Admittedly when I was nine years old, I wanted one of these cars badly. I wanted my parents to ditch the family Ford Taurus wagon and replace it with this guy. Why? Well it had all kinds of stuff all mashed together that few American cars had in individual pieces, let alone as a package. The supercharged 3.8L V6 engine, the independent rear suspension, the swoopy, interesting styling, and it was even a gear jammer with a stick shift transmission. In an era where car companies often threw all kinds of stuff at the wall to see what stuck, the Thunderbird Super Coupe actually had all this stuff and worked like a charm!
When I was about 12 we went on a family vacation to Arizona and it was kind of a hybrid road trip situation. Our car was a Thunderbird of this era with a 5.0L V8 in it. My little heart’s desire was fulfilled. Sure, it did not have the blower engine but it had the rest of the stuff (minus the stick). At one point, while my mom and sister slept, dad leaned on the thing and touched 120mph in the desert somewhere. Big fun!
This car, despite all the doo-dads and technology was a performer. It would run to 60 mph in 6-seconds which was hauling for 1989 and it would run the quarter-mile in 15.9 seconds which was also a mover for a vehicle this size. Not surprisingly, these cars have a solid following and dedicated ambassadors out there that low them to death. We’re not sure if this was the first car to ever have an Eaton M90 style blower on it, but it sure was one of the coolest.
