Honest driver? 88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe 5-Speed

The Thunderbird turbo coupe was a strange bird. This model was designed to take the T-Bird, which was known mostly as a “personal luxury coupe” (boulevard cruiser) and compete with the European cars that were taking over the market in the 1980s. What did that mean? Well, it started with a turbocharged four cylinder – essentially shared with the Mustang Turbo GT and SVO, as well as the Merkur XR4Ti – in place of the usual V6 and V8 engines, but the handling upgrades were arguably more remarkable. These cars had Tokico cockpit-adjustable shocks and much more aggressive suspension all around. The sport seats had a remarkable level of adjustment, including bulb-actuated lumbar support. Finally, the 1987 T-Bird minor change brought more Turbo Coupe-unique body mods and more power for these clutch-equipped cars. 190HP was nothing to sneeze at in 1987! We like the early cars as sleepers, but these later ones are the ultimate ‘bathtub birds’ and led in nicely to 1989’s Super Coupe.

Our subject car claims to be a daily driver, but its 140K miles indicate is has spent some time stored/pampered. Given the car is in Wisconsin and is indicated as having been stored winters, that explains some of that. In the end, this isn’t one of the sub-50K cars with a $10K+ starting bid (which never sell, by the way). This does have an unknown reserve, but the low starting bid means the market will speak. Assuming it really is rust free and running well, we’d be happy to add this to the Oddimotive garage. It’s even in your humble host’s favorite non-brown color! If this really has been a daily driver, we think it’s ready to become an occasional driver and frequenter of a Cars and Coffee event near you.

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Hartland, WI USA
$500 with ZERO bids and reserve not met (6 days to go)
Posted by CG

Scoops were actually functional on this car! We’d ditch the mud flaps if we owned it…

We’re glad the stock wheels are present.

Modified exhaust doesn’t look TOO different.

Interior was sporty by T-bird standards, skipping the digital dash, using the full center console and adding the cool seats which really worked. Your humble host’s parents had a 1988 automatic version and I seem to recall it had not only thigh extension and lumbar adjustment, but possibly thigh bolster adjustment (?).

Here’s the 2.3L turbo four with intercooler.

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This is a clean 25 year old car. It is a daily driver, not a show car. Everything is original except the exhaust and boost control valve. The OEM cat will be included The key-less entry pad and cruise do not work. My kids swapped the radio out a few years back and after they re-installed the factory radio this courtesy group didn’t work so I suspect they unplugged a wire harness or blew a fuse. The fog lights are complete and intact but do not work. This could be part of the courtesy group or bulbs or connection at the bulbs. The front seat belt latch needs to be replaced because it sometimes releases. I have not had time to investigate or repair these items. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask them before you commit to buy. Thanks!

Honest driver? 88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe 5-Speed

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