The entire point of the Rough Start series was to find the best balance between a maximum budget of $5,000 total for a vehicle and the desirable reasons for owning said vehicle. We’ve seen beaten F-bodies that needed work, trucks that have a cool factor that could use some hot rodding touches, and some cars that even by my own screwed up standards were reaches, but I’m confident in saying that this 1985 Thunderbird just might be the best find I’ve ever located on Craigslist, period. If I had the money I’d be calling right now and flying out first thing in the morning, and that isn’t a joke. Imperial? What Imperial? I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I’ll let the ad speak for itself:
1985 Thunderbird 5.0 5 Speed 8.8 rear end with 4.10 gears and Detroit locker.
Runs and drives good, grabber blue with gray interior .
Has msd, headers ,Edelbrock intake an carb.
2nd in points in pro 2 class at Humboldt drag strip last season.
Car is complete and street driven. lots of extras. I got a new ride!!!
I sincerely hope this ‘Bird winds up in good hands, because this is one badass car. The price is right at the maximum for the budget at $5K, and unless the transmission is in pieces or the engine is windowed, I’d pay every last cent willingly. What do you think?
Craigslist Link: 1985 Ford Thunderbird
The only thing I don’t particularly care for is the paint color (I love Grabber Blue but it doesn’t work on this car) and the rear spoiler. Other than that, this seems like a screaming deal.
Get rid of the cowl hood
And the grabber blue just doesn’t work on this one
Only I would change is replacing cowl scoop with a Bosd 429 scoop. Car looks like a good buy.
I’d ditch the cowl hood and headlight covers and drive then heck out of it. Of course I’m a little biased towards fox T-birds. It would be a good stable mate to my ’88.
I definitely prefer the ’87-’88s over the early body style. I want to get an ’87 5.0 car and swap on the Turbo Coupe aero nose and turbocharge the 5.0 to make the Turbo Coupe they should have built.
Yeah the Turbocoupes are neat but I’d rather have my 5.0! I’ve swapped an 8.8 in w/3.73s, a T-5, and swapped HO stuff onto my 302 so its a fun and cheap package. One day I’ll build a nice stroker for it.
its all 80s cool… maybe i’d trim it out in a “TURBO COUPE” motiff (red accents on the black rubber strips) do an 80s black, white or dark gray metallic, although realisticly, i’d leave the paint alone if its in good condition
Seems kinda nice for a rough start, after all, where’s the fun in blowing your wad on a good car when one could acquire junk for nothing and have thousands to spend on hundreds of hours of doing things incorrectly?
There’s some stuff I would change but overall that is a nice ride for the price!.
That cowl doesn’t flow with the lines of the car. I’d have to do something about it. The wheels are dates, but still not bad. The wing needs to be painted or traded out for something else. Lower it a couple inches.
These are very minor complaints and easy to remedy. Someone is getting a sweet deal with this one.
…and it’s not me. Dammit. All I’d change is a five-lug swap, some meatier wheels/tires, and…well, that’s it. Apparently I’m the only one who loves the color combination. I’d even stick with the cowl hood…though, I might go for one not so tall, but that would have to be determined based upon the engine height. Or I could do the right thing and just stick a lung on the 5.0 and let the blower sit in the wind….
I got no issues with the color.
The cowl, I’d just have to do something to make it flow better at the nose of the car.
You know roots type blowers are nearly impossible to fit on Windsor type blocks, right? The distributor is right in the way. Centrifugals or turbos? No problem! Belt driven screws? There’s a whole new can of worms…
If it was going to have forced induction, I’d have to do a fuel injection set up. It would be easy enough to do, just more expensive.
As it sits, that bad boy is screaming for a stout Windsor stroker and a healthy snort of nitrous.
If the TBird rear wheel wells are similar to the Mustangs, then a 10.5 slick will fit back there.
Not sure what you would have to do for a 5 lug on these. On the Mustangs you could use Aerostar axles in the back. Don’t know if these are different widths or not.
Adapt a DIS setup from a 2nd gen Explorer, the cam sensor is low profile – might fit well. There were some roots blower setups available for those trucks.
I’d want to stuff a big block in it with a little spray and an automatic.