I know where there's a 35th Anniversary Thunderbird SC....

**Terminated** · 08-06-2011, 10:21 AM

...and it's rotting away into the earth and needs to be saved.

I caught this car out of the corner of my eye about 2 years ago sitting in an old body shop parking lot in Beltzhoover. I was able to track down the owner of the car who said he bought it in Arizona, drove it here, then parked it and didn't do anything with it. He got me in touch with the lot owner and I went to check it out as I was interested in buying it and fixing it.

The car is a 1990 35th anniversary (Black over Titanium) and has all the 35th anniversary designations, except for the two rear wheels (vandals). It is a stick car, the more rare option and, out of 3,371 built, I think manuals are 800 or so of them.

The front windsheild has been broken where the inspection stickers are, so there has been some water leaking into the car and it has been sitting for 5 years. Who knows what toll this has taken under the carpets and along the firewalll, but aside from that the car is very very clean. The reason for this is that it has 40,000 original miles on it.

It really is a shame for me to drive by it all the time and see it rottting away, but I don't have anywhere to put it. I have the owners contact info, I'm sure he would come up off of it pretty cheap.

I know some of you guys have a bunch of storage space and this could be a really cool project. If anyone is interested let me know and I can point you in the right direction and get you in touch with the owner.

Dan

**PaceFever79** · 08-06-2011, 11:47 AM

I'd be interested for a drivetrain swap for my 90 Cougar.

Any idea what they are asking for it?

**Terminated** · 08-15-2011, 12:19 PM

The infamous "make an offer." I was thinking of going no more than $500 on it but, like I said, I don't have a place to put it.

**PaxtonShelby** · 08-17-2011, 12:47 AM

They are neat cars - ride nice - but they have a lot of problems...

They are very prone to head gasket failure. And rust - the floors really go bad. And the biggie is the mechanical ABS system - I think it is called the Teves Mk IV system. If it goes bad - and they all go bad - it'll run you well over $1000 to get it working again if you go with the original style system. Or you can forego the ABS and replace the ENORMOUS master cylinder/accumulator/pump assembly with a Crown Vic master cylinder and a NON-SC-TBird brake booster assembly. Been there done that. Also - the supercharged 3.8 is not impressive power-wise. Gas mileage - worse than a pushrod 5.0. Then there are the awful door-mounted automatic seat belts. Lastly - they are worse in the snow than a fat chick on a frictionless surface.

I've seen pristine, low mileage examples sell for around $4k - and that is basically for a show car.

Don't get me wrong - I liked the '89 that I had. Even though it stranded me and the brake system took a dump, for some reason I just liked it. It had a nice look to it, especially after I ditched the stock SC rims and put on a set of Cobra R-style rims with the 5 x 4.125 bolt pattern. But it just had to go - after 6 LONG months...over two of which it was in the shop while we chased down electrical gremlins and swapped out that bastard of an ABS system...

My advice??? RUN DANNY!!!! RUUNNNNNN!!!!

**Terminated** · 08-17-2011, 09:15 AM

Originally Posted by PaxtonShelby

They are neat cars - ride nice - but they have a lot of problems...

They are very prone to head gasket failure. And rust - the floors really go bad. And the biggie is the mechanical ABS system - I think it is called the Teves Mk IV system. If it goes bad - and they all go bad - it'll run you well over $1000 to get it working again if you go with the original style system. Or you can forego the ABS and replace the ENORMOUS master cylinder/accumulator/pump assembly with a Crown Vic master cylinder and a NON-SC-TBird brake booster assembly. Been there done that. Also - the supercharged 3.8 is not impressive power-wise. Gas mileage - worse than a pushrod 5.0. Then there are the awful door-mounted automatic seat belts. Lastly - they are worse in the snow than a fat chick on a frictionless surface.

I've seen pristine, low mileage examples sell for around $4k - and that is basically for a show car.

Don't get me wrong - I liked the '89 that I had. Even though it stranded me and the brake system took a dump, for some reason I just liked it. It had a nice look to it, especially after I ditched the stock SC rims and put on a set of Cobra R-style rims with the 5 x 4.125 bolt pattern. But it just had to go - after 6 LONG months...over two of which it was in the shop while we chased down electrical gremlins and swapped out that bastard of an ABS system...

My advice??? RUN DANNY!!!! RUUNNNNNN!!!!

OHHH you're not telling me anything new... I owned a 90 SC as my first car (hence the "I needed a new RWD S/C'd Ford in my sig). and I had a run in with the brake system needing work, some of it being my fault and some of it being the shop who didn't know WTF they were doing.

I owned it 4 years, it was my daily for 3, and I'd say at least 15 of those 36 months I didn't actually drive it because it was being worked on for some reason or another.

However, when it did run, man I loved driving that car. Up over 110, it would just hug the road and cruise.

**PaceFever79** · 08-17-2011, 09:44 AM

I'll jump in and say, I like my 90 Cougar LS. It drives and handles good, much better
than you might expect. I think they got the ride / handling compromise with this IRS
chassis (for the era). It's a good looking car. Someday mine will get a mild EFI 351w
swap. That will make it the perfect luxury/sport cruiser.

That's an overlooked future classic!

**Terminated** · 08-17-2011, 10:15 AM

I'm all about driving future classics that are quirky and unreliable! Knock on wood this Mustang has the Ford bugs knocked out of it!

**PaceFever79** · 08-17-2011, 10:37 AM

Quarky isn't always a bad thing, reliable is a matter of maintenance.

Take those automatic seat belts. No doubt they are a flashback to the past.. But they
actually have a driver benefit too, the zero pressure tension system makes them very
comfortable compared to the constant pressure of a sprung tension system. They will
be something that makes the car unique as a collector.

And the car really does handle good for a heavy luxury sport car.

I realize the Cougar is a compromise, but I like it!

It just needs the EFI 351 upgrade!

**Terminated** · 08-17-2011, 10:43 AM

No I agree, it was well worth the hassle. Was neat to see the gadgetry they had when the car was built, like the monitoring system, the ride control, the seat belts, etc.

Plus I love the styling, so smooth and sleek, still is, 20 years later!

**PaceFever79** · 08-17-2011, 10:45 AM

Another cool feature is a very well designed digital dash (for the era)

**PaxtonShelby** · 08-17-2011, 11:51 AM

Sorry - but those automatic seat belts were, are, and always will be AFWUL.

The SC Birds didn't have a digital dash, at least in the '89-'90 years - maybe that's a Cougar thing?

The head gasket issue isn't a maintenance issue - the SC'd 3.8s are famous for going through them.

They do ride nice though and handle relatively well - I'll give you that. And styling wise, they are great-looking cars. But unless the car has been babied from day one I don't think it's a good idea to pick one up, as you will have issues ( unless you are extremely lucky ) if you choose to use it as a daily driver.

**Terminated** · 08-17-2011, 12:09 PM

I got lucky with the HG's in mine, even at 131k when I sold it.

However it didhave leaky valve cover gaskets from day 1, but never enough for me to worry about it. I was the 3rd owner of mine and was able to contact the original owner of the car who bought it new locally and traded it in at Cochran in Monroeville. He said he took it on a road trip to Arizona and back, crazy!

**PaceFever79** · 08-17-2011, 12:13 PM

The digital dash was an option on LS/Xr7 Cougars.

True, the 3.8 has poor head bolt design. They tend to go bad every 50-70k miles. But
I think head gaskets are also just a big boost thing. Plenty of SC 5.0 blow gaskets too.
I put a set in my 3.8, took me 8 hours. No big deal.

I'm the original owner of my 90 cougar, it has 78k miles. Though it hasn't been a daily
driver for many years. The only problem we ever had with it was that one head gasket
failure around 70k miles (it blew this year). I kept the car around and many other cars
have come and gone. I just like the way it drives.