Pics of NICOmom's ride...

[krazy skwerel]

We all know it's by my amazing power over weather that the clouds are gathering good sir. I mean you see how I am making the gestures to bring forth the thunder. If you make reference to the fact that your car is a Thunderbird I will be very disapointed in such a horrid pun.

[AZhitman]

Adam, you amaze me.

Must be the plaid shirt and the Dennis the Menace haircut.

[Mr1der]

We all know it's by my amazing power over weather that the clouds are gathering good sir. I mean you see how I am making the gestures to bring forth the thunder. If you make reference to the fact that your car is a Thunderbird I will be very disapointed in such a horrid pun.

you tard, the Thunderbird is a mythological giant bird that is usually spotted (heh, I think the're real too actually) riding on the winds of large storms.

Hence the name Thunderbird.

and my car happens to be a Thunderbird, and you sure as hell ain't Thor.

[Jesda]

BAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!

[Bubba1]

Hmmm I thought Ford's definition of "thunderbird" was an big rattling overweight fowl full of gas. j/k

[Megaseth]

actually, it started out as a corvette killer. but after they added two more seats, THATS when it became a big rattling overweight fowl full of gas.

[Mr1der]

oh yeah, the 70's!

well, 60's too really, when it got the extra seats it kinda became a family convertible sporty car thing...

[AZhitman]

1962.

The Bullet Bird owns all.

[Mr1der]

I'm kinda partial to the late 60s with the 429 in it....

big car but cool in the Monte Carlo kinda way.

oh, and those damn turbo coupes...the motor is said to be rather a pain in the *** and exspensive, but there's an **** load of 9 second cars running around.

[Bubba1]

I'd say pretty that pretty much applies to ALL T-birds after 1957.I agree the 62 was sharpest of the post 1957's. It's a shame what Ford did to the T-bird and Couga. The Couger name got slapped on what shoulda been the next pathetic Probe. And the retro looking LS based T-bird was nicely styled but poorly executed.

[Megaseth]

arent they pullng the T-Bird because sales suck. i think the main crowd they got was older golfers and retirees.

[Bubba1]

Clearly bad sales. I think Ford badly misjudged the baby-boomers that they were targeting. They were replicating the look of the 55-57 Bird when it was more of a sports car. Unfortuantely the new bird did not turn out to remotely sporty. It's more like a Crown Vic than a sports car. Who the heck wants a car that looks like a sports car, and handles like a Crown Vic? Answer - very few.

In hindsight, I believe if Ford had put that nice T-bird body onto a mustang chassis and dropped in a big ol' V-8, instead of a luxury car platform (LS) and priced it $5K above the mustang, they'd be breaking sales records. Car makers make a lotta mistakes. The newest T-bird was a classic blunder.

[Mr1der]

I'd say pretty that pretty much applies to ALL T-birds after 1957.I agree the 62 was sharpest of the post 1957's. It's a shame what Ford did to the T-bird and Couga. The Couger name got slapped on what shoulda been the next pathetic Probe. And the retro looking LS based T-bird was nicely styled but poorly executed.

personally, after the 57, I like the MN12 the best. It just has a more menacing yet graceful look to it.

the Supercoupe being the best of the breed from the body style.

the chassis design is very nice, stock form pulls .85g on the lateral.

if I had a lot of money, I'd be tempted to get one with a grenaded motor and swap in a Mod motor and a T 56.

the Mod motor would be whistling at passerbys of course.

my interior and sunroof kinda suck though. the dash design and fitment definitely leaves things to be desired, as does the notchy as hell manual transmission. Oh, it's got doors similar to the evil 3rd gen camaro in the sense that they start sagging after killing the bushings in the hinges, they're also similar in the sense that to have it properly fixed, it requires new hinges and that's pretty damn lame. There are however aftermarket kits where in you use an F150's hinge pin and some bushings to repair it, which I'll probably do soon being the kit is a mere 25 dollars. The 6 way power seats in the front are rather nice and hold you well when they're not broken, I blame this on retarded previous owners that knew not how to get into a car with such seats properly and broke the bolster supports (granted, they're plastic, but still, you just don't *** ram the damn things...)

motorwise, it's not a powerhouse in HP with 210 factory but it does step up with 315ft lbs of fun. You'll hear people complain about them being hard to fix and peices of junk, well, that's because it's either an idiot or well, someone that's new to the cars. The most common killer is the headgaskets, Ford was cheap, they really cut too many corners on the car and it really could've been awesome instead of merely good. The DIS is what will usually leave people with it stuck not moving. it can be a rather annoying creation if you don't know what to do with it. Luckily, I've gone through trial and error with all but one component of the system! (crank sensor, so I'll probably bet on it to be the next problem I get, well, that or the horrid shape of my suspension bushings.) Oh, gaining more power is an exspensive process being there's few suppliers of aftermarket power. A better exhaust for a 2 1/2 or 3 inch system is about 700 and ditto for headers, well, on headers it's probably about right, but the exhaust...yikes, it's necessary if I really wanna get into power too, being it's the ugliest thing I've seen on the underside of a car (another Ford "hey, it can't be faster then the Mustang" trick). It also uses the dreaded M90 for a supercharger, while being what I consider one hell of a supercharger for everyday reliability and usage, it's not very efficient in power making. (there are some guys putting together a 1.7litre whipple kit for it though, as opposed to the 1.5 roots I've got stock.)

Suspension wise, it's 4 wheel independent. Similar to some luxury and sport cars of the day, it's got an "adjustable" ride control on the gas shocks.(just two modes though, auto-soft ride for normal driving, dive in too fast or brake and accellerate hard and it changes to firm or just straight up firm) There are upgraded shocks for this, Tokicko Illumina maybe, I can't remember then off the top of my head, some people say they suck though. Or you can convert it to some manually adjustable. Lowering springs and bigger sway bars can be had too as well as urethane bushing kits (gonna get some before too long)

The brakes can be upgraded with KVR big brake kits courtesy http://www.supercoupeperformance.com but for my year, I've gotta change out the front spindle due to a tab that's engineered to help hold the caliper on and will prohibit the use of bigger rotors.

anything else you'd like me to forcefully learn you on an SC?

Mine also has the cool JBL premium audio package that Jesda had commented before on a Lincoln MKVIII (cool cars, use the same chassis, different suspension set up though via air bags. And they only made them in autos, pretty sad in the case of the 32 Valve Intech aka Modular motor)

yeah, the new Bird is getting canned due to sales, Ford really ****ed that one up, for the price, it really should've gone back to it's roots and gunned for the Vette.

I feel the LS chassis would've been fine, I woulda used a larger bore version of the Cobra's ever lovin' Modular motor though stuck to a T56:D and made a hardtop version.

The Mustang chassis just isn't a corvette contender, though the Cobra with tweaking could be, but hell, the LS is really a nice design and the new Stang is using a chassis based on it.

I think the current 4.1 (I think that's what the little squirt was...) only put out around 245 or so horsepower too. Hell, I can't even remember if it had a manual gearbox either. With a good design team, I coulda had ideas to make it better and some real competion. Honestly, Ford doesn't really have anything to go head to head with the Vette. Though they really need something to go after the Miata, all they gotta do is make a small 2 seat droptop and put the 2.0 Zetec in the right way....

maybe the USDM will wake up...well, mainly Ford, GM and DXM are getting their act together slowly but surely. Though they don't have Ferrari competition:D We'll see how well the forcefed overgrown mod motor beast will do against the pony soon though.

why the hell did I type that much about Thunderbirds?

[krazy skwerel]

you tard, the Thunderbird is a mythological giant bird that is usually spotted (heh, I think the're real too actually) riding on the winds of large storms.

Hence the name Thunderbird.

and my car happens to be a Thunderbird, and you sure as hell ain't Thor.

How the hell am I retarded? I know what a damned thunderbird is man. I said if you point out that your car is a thunderbird that I would would be disapointed. Oh no! I didn't cover every aspect of it and only said it would be a pun! That surely makes me mentally challenged. What ever shall I do!:rolleyes

Also Hitman if I'm Dennis the menace then that makes you Mr. Wilson

[Mr1der]

your days are numbered Hall!

[AZhitman]

Pound him, big fella.

[Bubba1]

1der, before you discount the mustink chassis, remember Rousch and Saleen build corvette killers using mustang components.It;s a shame what a poor job Ford did with the T-bird. Great idea, nice styling, poor execution.

[Megaseth]

rousch and saleen also upgrade the poop outta the suspension to get that way. comparing a roush/saleen to a GT is like comparing an apple to a jalapaneo.

[Mr1der]

1der, before you discount the mustink chassis, remember Rousch and Saleen build corvette killers using mustang components.It;s a shame what a poor job Ford did with the T-bird. Great idea, nice styling, poor execution.

yeah, to get my attention though, it'd have to use the cobra chassis.

solid axle :puke