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Rough Start: ‘Bird Spotting In Baton Rouge


Rough Start: ‘Bird Spotting In Baton Rouge

Good food and views of the Gulf of Mexico. Enough swampland to hide bodies and the light hint of crude when you get close to the beach. Baton Rouge is many things to many people, but to me, it’s food and cars. Once I find some beans and rice or a nice shrimp-less gumbo, I’m off to look for a new ride. Being near saltwater, I expected to find late-model stuff and maybe a mud truck or two. I found a Cutlass for $2500 that had just recently been painted a nice shade of bronze, but the interior…oh, man, it was redone but it was a dumpster fire. There was a killer Toyota 4×4 with a small block Chevy, but I had to disqualify it, since it doesn’t have a title. Next up on the list is this Mystichrome-painted ’95 Thunderbird.

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Brian’s hatred of any Thunderbird with four seats is very well-known around here, and if it’s got the 3.8 V6, I don’t care if it’s blown or not, I’ll personally drive that thing to the scrapyard. But I’m seeing more and more of these MN12 ‘Birds getting built, and it’s easy to see why: they are roomy, pack V8s, and are dirt-cheap for decent-condition cars. This Thunderbird has quite a bit going for it: the 4.6, an interior that looks pretty decent, and a solid-looking body. I never did like the Mystichrome paint, it looked like a pain in the ass to deal with in every regard and this Thunderbird’s paint could use a re-do. I’d find a good color (may I suggest the C7 Corvette’s Lime Rock Green?) and repaint it. After that, I’d look for the older “fluted” wheels or any aftermarket wheels meant for a SN-95 Mustang and get an aggressive-sounding exhaust going. If you’re going to have a Thunderbird, it might as well have some thunder to it.

Click Here to see the Craigslist listing for this Thunderbird while it is available.00T0T_jjcWeX7Ml8r_600x450


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11 thoughts on “Rough Start: ‘Bird Spotting In Baton Rouge

  1. Sumgai

    Owned a ’95 T-Bird with the 4.6. Great car. Handled very well with the IRS and a comfortable high speed cruiser. A stop light warrior it wasn’t, but Mustang go-fast parts and gear changes are easy swaps. Even with over 300k miles (cluster swap fraud) it hauled ass and went around corners like a slot car.

    Lots of choices with these cars too; if you like the earlier styling or prefer a Windsor, the 93-94 models have the 5.0 V8 and a more ’80s interior. If you like it a little more aerodynamic the nose on the 96-97 models is smoother, but they started removing some of the features that made the car neat, like the lighted keyholes and even black trim on the taillights.

    The car pictured has 96-97 wheels but the proper taillights (96-97 didn’t have the black strip on the taillights).

  2. 440 6Pac

    It’s a good start. I’d put a coyote engine in it, black paint, tinted windows, and a black interior. And I’d find taillight with the black trim.

    1. Sumgai

      If you’re going to hotrod it, start with a Lincoln Mark VIII. Same great chassis, with the 4-cam 4.6 that’s basically the same as the Mustang Cobra’s.

  3. 50tbrd88

    Good to see T-bird’s get some press. I don’t know why they died off along with all the other full size coupes (Monte Carlos, etc). My lightly modded ’88 has so much more room than a Fox Mustang, rides/handles great, etc. I was surprised how many people came to check it out the last time I took it on Power Tour…

    1. Sumgai

      I know the T-Bird cost Ford more money than it made them. The IRS didn’t help. By 96 and 97 they were cutting features to soften the blow. The Monte Carlo stuck around for a good long time in FWD form, but fullsize coupes just fell out of style. I think the American market mindset is more focused on practicality at the moment, with fuel efficient 4-door cars to tote around the 2.5 kids. Notice how there are no 2-door SUVs anymore either, for similar reasons.

  4. Ed

    The 5.0 ended in 1993 with the older nose and bumpers. This 95 is actually “chameleon blue”, not mystichrome. And the MN12 Birds are 5 on 108 wheel stud pattern, but can be swapped to 5 on 114.3 for more selection. The offset needed is part way between SN95 and S197 Mustang. I used to have a modded 95 Super Coupe with SN95 Cobra brakes and hubs, small brakes are one of the downfalls of the MN12 platform.

  5. 91 tbirdsc

    I have a 91 supercoupe I got headers an x pipe mufflet and I pulled the exhaust out the side in front of the drivers rear tire looks and sounds good.i want to get cobra wheels on it but I don’t want adapters do you have more info on the hub swap?ed

    1. Sumgai

      Comments are the wrong place to ask that question… get on the TCCOA forum and do some research.

  6. freetard

    changing wheels isnt so simple. they all have a 5×4.25 (108) bolt pattern, not the mustang/jap 5×4.5. but 99-04 cobra hubs work on the rear, you also have to enlarge the hub-centric and redrill the bolt pattern rotors. im not sure about the front.

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