1985 Ford Thunderbird

Elan Coupe

5.0 V8

Automatic

1fabp46f1fh218620

Clear

Gasoline

OK, I just lowered the starting bid from $995 (still just the cost of wheels and related pieces) to only $500 to get this auction moving! Now, you will get the wheels and tires for 2/3 of the eBay market price for those items and you will get a low mileage, good condition Elan Thunderbird thrown into the deal! Again, these low numbers are not the value of the car but we need to start somewhere.And again, bid only if you intend to purchase!!!!! Car is for sale locally so we reserve the right to end the sale at any time.Here we have a top of the line, Ford Thunderbird, with the sought-after 5.0 V8, and with low mileage. There is a bit of a story to this car so grab a cup of coffee and start reading. I bought this car from eBay in the spring of 2010. I traveled from Toledo, Ohio to Long Island New York to pick up a car that was stated to be in very good condition, inside and out. The car was disappointing in person but I had only bought a one-way ticket, had already paid for the car and decided to go ahead and bring it home and decide what to do based on that drive. The car was fine on the drive, after I got an oil change, replaced the battery (was said to be new in the eBay listing) and I replaced three headlights on that trip (only had 1 of the four, when it got to be dark. Within a few weeks of getting home, we learned that my dad had gotten terminal cancer and so I began flying down to Naples, FL on the weekends that summer. On my second trip, I bought another low mileage old Thunderbird (in gold this time) to save money on rental cars. My dad passed away at the end of the summer and I brought that other Thunderbird back to Ohio and concentrated my efforts at making that car nicer. I thought I would get to this car in the next year or so. It is now three years later and I hadn’t touched it or driven it since my trip back from New York. I have no chance of working on it for more than one or so weekends this year due to some other commitments. Let me explain what I expected versus what I bought on the outside of the car. This car was said to have a new battery and new paint and new carpet. I already explained that the battery was replaced again on the way home so whether it was new was debatable. The paint was new but not very attractive. It seemed to be inconsistent and the preparation work was not great. In my pre-purchase communication with the owner, he told me that he used to work in a body shop. Upon seeing the car, I thought perhaps he was the guy who masked or disassembled body pieces for the skilled people to do the actual body work. The car was repainted in its original silver and that is good. But, he left some dings, especially below the beltline and it just seemed like poor preparation. Worse yet, he really didn’t do anything in the door jambs and there is actually a couple of rust spots in the jambs. On Friday, I decided to sell this car and on Saturday morning, I jumped the car and brought it into our plant and put the battery on a charger and began to clean the car up. I power buffed with two stages of rubbing compound and then I waxed it. It looks ten times better than it did and the paint actually was sprayed pretty well. But, the dings were still there and somewhat noticeable. This took me about 10 hours on Saturday. This morning, I looked at it and it looked pretty good. So, I added a vinyl strip at the belt line and some pin striping, after removing the wax on these locations. I re-waxed the car after putting these on. There are some missing outer trim at the front cornering lights, visible in the pictures. In spite of this minor item, my feeling on Saturday evening after the work done on Saturday was that the car was really starting to look pretty good. The car has the original wire hubcaps and it had some mismatched and lousy small tires. On my other Thunderbird (a 94), I put some Mustang wheels using adapter plates and it really set that car off. In late 2010, I had bought a set for this car off of eBay and some adapter plates taking us from the four lug factory set up to these five lug Mustang wheels. On Friday when I had decided to sell the car, I also decided to resell these wheels when I put the car on eBay. But after the outside improved, I decided to put them on this car this morning just to see how it looks. It was a huge improvement! Switching these wheels out was not easy because the locking tool for the factory hubcaps was locked in the glove box and that latch is inoperable. I took off the bottom hinge of the glove box and was able to get the tool out. After removing the hubcaps, I have reassembled those locking wire units and put them in the trunk along with two of the tires. The other two tires are in plastic bags in the back seat. Also in the trunk is an oil filter and 5 quarts of Quaker State. The oil looked fresh and the car ran well and the oil had not thinned. So, I chose not to change it today and instead I am giving you the supplies I bought for this purpose. Your first oil change is on me. This car is not ready for a show on the outside but it is now a decent 15-20 footer. This makes it a good driver or an excellent candidate for restoration. I think part of his preparation for painting was doing that thin coat of plastic or the high build primer that we see on Desert Car Kings. There are lots of areas that you can see the sanding work beneath the paint. I wondered when I got the car if this was to cover rust. The car has sat for three years and no rust has popped out that was not visible on the day I bought the car. On the day I got the car I saw the aforementioned door jamb items, both on the jamb and on the bottom of the doors as well as some bubbling by the back window, very common of these cars. Those have not worsened and no new spots have materialized. Please note that the fenders and quarters seemed fine and three years later, they are still fine. When putting the wheels on the car this morning, I got to inspect the undercarriage. It is great for a 28 year old car. It is solid and a bit dirty but not rusty. This observation supports the feeling that the car is not a rust bucket and that the miles are as stated. Again, this is not a show car but it is not an embarrassment either. Mechanically, the car seems fine for a car of this era. These are not as good as cars today and there was tons of plastic used on every surface that you touch. The power antennae works and the comfortron works fine. The radio, with cassette, plays well but the station indicator does not light. The seats are dual power control with power tilt and that works fine. The steering wheel tilts but the turn signal lever was replaced by the former owner with a wooden piece. For three years, I have not been able to lock the car due to frozen actuators. This morning, I drilled out the rivet holding these actuators and the doors now lock by pushing down on the button and they unlock with a key. Obviously, the power door locks are inoperable. The power window on the passenger side works fine but the drivers one seems to have a worn gear. It hums when the button is depressed. On my way home three years ago, I got it to go up and down at the toll booths by hitting the lowering button and the window would roll down and up with some manual help. It is too cold today to trigger the air conditioner, so assume it might need a charge or more. I really don’t know. Now for the inside, this was the top of the line car and the seats are not worn out or torn. There is new blue carpet as well. But, there is more you need to know. I wish the last owner had not touched the inside and instead had just given me some faded but original upholstery. He got busy with some rattle cans. He painted the chrome grill black. Not my cup of tea but not a tragedy and this is easily replaced. But on the inside, he decided that he wanted a black inside and he got some of that vinyl and fabric rattle can stuff and started spraying. The worst is the large plastic pieces that are the rear side panels going up to the back window. He also sprayed the seats and made them somewhat black but they are crusty. I think a solvent to soften them up, followed by a good quality blue liquid dye would help. Or maybe, just find other great seats. The vinyl and plastic pieces painted black need to have blue vinyl paint sprayed over the black. In these Fords from the early 80’s the door panels were always an issue. The door closing straps never hold on well and there are just too many pieces held together with flimsy clips and they don’t age well. The last owner put in a bunch of screws to solidify these panels. This worked and the screws are not a huge distraction. Overall, the door panels are not attractive and I think replacement would be the best course of action. But, I have seen great things done by committed people working at home and by upholstery shops with worse panels than these. So, do what you feel is best. The dash pad has some cracks (again, normal) and the glove box latch is inoperable, as described above. A note on the wheels; I have no insurance or license on this car so I could not test these wheels on the road or highway. On my other Thunderbird, the Mustang wheels improved the driving of the car. But, that was going from one kind of 5 lug to another size of 5 lug. This was a bit different going from 4 lug to 5 lug. There might be great improvement in drivability on this car as well but I cannot confirm that improvement by driving around in a parking lot. I am selling this car at No Reserve. My starting bid is way below what I paid for the car. Furthermore, I paid $775 (with shipping) for these wheels. I should sell the wheels separately but after putting the wheels on this car and seeing the wheels improve the car so much, I just couldn’t take them back off. My loss equals your gain. I am starting this bid off at only $995 which is about the price of the wheels, adapter plates, lug nuts and body supplies and trim. I bought a new set of lug nuts today with the locking spline wrench. This does not mean that the car is only worth this amount of money but I just want to give everyone a chance to get a great buy on a solid, low mileage, very restorable car. Or, you can buy this and have fun driving it and tinkering and improving it as you use it for transportation. I have too many cars as it is and it is time to simplify my life. The other Thunderbird I now own has a more personal connection for me since I had it for my dad’s passing and it was the last car he rode in. Someone else needs to take this car to the next level. Please bid if you want this car and if you actually plan on honoring your bid. I am very honest about description and have probably said too many negative things about this car. I want you to have no disappointments but if you win the bid, I expect you to finish the transaction. Look at the pictures, bid to win and have some fun.