At $12,500, Is This 1993 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe A Super Bargain?

While Ford returned the T-Bird to form in the 1980s, it wasn't until the '90s edition that it was really allowed to flex. Today's Nice Price or No Dice SC has a supercharged engine and a five-speed manual, making it the best of the best. Let's see if the seller has set the best price.

Fear is a powerful emotion, driven by perceived or implied threats to one's safety and well-being. Triggered by the autonomic nervous system (ANS), fear can result in the "fight, flight, or freeze" response. That can be caused by any number of terrifying situations—a shark fin on the horizon while swimming, stumbling upon a back-alley circus clown, or the prospect of having to maintain a two-decade-old German car, being amongst the most butt-puckering.

That, along with a distaste for form over function, drove the discourse over the 2008 Mercedes-Benz CLS 550 we looked at on Monday. It had baby bear, not-too-much nor not-too-little mileage, and looked to be in pretty good condition for its $8,900 asking price. You all showed some metaphorical cajones by standing up to the daunting prospect of an out-of-warranty Benz, earning the CLS a narrow but solid 52% 'Nice Price' win.

Ford's Thunderbird personal coupe has played many a role over the years, but scary hasn't ever been one of them. Originally conceived as a two-seat convertible intending to do battle with Chevy's Corvette, the T-Bird didn't really take off until it was reimagined as a larger four-seater. Ford massaged the model across multiple generations, along the way bumping up the size, adding and then abandoning a four-door edition, and eventually shrinky-dinking the car in the '80s, creating a potent weapon for the NASCAR circuit. 

For the 1990s, Ford went all-in on creating what is arguably the best—or at least the most aspirational—Thunderbird ever. That model spanned the decade, selling nearly a million cars from 1989 to 1997. Ford then put the T-Bird nameplate on hiatus for five years before bringing it back in 2002 on a new model that revived both the styling and the two-seat layout of the first generation, which, as we noted, was less successful than the later four-seat models. Way to go, Ford!

This 1993 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe (SC) takes its naming appendage from the supercharger mounted atop its 3.8-liter Essex V6. That engine is so named because it was built at Ford's Essex plant in Ontario, Canada. A simple pushrod, two-valve-per-cylinder mill, the Essex V6 powered a lot of Fords in the '90s, as it could be mounted transversely or, as in the T-Bird's case, longitudinally. Naturally aspirated, it wasn't much to write home about, offering just about 140 horsepower. Given a blower, however, it made a respectable 210 horsepower and 315 pound-feet of torque. Exclusive to the T-Bird, the supercharged Essex gave the big coupe solid performance, a fact Ford acknowledged with chassis upgrades and special bodywork to let everyone know what was going on under the car's skirts.

This one, in Arrest-Me Red over a black interior with leather seating surfaces, rocks an amazingly low 55,000 miles and the desirable Mazda-derived five-speed manual transmission. Other elements unique to the SC include lower body cladding, vented disc brakes all around, a limited-slip differential, and performance-tuned Tokico shocks and struts. The SC also saw a bump in wheel diameter, being fitted with model-unique 16-inch alloys while the lesser models had to make do with 15s. Originally silver, those on this car have been plasti-dipped black, but the seller advises that the coating is easily removable.

According to the ad, this T-Bird has been babied its whole life, never having seen snow, and only occasionally getting caught out in the rain. It's also been well-maintained, or so the seller says. Recent work includes replacement of the belts, engine mounts, crank position sensor, battery, and fluids. At present, the car is said to run and drive "great."

It's not all Peaches and Herb, though. The seller admits to a couple of minor flaws on the car, including some broken clips on the maintenance reminder in the dash, cracked boots on the front suspension's upper control arms, and an AM/FM/cassette stereo that appears to be haunted.

Craigslist

Other than those minor afflictions, this big Bird seems to be in excellent shape. The paint still pops, and the headlamps appear free of any clouding. While the seller admits that the black wheels may not be everybody's jam, they at least appear clean and unmarred by curb encounters.

Things are similarly tidy in the cabin, with the only downsides being that wonky maintenance reminder in the dash and the mechanical mouse seatbelts, mandated by the Feds when the car was new. Everything else looks good, and the back bench appears to have never been sat in.

Prospective buyers for this SC should be advised of the car's clean title and that it comes with a complete wardrobe, comprising a car cover and a bra. It's also representative of a type of car—the large personal coupe—that just isn't a popular ride these days. That might make finding a buyer a tough row to hoe for the seller. So, too, might be the $12,500 asking price.

What's your opinion on this Thunderbird and that price tag? Does that feel fair given the car's presentation, low mileage, and the fact that this is one of the best Birds out there? Or does that asking steal its thunder?

You decide!

Richmond, Virginia Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Michael Brown for the hookup!

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