This sanitary 1986 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe may appear ready for a spirited jaunt through the countryside, but it makes me think of one thing: 9000 RPM clutch dumps.
In 1986, I was a nine-year-old car loving lad with Fords on the brain, thanks to my Blue Oval-loving Dad. Nothing provided a brat in the third grade with more thrills than a trip to the Ford Dealer, where I bugged salesmen, corrected their factual inadequacies, and generally annoyed them. I also gathered enough literature to sink a small canoe (it’s all still in my basement).
In between those peregrinations to the dealership, however, I was glued to our console Zenith, watching Bob Glidden smack down those Reher-Morrison Camaros in NHRA Pro Stock drag racing. The skinny front tires of Glidden’s Chief Auto Parts/Motorcraft T-Bird would trip the stage lights, the engine would scream, and potential energy turned brutally kinetic in an instant. Even as a kid, I’d feel a pang of sadness for U-Joints and ring gears as I cheered on one of my racing heroes.
So maybe the street Turbo Coupe didn’t quite have the effect on the drive train or psyche that a mountain motored door-slammer did, but even factory ‘Birds pervaded my pre-adolescent gray matter. I vividly remember a test ride in an ’88 model, 5-speed equipped, gold, with Dad taking a freeway entrance ramp a couple dozen miles an hour faster than the posted speed limit, the boost needle swinging to the starboard side of its small gauge. If I said I wasn’t a T-Bird fan by that point, I was lying through my teeth.
I ran into a 1986 model at the US-127 cruise up the gut of the Lower Peninsula last year, and immediately, that funny feeling came over me: Bill Elliott’s Coors Cup car at Talladega, Bob Glidden’s Pro Stocker, my own forays into three digit “I don’t do this now that I’m an adult” speeds in my Dad’s hand-me-down ’87 5.0 ‘Bird. Dad would sometimes take the car to get the tires rotated, and the employees working on the car would explain that the right rear seemed to have abnormal wear. Dad would always come home and knowingly ask me how that could possibly happen.
Although I’m biased toward the ’87 restyle from a nostalgic perspective, I think the ’85/6 version of the Turbo Coupe is the one to have. I love the subdued deep red and the grey matte lower cladding, with “Turbo Coupe” spelled out on the rub strip. I think the nose was a little less flagrantly “bird-like,” as well. Someone in ’87 may have stretched the metaphor a bit far. The fancy “Turbo” valve cover on the old Pinto 2300 engine made it look somewhat more ready for action, even though it still only cranked out around 155 horsepower. That engine was a zero without a turbocharger (my buddy’s ’88 Mustang with the NA 2300 could probably be beaten 0-20 by a high school track star), but in the T-Bird, it more than kept up with its contemporaries.
One thing that never worked out too well in Michigan was the Goodyear Gatorback unidirectional tire. One ride in the winter on a set of those made Dad march right to the tire store for a set of “Mud and Snows” on Mom’s 5.0 Mustang. No go, no where in the snow…They did look terrific on the Turbo’s 10-slot aluminum wheels, however, which I think were a hair more attractive than the later standard-issue Turbo wheels. The equally cool ’85 30th Anniversary edition shared those wheels, but came with the Crown Vic style 5.0 instead of the turbo 2300.
I also loved the Marchal driving lights with their black covers on the ’85 and ’86 models, but the real clincher is the ’80s style velour. America needs to embrace the velour; I think it is one of the most indestructible upholstery materials devised by the human mind. Who doesn’t want to drive on the living room couch?
While 80s cars certainly lag behind earlier predecessors on the collectability scale, I’d have to think that Turbo T-Birds are in the Top 10 as far as American cars are concerned. The later models topped out at 143 MPH; they look great in an 80s jellybean sort of way; they had a combination of good ride and handling, and my Dad liked them, which always counts for something in my mind. I’m a little too 60s car happy to run out and find a nice, solid Turbo Coupe, and the 80s electronics and plastic bits give me the heebie jeebies, but in a perfect world, I’d have room and money for a Turbo T-Bird or two. Until then, I can browse my brochures and reminisce about those test drives with my Dad, and Sundays watching Glidden.
Note: a rerun of an older post.
My wife and I had just moved to the Indianapolis area and my best friend back in Michigan and I had both, unknown to each other, bought identical ’87 Turbo Birds! He called me in late November and asked if I had bought snow tires yet? I said that I had not, and didn’t understand why he asked as the T-Bird had brand new radial tires. (I knew from my own experience on several cars while I was living in Michigan that radial tires were actually quite good in the snow — much better than bias ply tires.) What I did not understand was that the Goodyear Gatorbacks that came on the Turbo Bird were a new type of tire — summer tires!
In early December, central Indiana received it’s first snowfall. 2 inches at best. As I was leaving work, I remembered what my best friend had said so I decided to to play around a bit in the (barely) snow covered parking lot. I had trouble even getting my car to move! It was a disaster! The next day I purchased a second set of wheels and snow tires. I no longer had trouble trying to drive in the snow.
I can so relate to being the kid who went to the dealership, corrected the salesmen when they were incorrect and carried off many brochures! I studied the brochures & still have quite a collection. Looking through my collection of old brochures, one would know that I was raised in a MoPar family! I still drive Chryslers!
Considering the subject on this post, I’d like to point out that Carol Shelby’s GLHS Turbo Omni set a track record that his GT mustang couldn’t break easily
I was early in my career and coming off a divorce. At the time, I was driving a 1987 Hyundai Excel (finances were drained from the divorce). In late 1988, I was ready to upgrade at I had narrowed by choices down to the Turbo Thunderbird and a Mazda RX7. I took the woman I was dating (who become wife #2 for the past 36 years) with me to the dealership. I was a huge Bill Elliot fan and wanted to drive what he drove on Sunday (at least in my mind). So, we went to the Ford dealership first. She was not impressed with the Thunderbird. Next, we went to the Mazda dealership. I was infatuated with the RX7 as a colleague drove one. My future wife kept looking at the Mazda 929 ignoring me and the salesman as we talked about the RX7. I ended up buying the 929 which was the right decision as we started our family a few years later. But that Turbo Thunderbird holds a special place in my heart as I imagined myself driving the bright red #9 Thunderbird with the Coors logo plastered on the hood every day to work!
I have a short list of cars I nearly bought at one time or another, never did buy, and have not outright regret but a certain wistfulness for never owning. The ’83-92 ‘Birds are on that list.
Not usually the biggest fan of domestic car styling, I both at the time and now it was one of the highlights of the 80s, styling wise. It was an aggressive jellybean shape, not easy to do, in a sea of chopped off roofs I refer to as a slowback roof, the opposite of a fastback.
I worked for a Ford dealer when these were new. The later Birds with the SVO motor and five speed were a terrific grand touring automobile that loved mountain roads and highway cruising.
At one point, Ford installed the wrong injectors- much higher flow than spec- that really woke up that engine. Ford tried to recall those cars, but, upon finding out their car was going to be de-balled, the smart owners simply asked for the keys back and backed out of the shop.
These were in the 1st episode of Season 3 of Knight Rider.
I remember that! Even as a kid, I scoffed at the fact that KITT, with its “Pursuit” mode, couldn’t outrun a 130-horsepower T-Bird.
That made me laugh. Good point though.
Obviously before “SUPER Pursuit Mode” (S4). Which was (even MORE ridiculous) Even as a kid I was thinking.. “How G*Y is this?”
LOL.
The blue on that 30th anniversary model is a great color.
Wife had a ’84 T-Bird with the 3.8 V6. White with light blue velour interior. The aerodynamic shape was great but it turned the interior into a greenhouse. It let so much sunlight into the car that a white car even with window tint didn’t stand a chance. It got hotter inside than my dark blue with medium gray interior XJ Cherokee. Difference between vertical glass and horizontal glass. The T-Bird’s blue steering wheel turned scalding hot in the Texas heat.
I liked the car but ultimately it was Fords inability to service its own products that forced us to replace it. We buy cars and keep them a long time rather than frequently buying. The T-Bird was 10 years old and suddenly the engine ran badly. Local dealer was doing everything the diagnostic tester told them to do. They replaced so many parts and never got anywhere. The dealer finally threw up its hands and called Ford for help.
Ford replied: “That’s the old system, nobody here knows anything about it.”
One thing about that aerodynamic body shape. Discovered why NASCAR was having such an issue with cars getting airborne if they traveled in any direction other than straight ahead. Traveled on a stretch of road with warning signs about strong cross winds. Driven lots of vehicles that got pushed a little sideways in strong winds. That T-Bird wanted to go airborne. I could feel the side of the car lifting. The car shape from the side wanted to act like a wing.
80s electronics are an asset not a detriment. I’ve repaired and modified bits for these cars like the digital cluster to read 199mph rather than 88 or repairing the graphic equalizers and it is simple electronics you could fix with a run of the mill soldering iron from the hardware store…. And truthfully few are really that electronically failure prone to begin with, the graphic equalizer for example is an electromechanical issue wheee the power button physically breaks turning it into a momentary switch(a Notorious Jerry rig solution is to shove a toothpick in the gap to hold to down). Critical electronics like the EEC IV computer are basically indestructible. I’d trust this car electronically for another 20 years than I would a 2026 car with its canbus BCM with OTA updated electronics by a fair margin. Even if one of them completely failed it won’t effect anything else
I’m obviously a fan of these and have spent a lot of time messing with them and parting them out at junkyards. It shocks and appalls me they haven’t caught on like GM G bodies have as I think the styling and interior blows most of them away. Mustangs just dominate the 80s Ford collector sphere though, never quite got why most Ford enthusiasts have such tunnel vision for the three cliche icons(Mustang/Bronco/F series) over their other products