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For $5,500, This Bird Has Blown
For $5,500, This Bird Has Blown-October 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:10:07

They say birds of a feather flock together and if that's the case then today's T-bird's twin turbos could be considered flocking awesome. You'll need to decide however, if its price is totally bird brained.

We don't have the Thunderbird to kick around any more. The last of the new retro birds rolled out of Ford's Wixom plant way back in July of 2005, and that started the clock ticking for the company to reintroduce the model or lose the trademark on the name. Seeing as it's now been 8 years since they've used it, and U.S. Trademark law requires an affidavit of use after 5 years, I'm thinking you could rightfully build your own car and call it a Thunderbird.

Or, you could just buy this that's been made possibly even more super by the elimination of its supercharger. That blower has been replaced by a pair of fat turbos, obviously for their spectacular visual presentation, and possibly because the builder is unaware that the athletic 302 fits in the Bird just fine. Regardless of the reason, it's not just this Bird's 3.8-litre six that has been massaged, and you can head over to the ad to read the list of extensive modifications in all its all-cappiness.

Of course the most important of those mods is the pressurized intake, including the 57MM turbos and an intercooler ahead of the radiator. Keeping up with the air, the fuel system has likewise been bumped up a notch, by way of a 340 LPH pump and 60 LB injectors. On the other side, 2.5-inch pipes send the spent gasses back through a pair of Flowmasters and exiting out of chromed exhaust tips under the rear bumper.

Managing all that action might sound like a daunting task, but the seller says that the car comes with an HP laptop thrown in to boot. Or maybe it's just thrown into the boot, back with the relocated battery, it's kind of hard to tell. Anyway, that laptop comes with the harness that lets it talk T-Bird, and some software to fine tune the car's computers and probably play solitaire.

As noted, the engine isn't the only part of the car to have seen attention. The AOD has also been provided with a LenTech shift kit and uprated valve body, the brake lines are all braided like a Swiss Miss' blonde locks, and the brake rotors have been replaced with some cross drilled platters.

Visually, this T-bird is one bad motor scooter. Black-painted 18" alloys, a high-rise hood, and a trunk lid spoiler all give the car a subtle sense of evil, while a shade over the rear seats keeps things cool inside . That looks like a sneeze guard out of Home Town Buffet, although the seller claims it's off of a GTO. Check out this kind of stalker-esque video of the car for all its glory.

On that inside, the Lear Siegler sport seats still seem to have all their leather, an admirable achievement considering the car's age, and there are two boost gauges bookending the cluster, which is kind of cool. These Thunderbirds are pretty big cars so there's plenty of room in here to stretch out and make yourself comfortable.

If you happen to live in California you might not want to get too comfortable in this particular car because all the modifications mean that it's no longer going to pass that state's strict emissions tests and thus will need to call somewhere else its home. That would probably have to be somewhere where they don't give two shits about their air quality. May I suggest Shanghai?

There's a lot that's cool about this car, and also quite a bit that's not cool at all. First off, if you're planning to mod your car for street use then you might just want to make sure that you can actually drive it on the street afterwards, I'm just saying. Secondly, if you are going to advertise your car in a video, talk us through the walk-around. If you don't it's just creepy and doesn't do you any favors. Oh, and use spell check on your ad. I can have as many typos as I want, but you can't. That's just the way the world works, I'm sorry.

The last thing to consider is setting a price that will sell. This gentleman has been trying to move this car since October, and has dropped the price by a cool grand from $6,500 to its present $5,500 apparently without gaining any traction. This would be a good opportunity for you to weigh in on that current price, you know, to help a brother out as it were. What do you think about $5,500 for this Mad Maxian Thunderbird? Is that a price that should have it moving - to another state? Or, does that price mean that this Bird will not fly?

You decide!

, or go if the ad disappears.

Help me out with NPOCP. Click to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your commenter handle.

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