Wife's "new" $150 '95 Thunderbird...

[SplashMan]

Last night we picked up a 1995 Thunderbird for the wife. A guy at work had to get it out of his boss’s parking spot by this weekend, so I picked it up for $150. The reason we got it is because the B2 is starting to have problems and I have already thrown about $2000 into it. We decided this was a better investment, because it is newer and the wife can actually drive this. So, once this is up and running, I'm back in the Sploder and she has a T-Bird.

Now the bad... it needs a new trans, or at least this one repaired/rebuilt. It only has 1,2 and reverse right now. My wife's uncle also has a transmission mech friend that will give us a good deal on the tranny. Needs 4 new tires. The driver's seat is broke in the down position, the front bumper and hood are damaged from being run into a wooden fence while being parked. A full bra for it covers everything up though. The paint is sun damaged from it sitting out side in California for 6 months. It has 130,000 miles on it from trips to Cali and back to Chicago.

The good... IT WAS REAL CHEAP! The 4.6L runs and sounds perfect. No rust on the body. Interior is pretty nice except for some wear on the seats and a couple cig burns in the seats.

Once we get it too the house I'll take some pics. Anyone here have any info that would help me out with this thing? Info on the 4.6L and the trans would be nice. From what I have read and the few people I have talked too the 4.6L is a pretty reliable engine.

 

[EricCoolCats]

That has the 4R70W transmission...it may just be a sensor that's bad. Does the OD light flash at all when starting up the car? Or does it stay solid after starting?

For info...www.tccoa.com

Good score, BTW. I just stepped out of a 1988 Cougar V8 as a daily driver, and into a '98 Mountaineer V8. It's much better in the snow.

 

[SplashMan]

That has the 4R70W transmission...it may just be a sensor that's bad. Does the OD light flash at all when starting up the car? Or does it stay solid after starting?

For info...www.tccoa.com

Good score, BTW. I just stepped out of a 1988 Cougar V8 as a daily driver, and into a '98 Mountaineer V8. It's much better in the snow.

I have not got to drive it very far yet, but the OD light don't flash when it is first started...
I just registered at that site last night.

 

[EricCoolCats]

The first 4R70W's had a shift solenoid on the side of the trans that used to go bad...it's like a $30 part from the Ford dealer. Hopefully that's the problem. If not then it sounds like a rebuild or something is in order. Aw hell, for the price, you can't beat the deal though, very nice. Good luck!

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

good score 150 bucks....are you going to try to re-build this trans or splurge for a new or newer trans?

 

[HardTech]

My mom had a 96. 170k miles before we sold it to another family member. It only had to go into the tranny shop because well we had to pull a 17 foot boat with it from dallas to lake texoma. Needless to say, in its older years at the 150k mark it gave up. Started to slip. When we brought it into the tranny show, they guy looked at us very weird. He said hes only seen 3 thunderbirds come into the tranny shop, and the tranny was built extremely well. He didn’t understand how we destroyed it.

I don’t know if the 95 and 96 tranny was the same. But someone must have loved to push there car if it was. Although for 150 its not bad. We sold ours in mint condition (being used every day for 10 years so only a few battle scars from rocks only) for like 5k. So yeah good deal. Hope the wife likes it, they can be very reliable cars. The engine is tough as nails. Going on 11 years and its never burned one drop of oil

 

[SplashMan]

good score 150 bucks....are you going to try to re-build this trans or splurge for a new or newer trans?

It all depends on what the shop says. We have $1000 set aside to do what ever we need to when the time comes.

 

[SplashMan]

More pics...

 

[F14CRAZY]

Sounds like a great deal to me. My dad's E250 with the 4.6L has 215k miles and is still doing good.

Don't know if you or your wife smoke but it's going to take a lot of effort to get the smell out

 

[SplashMan]

I smoke, the wife don't. All it took was one steam cleaning to get the smoke smell out of the Explorer when she started driving it.

 

[Ford_Racing_Guy]

wow thats a pretty damn nice car for that price!

i bought my 95 for 6200, but then it was in great shape and everything worked.

but then it got smashed.

But i love my 1997 and i've just spotted another one for under 1000 that i might look into.

Enjoy that car once you work out the things.

 

[F14CRAZY]

I see. I should probably look into a steam cleaning for my GT. I've used my mom's Kirby Turbo attachment thing which does a good job but it still doesn't smell pleasant (not all exactly from smoke, but not sure what it is). It just generally smells bad

 

[SplashMan]

I see. I should probably look into a steam cleaning for my GT. I've used my mom's Kirby Turbo attachment thing which does a good job but it still doesn't smell pleasant (not all exactly from smoke, but not sure what it is). It just generally smells bad

The wife is real sensative to smoke smells since she used to be a smoker. When I cleaned the Explorer for her, I used Renuzit carpet cleaner first and it vacums up. Then I used our Hoover steam cleaner on it twice (I smoked in it for 3 years). Then sprayed Frebreez on it once it was dry and she came out real nice. I'm real picky about cleaning my vehicles so the T-Bird will be nice and clean when she starts driving her.

 

[F14CRAZY]

No decomposing french fries under the seat?

In my GT and the old Eddie I once had, I found some nasty stuff when first cleaning them. One of these days I'm gonna freak out when I buy a vehicle and find like a used condom under the seat