").
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1984-Ford-Thunderbird_W0QQitemZ290000532321QQihZ019QQcategoryZ6240QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem (http://"http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1984-Ford-Thunderbird_W0QQitemZ290000532321QQihZ019QQcategoryZ6240QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem")
Not a bad looking car - if it's really in that good a shape I'd easily give him a grand for it. Don't matter to me how much he paid on eBay - it's not against the law to make money on a car. It ain't what he paid, it's what you're willing to pay, that matters.
Anybody notice it's one of those no-option cars? The only option I can see in it is A/C. No cruise, no p. windows, no p. seats - the center console is bare. It does have one thing I'd never seen before, though: Dual manual mirrors. Any other T-Bird or Cougar I've ever seen without power mirrors only had a driver's side manual mirror and nothing on the right side.
Ya think maybe someone stuck a power mirror on that side and removed the block-off plate? A dual non-power mirror setup theoretically could have existed...but it was common back in the day to just throw a power mirror on that side of the car if it didn't come with one. I've talked to lots of people that did that. Just a thought.
It looks to have the rear reading lights on the console. Oh, and an ultra-cool stick-on clock (thermometer?) next to the digital clock. That adds a few horsepower, right? ;)
I've always felt that was the
perfect light grey color for our interiors. Very handsome, lends itself well to the car. I'm really digging the non-cruise A-frame steering wheel.
The non power single mirror cars could be made dual non power mirrors. Ford sold a kit to add the right side mirror. It had the cable attached and a template for joystick placement on the door panel. I bought one for my old 84. They were shown in the accessories book Ford mailed you after you bought a car. I have seen the kits on ebay once or twice
Wait. $300 sale price and the guy wants $1k now? What did he do to it? It looks really clean in the eBay photos already.
Oh cool! You still have the book? Not many of us got to buy these cars new. ;)
Man, that thing is a creampuff. It's in very nice shape. Not sure if it's $1500 noce, but $1000 nice, yeah. Doesn't matter what he paid for it... most folks here would try and do the same thing to make a few bucks. The car is just plain clean.
I notice an 85-86 grille and aftermarket strut mounts.
Clean maybe... It still has more rust on it than all seven of my vehicles combined...
Yeah, well, um... yours have more paint fade! Yeah, that's it... :flip:
Eric: I was gonna mention that the car has a joystick on the right side door panel, but mjtbird explained how that would be possible :D The rear things on the console look to be blockoffs - my console (purloined from an '83 cat) has white lenses there, while the ones in that pic look black
As for his selling price versus what he paid for it: As I said above, it's not illegal to make money on a car. I wouldn't care if he got that thing for free, to me it would be worth a grand. $1500 would be pushing it, but even still it would make a nice package for my 351 swap (would solve my dilemma of whether to build up the 5.0 in my 88 or swap in the 351 - I'd do up the 5.0 in the 88 AND swap in the 351 :D). Conversely, if I had a car that I got cheap and didn't need it, you can bet your ass I'd try to make money off it. Case in point: The parts TC. I paid $800 for the car, sold the engine/tranny for $600, some misc bits for $200, and still have some left to sell (PRC struts, etc). As it is now I got the car essentially free, and by the time I'm finished I'll have made money on the deal. In the meantime I also have a mint TC interior, 3.55 8.8" rear end, TC front brakes, sway bars, hood, header panel, two spare doors, two spare fenders, a spare raditor, and a ton of other parts for my efforts.:tg:
Well I'm not going to Cat Jam but that would have been a good idea:D . I need to find one near me.
That car looks clean but I would still rather look over a car myself before buying. Pictures can hide things that you can see with your own eyes up close.
I'd say that book got trashed in 1985.......sorry.......Now I do wish I saved it.............I think it was one of those 5x7 20 page deals with things like a watch battery powered auto dim mirror, thunderbird vanity plate, floor mats, etc.
Just a memory of those mid 80's "cheepies" I can remember ads running every week for about 6 months in 1984 for new 3.8 cougars with air and am/fm (no tape) stereo, crank windows, no other options, even had 195/75/14 tires buy for $9,999. (Of course in 1984 air and stereo meant you were doing OK for yourself)
My 84 had a few other options (very few) power windows, tilt, wire wheels, air and stereo and stickered for about $11,600
Dumped it in 88 for the sport so as crazy as it seems now I actually bought 2 of these new. The one I could afford in 84 and the one I wanted in 88.
If this car had been around when I bought the Z-7, I might have considered it instead. It's pretty basic, but it would make a nice DD (which is all I use the Z-7 for).
Bummer...I'll keep an eye out for that accessory catalog. I have some from the 1987-88 cars but nothing older...can't seem to find those often. I do remember Ford having some kind of generic remote mirror for the passenger side available, but I think it was more for the Crown Vic, cars like that. A specific, Ford aftermarket remote mirror for our cars...interesting...I don't ever recall seeing them installed on our body style before. Times sure have changed, haven't they!?
I got my first car, a light blue '84, in May 1987 when I was 17, at a Ford dealership. That was about the closest I got to "new" LOL. It had a PEP package (cruise, air, tilt, p/w, p/m, p/dl, p/ds) so it was fairly loaded up. Even then, at 3 years old, the price was $7500, so they held their value vs. comparable GM vehicles of the era. By the time I got the car, some of the last '88 Cougars were being sent to the dealers and there was a big price shuffle to move them out. I do recall lots of ads for them. Sure wish I'd have saved them from the newspaper. Anyway...thanks so much for the info! I appreciate it.