1988 Thunderbird from Sweden

June 28, 2012, 06:34:32 AM

Hello!
I've been lurking around here for years but never really posted my car.
Thought I can do it today when I got some pics of it.
Got it street legal today and it's fantastic!
Me and my father have been restoring it for a few years now, started out as a rusty wreck pretty much. Had been stolen once and so on.
Alot of thanks to my father for being the best father ever

But today it looks like this.

The armrests has been taken off for some repairs.

And videos

Exhaust video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sID7V-7BJ2Y

Exhaust video, some of the engine bay and interior etc. And a little revving
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ieZg80Ce21I

The engine has some goodies in it, Mustang H.O manifold, ported heads, cammed, followed by a mildly prepped AOD tranny, Mustang 8.8 rearend which we've made wider to fit the car (everyone shortens rearends, we do it the other way :D) with 3.55 gearing and ofcoursed it's got a real differential in it.
Shorty headers with 2½" home made exhaust, magnaflow cats and flowmaster lers. All stainless steel ofcourse.
Sitting on 16" American Racing wheels with Mickey Thompson tires in the rear.
It's actually painted in our garage which I shall mention. Lots of work before and after and it's simply great. You can't tell it's painted in a garage.

While I'm at it, I can show you my dads Thunderbird too. If you're intersted (ofcourse you are) :)

It's got a 347" in it, T56 transmission, 9" rearend with 4.10 gearing and a Detroit locker.
Don't know all facts about it but the car is a blast.

And we've also got some other stuffs like 3 Lincoln Mark Viii's, Mercury Grand Marquis, whippled '03 10th anni etc.
But the fox bodies are the cars I'm posting because it's simply great cars :)

Hope you like them! :)
More pics will come, have to get a photoshoot with both my dads T-bird and mine together. And also with our 3 Lincolns :)

1988 Thunderbird from Sweden

Reply #1 – June 28, 2012, 07:40:54 AM

wow, both are stunning cars.

are they very common over there?

1988 Thunderbird from Sweden

Reply #2 – June 28, 2012, 09:48:36 AM

Welcome aboard. It looks like you and your Dad have some very nice rides! Any more pics of the 60's model T-bird?

1988 Thunderbird from Sweden

Reply #3 – June 28, 2012, 09:52:16 AM

Great cars, both of them. Thank you for posting them.

I imagine it is more difficult to piece them together over there. Very nice work.

1988 Thunderbird from Sweden

Reply #4 – June 28, 2012, 10:18:32 AM

Very nice! I like them both!

1988 Thunderbird from Sweden

Reply #5 – June 28, 2012, 11:39:35 AM

look real nice man! both of them!

1988 Thunderbird from Sweden

Reply #6 – June 28, 2012, 01:07:14 PM

Awesome! With emphasis on the "awesome" part. lol

Pssst...lower your Bird a little...looks like mine did before I put '97 Mustang springs under it

1988 Thunderbird from Sweden

Reply #7 – June 28, 2012, 01:38:27 PM

I remember a picture or two of your car with a gran marquis a while back. Its good to see its still around.

1988 Thunderbird from Sweden

Reply #8 – June 28, 2012, 01:51:03 PM

Sweet Ride! Probably a nice change from all the opel's volvo's and saab's haha

1988 Thunderbird from Sweden

Reply #9 – June 28, 2012, 05:59:21 PM

Quote from: EFFalcon;393348

wow, both are stunning cars.

are they very common over there?

There are a few but no, not very common. Fox Mustangs are more common though which isn't very hard to calculate why.

Quote from: 50tbrd88;393354

Welcome aboard. It looks like you and your Dad have some very nice rides! Any more pics of the 60's model T-bird?

Cheers mate :)
Uhm, no I don't have any pics of it. It's not our, it's a friend of my dads car.

Quote from: mcb82gt;393355

Great cars, both of them. Thank you for posting them.

I imagine it is more difficult to piece them together over there. Very nice work.

We have our ways of getting the things shipped over here. But yeah, it takes some time so every order must be quite large :)

Quote from: 1Bad88tbird;393359

Very nice! I like them both!

Quote from: stangman_1987;393361

look real nice man! both of them!

Thanks to both of you :)

Quote from: ThunderbirdSport302;393363

Awesome! With emphasis on the "awesome" part. lol

Pssst...lower your Bird a little...looks like mine did before I put '97 Mustang springs under it :P

Cheers mate! Appriciate it!
And sorry, no. Wont lower it. I love the muscle car style with the car at original height. Looks neat with big tires on it :) Definetly my style. If you check my fathers car, he's gone a different route and the car is a pain in the ass to drive over speedbumps :)

Quote from: Haystack;393367

I remember a picture or two of your car with a gran marquis a while back. Its good to see its still around.

That's pretty cool of you remembering that.
Yes the Marquis is still along and looks exactly the same as it's ever done :)
But it's abit in the shadow now with all of the Lincoln Mark Viii's :D

Quote from: FirstBird;393369

Sweet Ride! Probably a nice change from all the opel's volvo's and saab's haha

It sure is!
I'm so incredibly sick of seeing Saab's and Volvos :D See them everywhere! And they're not even close to being good looking either xD

1988 Thunderbird from Sweden

Reply #10 – June 28, 2012, 07:32:18 PM

Both cars are nice, although I am sort of partial to the 66 Bird in the one pic, is that yours also? I know a guy in Sweden that I have helped on many occassions get parts for his 74 Bird

1988 Thunderbird from Sweden

Reply #11 – June 28, 2012, 07:59:53 PM

Quote from: Dansbirds;393390

Both cars are nice, although I am sort of partial to the 66 Bird in the one pic, is that yours also? I know a guy in Sweden that I have helped on many occassions get parts for his 74 Bird

Cheers mate! :)
It's not ours. I do like it, the best looking year during the 60's. Belongs to a friend of my father. The interior is faaar faaaar gone in that one. Been leaking water for decades + mice. But it's got a restored engine and transmission.
I like that car.
But it's a good example of what we call "export car" or "america restored". It's painted, barely. The windscreen wipers are also green, not a single trim has been taken off the car during the repaint, looks like they've only put one coat of color and they havn't even sanded it before painting.
It's terrible. But the car is rust free which is absolutley great!

1988 Thunderbird from Sweden

Reply #12 – June 28, 2012, 08:19:52 PM

so that's YOU with that 347 TBird! I commented on a couple of your youtube vids. Car hauls man, nice work. Loving it all the way from Canada

1988 Thunderbird from Sweden

Reply #13 – June 28, 2012, 08:29:45 PM

Quote from: 23027;393397

so that's YOU with that 347 TBird! I commented on a couple of your youtube vids. Car hauls man, nice work. Loving it all the way from Canada

The videos are uploaded on my friends channel though.
I tried replying back to you when you had a few questions, didn't work and I totally forgot about it :D Sorry about that mate

I can answer you now, even though you might have gotten a few questions answered. The purple one (my dads) is a sport coupe painted with a purple color that's actually from Mazda.
The red one (mine) is an LX.

The videos if others are interested (both are of my dads bird) with me behind the wheel both times.
[video=youtube;bdhTQf72j1k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdhTQf72j1k[/video]
[video=youtube;xPiLQ5pwO-U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPiLQ5pwO-U[/video]

It's a bitch to get it rolling, especially when the wheel is turned abit. Detroit locker and cheramic clutch aint the best but hey, it's lovely! You really have to work the car to drive it, keeps you busy at all times :)

1988 Thunderbird from Sweden

Reply #14 – June 29, 2012, 06:29:47 PM

I can double post with a little video from today.
My father wanted me to take his T-bird for a spin (first of the season) so we just put a fresh battery in it and me and a mate went out with it abit :)
So here's the result after a small playtime. Rain and wet I know it's cheating but hey, that was the weather forecast for today

Went a little easy on the girl, nothing special really :)
[video=youtube;o4bb4__92bk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4bb4__92bk&feature=player_embedded#![/video]