Voted 1989 Motor Trend Car or the Year, the Thunderbird SC brought supercharging to Ford's coupe for the first time since 1957. Now, Nice Price or Crack Pipe brings you a Super Coupe that could be your own personal COTY!
Let it rain, let it snow, let the four winds blow. And blow is one thing yesterday's 1972 Toyota Land Cruiser did not do, as 78% of you let the accolades rain down upon it, proving that the old FJ40 wasn't all washed up. Now, typically, the kind of car you want to avoid when driving in slippery situations is a powerful rear-driver with wide hydroplane-happy tires and an accelerator pedal that goads you into stabbing it whenever possible. Well, hard cheese to that, because today we've got a Thunderbird, and it's sporting a pressurized V6 to give you a little whine to go with that cheese.
Usually one of the first things you want to know about a used car is the year, but the seller of this crimson SC fails to make mention of that little detail in the Craigslist posting. As the Super Coupe hailed from the years 1989 until 1995, we can at least narrow it down some. Also, a glance at the two blurry photos of the car's ass show the full-width under-bumper tray, and fully-encircling rub strip, which are indicative of the earlier, '89 - '93 cars.
Forcing myself to stop being so lazy, and undertaking further perusal of the local Craigslistings shows that the seller has the car up multiple times, and that it is indeed a '93. I also discovered that offers to ship cars are 100% fraudulent, who knew? As it's a '93, the car comes with the 210-bhp 3.8-litre V6 that has been pumped up, Ah-nold-like, with a 12-PSI Eaton supercharger and air to air intercooler. That engine, backed up by the Mazda M5R2 five-speed makes zed to sixty dashes 7.5-second endeavors, which is pretty good for a nearly 3,600-lb car. The fact that it has three-pedals is a plus, and makes it one of about eighteen thousand such cars built between '89 and '93. All of the MN12 T-birds shared a short-long arm IRS, as well as a wheelbase nine inches longer than their predecessors, making the back seats as good a place to ride in as they were to make-out in. Checking the SC box on the order form added standard ABS and 16-inch alloys to the mix.
Electronically-controlled shocks, dual exhausts and power everything round out this car's description, as well as the dubious claim of power front suspension by which the seller may mean the dashboard-switched shocks. And to top it off, there's only 74K on the odo- as well as the claim that, like an elderly relative with Alzheimer's, it's kept in storage and only gets brought out on weekends. Those low miles mean the seller is trying to get premium cash for his premium coupe- having listed it at between $9,232 and $9,995 in his Sybil-like multiple ads. As $9,995 is the highest he's asking, that's what we're going with, plus I want to make him look like a dink for doing that. A quick scan of the Internets shows early ‘90s SCs going for a lot less, on average, but that doesn't mean one in this nice of shape isn't worth that much cheddar.
So, what's your take on a Thunderbird SC for a fin-shy of ten large? Does that price make it a a super bird? Or do you think that makes it a super turd?
You decide!
Madison Craigslist or go here if the ad disappears. Hat tip to tempesjo!