Lohnes hates them, but I love ’em. The MN-12 era Ford Thunderbirds and Mercury Cougars are dirt-cheap platforms that have quite a bit going for them: they are roomier than a comparable Mustang, run the same power trains, were usually well-optioned and have great aerodynamics. And, often forgotten, they were NASCAR material back in the day…so, if you are so inclined, you could do a full-on race look. For the money you’ll spend purchasing one, you could do worse, and it’s highly unlikely that anyone outside of the serious fan is going to care what you do.
Case in point: this plain-Jane vanilla 1991 Thunderbird. What makes this car so special? Nothing…that’s the point! It does have bright spots: if you aren’t a fan of the Mod motor, you’ll be happy to know that the tried-and-true 5.0L V8 is the mill here, backed up to an overdrive automatic. For $1200, the car-per-dollar ratio is already in the positive. But it’s what can be done that has us lusting…the engine needs to be pumped up, the suspension can accept some upgrades, and a good set of Mustang Cobra fan blade wheels will give this Thunderbird some much-needed visual improvement. With $3800 left over with the Rough Start budget, the upgrades are completely up to you with a canvas as solid as this one.
Craigslist Link: 1991 Ford Thunderbird
Did Lohnes lose a girlfriend to a guy who drove one of these? I don’t know how you can’t like them.
If I could find a good clean one with a stick shift, I’d buy that thing yesterday. These seem to be something of a unicorn.
Did a bit more checking – looks like the 5 speed was only available on the Super Coupe and not with the 5.0. (Off to look for Super Coupes now…)
Super Coupe was a double edged sword, they were just a tiny fraction faster than the 5.0, but were head gasket prone.
I’d think you could build a 5.0 cheaper and make it last longer. But if the 5 speed is a must, why can’t you just use a mustang tranny and bolt in an aftermarket pedal assembly?
They are nice cheap cars. Would make a great DD or throw a China turbo on it and have fun. One of Ford’s better ideas mustang wheels don’t fit the MN-12 cars.
Little things like that hurt resale, you would think better resale would eventually trickle up to better new car sales. I wish Ford would stop going out of their way to make thinks not interchangeable.
Another upside: The V8 cars all got 8.8 rear center sections. Most were limited slip. All the MN12 cars were independent rear suspension.
Another downside: These things weigh over 2 tons. From what I’ve read, there’s no real way to get the weight out.
Also, Matt is right. Only the V6 Super Coupes got the manual trans.
I spoke with a Ford engineer a few years ago at SEMA and we chatted about this car. He said they knew they had a huge fail on the weight, but had no time in the production schedule to find ways to lighten the car.
Overall I’ll bet one of these with an EcoBoost V6, or even the 4 could be a ton of fun. Get a pre-95 car and you don’t have OBD-II crap to worry about at inspection time.
A bud has one with a vortech 347 awesome sleeper
I had one with a 6. Great car to drive ,I really liked it. The doors got rotten on the bottom as well as the rockers so look for that if you are buying.
I don’t know what you’re talking about on 2 tons of weight unless it’s the GVW rating. I have a 94 Mark VIII which is one of these T-Birds supersized and on a truck scale it came in at 3880 lb. The same scale had my former 83 Cougar at 3440. I believe the worst thing about this era of T-Birds was the long wheelbase hurt if you were drag racing.
If you like the style of these T-Birds and want power and handling and pretty good gas mileage without a lot of mods or any mods look for a Mark VIII. It came standard with the same all aluminum DOHC 4.6 which was used in the Cobra. I believe the only difference was the cams and the Cobra used stronger rods. Also the heads were improved on these engines after the Mark went out of production. An easy mod is the new 5.0 Coyote engine will bolt right in place of the 4.6 but you’ll have to play with the computer. They’re not the easiest to work on in some respects but they’re classy.