Faults:

Replaced water pump.

Replaced Thermostat.

Work done on turbo.

Replaced most of the hoses.

Replaced the head gasket as well as many other gaskets and seals.

Work done on rear end.

Replaced headliner.

Leaks/burns oil. It requires about a half quart of oil every two weeks or so.

The exhaust rusted out at the muffler connection, so I hack-sawed it off. It's now kind of loud and dumps right before the rear axle. It's all good though, because I could never get tired of hearing the turbo spool up.

Small amounts of surface rust at the bottoms of the doors.

To be honest, there are probably more things that were necessary that I'm forgetting.

General Comments:

I bought this car with my own hard earned money just a few months after turning 15. It sat in someone's garage for about 8 years, being driven very sparingly. For this reason a lot of seals, hoses, and gaskets had gone bad. To make a long story short, over the two and a half years I've owned it, the car has had around $4000 in work done on it. I bought it for $2000 which was probably a little high, but to me it was completely worth it. This car and I have shared so many memories that the money put into it isn't even important.

The car is not necessarily fast, while it's not too slow. The handling is somewhat mushy, but not too bad for the big boat that it is. I found out that the dependable old engine could not take an excess of boost, but no real problems because of it. The 3speed auto without OD doesn't do any good for the gas mileage, although it doesn't really do too bad. On average the car gets about 17-19 mpg.

I now drive a '97 Z28, and in comparison to the Turbo Coupe it's miles ahead. I still own the thunderbird and drive it in bad weather, and plan on taking it to college with me when I go. After college, and once I've got the money, the Tbird will become a drag/street car project for my dad and I to work on. I can't wait.

For me, the sentimental value is much more important than the car's monetary value.

Faults:

-rear window defroster and air conditioning was not working when I bought it.

-LCD dash display was very dim, so I never knew how fast I was going.

-leaked and burned oil.

-radiator leaked

-some electrical problems when battery acid got into a relay.

General Comments:

-My first car, and my first love

-Interior was very roomy and comfortable

-The battery acid thing was my fault for failing to secure the battery correctly

-The over-heating problem was my fault too because I was putting water only, not anti-freeze

-had wonderful acceleration especially going uphill.

-we saw some wonderful sights in California and Mexico together. I treated it right and it treated me right. Very dependable.

Faults:

The transmission died when I let it run dry, I learned an expensive lesson by never checking the fluid.

The only other things I replaced on the car where the general tune-up items and things I wanted to change for my own pleasure.

(K&N air filter, high performance spark plugs, high performance wires, high performance ignition coil,

Flo-master type exhaust system)

General Comments:

The 1983-86 Thunderbird coupe is one of my favorite cars. I have owned 20+ cars. I have recently bought my 3rd Tbird. I drove this car everyday, everywhere until someone turned directly in front of me, causing a T-bone collision and totaled the car.

This car had plenty of power after adding some minor medications that everyone should add to their car to improve fuel economy.

The interior is very comfortable and well laid out, and the car is very responsive. This made the car a joy to drive. I found this car to be very reliable if you treat it well and don't beat her hard.

Hence, I put more miles on the Tbirds than any other American vehicle that I have owned. These include a Lincoln, Caddy, 2 Impalas, 4 Ford trucks, 2 Buicks, Camaro, Grand-Am, Firebird, even 2 Dodges, 3 Thunderbirds, and a few imports that I don't care to name.