I love these old motorweek reviews, it brings back a lot of memories of me watching these shows as a kid on Saturdays. while a lot of kids were watching cartoons, I was watching motorweek!
SteelCity1981 Ha! Me Too! I owned the white one with a 5 Speed and T tops, watched this when it was aired... made a goal, achieved it, then sold the car to a friend...
I cant get enough of this channel. Being in my late 30's these were the cars of my childhood and teen years..with our family having more than a few of them. Its great to see these cars being reviewed brand new instead of the sad demise some of them end up in.
500erider on a 1987 model 18 pounds of boost was all you could do safely. Never seen any try 30 unless aftermarket. you could get around 6 to 7 hp per pound of boost. 30 pounds would require head work etc. but would be nice lol
I am one of those kids from a small town growing up. The Thunderbird with the wire wheels and tan color was a dream of mine at 16. Always being an old soul, on Friday night I would drive around and go to the car dealerships instead of driving around town and circling the sonic that was a right of passage for teens. I remember them having a 17000 sticker price. I hit up every dealership, especially the Ford dealership for the Thunderbird and Cadillac dealership. I never wanted a sports car, I wanted a wonderful big car. These videos bring back wonderful memories.
Holy Shnikees! My grandfather had one of these, but the Turbo Coupe. He loved it. It was black on black, with lots of red trim. It looked cool in the early 90s, and it still looks cool now.
@@Busymouseanimations my father had a white one, and had some guy that worked on cars up the boost on the turbo (I think they messed with the wastegate spring). It went through a ton of alternators and eventually my brother crashed it, but it was a fun car
I just love this channel! I used to watch this on PBS every Sunday morning. My first newer car was an 1988 mustang GT 5 speed, black, which i got in 90. Those were the days...
In 1988 I was 19 and my dad and I went to a Ford dealer...I ordered a brand new 88 GT in red with Grey interior. Amazing out the door with all options was only $13200. While we were there he saw the Turbo coupe in light Sandlewood. He traded his 86 RX7 in and walked out with it. Great memories.
I still have my 88 Thunderbird. Bought it almost 20 years ago. Originally a 5 liter car, I swapped in a 5 speed T5 manual transmission. Then eventually swapped out the low output 5.0 in favor of a Cobra 5.0. Also added turbo coupe hood and header panel, turbo coupe disc brake rear end, and larger mustang front brakes.
Great retro reviews. I remember my friend taking me for a ride in his brothers new 87 LX 5.0L 5spd and it was crazy fast back then. His brother also owned a 78 Trans Am and we were surprised when he said the mustang would blow the doors off the Pontiac. I later bought a 90 Mustang GT in '89 and then traded it in on a new '90 LX 5.0L notchback. Good times.
I remember the first time I saw an ‘87 Turbo Coupe and thinking how badass it looked. So sleek, so sinister, ha! Ford got the looks right on these cars, that’s for sure. This version of the Mustang hits its stride in the late 1980s!
I currently drive a 1987 turbo coupe, with 84k original miles, completely stock and no dents or dings. Everything works great. Was offered $40k for it. Dont want to sell it. Love driving it.
Brian Wunder it worth less than a quarter of that u could of bought 4 just like the one u got lmao stop lieing u added a 0 or u typed it wrong lmao Jack as
In 98 I got myself a 1988 thunderbird / light blue with 20k on it with a blown engine / ( got it 4 $3500 ) n I had picked up an 1987 cougar XR7 with a 5.0l Ho for an engine swap ( kept the V6 tranny & diff ) and used the XR7 rims after sanding and painting the inside light blue ;; after the swap it was very fast n powerful ( use to spin both 50 series bfs on the back had 60's on the front ( fast and very easy on gas ) a car I wish I had today
Right at the 2:00 mark you can hear that classic cell phone interference coming through the audio channels. must of been the guy's old brick size Nokia cell, when he converted all this from tape to digital... ooh that sound. can you hear that sound? lol
If you ever come across an old Turbo Coupe in a junk yard get all the internals and turbo. You can fit them on a 4-cylinder early 2000 Rangers and have a fast ass truck and it pretty much all bolt on.
I used to have an '87 and an '88 Turbo Coupe. Those are fantastic cars! Both of mine were 5-speeds. I loved the turbo 4-banger and electronic adjustable suspension. I usually kept mine set to "firm" most of the time. I really miss them.
Chris Haywood- I had an '85 Turbo Coup and an '87 Turbo coup. The '85 was an auto the '87 5 sp. I'm with you, I loved both and couldn't understand why they didn't sell more. The '85 pulled higher boost, 18 psi and people will not believe me but was faster than the '87. Bought a 91 SC and it was nice but the '85 was my fav. Remember they also had variable power steering, stiff at speed and easy for parking.
u2mister1 cool sounds like you liked the setup what did think of the electric powered hydraulic brakes? I’ve got the bendix 9 and so far I love it but then again I like manual brake feed back feeling so I think it’s a good compromise if anything
Very cool! I owned two 1988 Thunderbird turbo coupes as well as an 1985.5 Mustang SVO. All were upgraded with larger exhaust and 18 psi of boost. Although the SVO was the rarer of the two, I really enjoyed the Turbo coupe. Now the turbo coupe is getting hard to find and the SVO is a unicorn. BTW, that little 2.3 liter turbo mated to the 5 speed with a simple exhaust upgrade and an adjustable boost controller would run with V-8's all day long and even whip quite a few of them.
Interesting. I am really seriously considering a build. I live in Maine and haven"t seen any T-birds and was thinking swap a 347 into one and doing some touring, but it would be tits to have a 400 hp pinto motor, lol.
vegasfordguy same here. $8 boost valve and two way vacuum t. That thing embarrassed my friend's 1989 Corvette everytime. Even had better braking than that Vette.
I've always loved the T-Bird Turbo Coupes, especially the 1987-88 model years due to the higher horsepower, the addition of an intercooler, and the four wheel anti-lock disc brakes. These cars were once underappreciated, but recently, the Turbo Coupe and later model SC T-Bird's from 1989-95 has had some sort of interest among collectors now due to the rising appreciation of performance cars from the 80's and 90's.
Growing up I got the pleasure to experience the turbo coupes. My best friends mom had two! I think she had a red 84, and a blue 86. My buddy beat the snot out of them! Lol. She also had a turbo EXP. For that era, they were impressive! Especially after coming from the early 80s smog years!!!
I just picked up an 88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe this weekend with 42k miles and a 5 speed. It’s a one owner all original bone stock survivor that is virtually new inside and out! I will have a tour on my channel soon.
Thank you so much , I love this motor week review ... I feel Americana watching this .... a such time warp, great show I love it !!!! Thank white hatchback Fox body is gorgeous.
Had a 86 Cougar XR7 Turbo Coup. Essentially the same car. That was an amazing car well ahead of its time. Drove like a dream. One of our favorite cars.
I bought an 87 turbo coupe in 2002 insanely high miles but ran and shifted like a champ, the specs were not the best but it was a blast to drive. The car was built like a tank.
After seeing this and reading magazines of the day I waited till 89 for the new mass air flow system vs the speed density system of the 87-88 models! I was stationed in Germany 🇩🇪 ordering mine from the PX,, I wasn’t disappointed ❤❤ I miss my baby she was stolen in Philly, never seen her again 😢😢😢😢
Loved the beak look. It was very unique and suite for something that is called a bird. Also that styling had gm saying that looks good because they were stopping the boxy, chrome metal bumper cars they were making during this time.
I owned a Gray 1987. I really enjoyed that car. At the time it was so innovative. The ABS was great and the soft ride was awesome. Wasn’t a burner, very heavy car, but it was fun to drive to high school. One of my fav birds ever.
I loved these cars when they came out, but couldn't afford one. However, in the late 90's they were dirt cheap. I ended up buying one from a junkyard for $400, taking it apart, and sending the body to be painted. While the car was getting the paint done, the junkyard got in another one which had only 9000 miles on it. I took out the entire interior and driveline, and swapped it into my high-mileage car. Once completed, it was a great car. I swapped out the little IHI turbo for a bigger T3, put in a better exhaust, and managed to swap in a vane air meter and computer from an 85 SVO Mustang. With these mods, my car could compete against the 5.0 Mustangs. I got rid of the car when I bought a new Jeep.
That Thunderbird Turbo Coupe looks nice and modern. It could be a cool experiment to install the 2019 Mustang’s 2.3 turbo engine, 10 speed transmission and differential. Will be great at stoplights runs!!
My first car was an '87 GT 5speed.. in cherry red.. and let me tell you, it got me tons of chicks and taught me performance driving/drifting with the tail-happy feel and big torque this fun car had. I would love to find a really nice one today that hasn't been f'ed up..
Thee were a lot of them on the road back in the day. Good looking cars they were. Kind of de-tuned dogs though, could not feel the turbo boost really when the right foot went all the way down.
Johnny Railroad The GT's were 5.0 V8's or are you talking about the Turbocoupes? The automatic Turbocoupes were dogs but the 5 speeds were more fun, you just had to drive it like it made fun of your mullet.
PistolWhip I know you were talking about mustang gt's, I was not sure if he was. He was talking about the turbo and to my knowledge the turbo was a svt in '87 not a gt. Since they showed a turbocoupe I thought maybe he was talking about that. I had many of both including a turbocoupe identical to the grey one in the video and still drive a '88 gt to this day. They are awesome fun cars.
@@tombourque7726 I know dud you see that nosedive that t birt took when breaking lol and that mustang looks bland as my dad's beige cackie pants he wore back then
I had a midnight blue 88' Ford T-bird Turbo Coupe. I bought it at a used car lot for $825. It turned out it was a custom factory order for a car dealer and it had all the bells and whistles including an upgraded Turbo Charger.
Timothy Isenhart - would love to see pics, I loved that car when it came out... almost bought an 88 model in 1993, but got a ticket on the test drive, didn’t buy it... ☹️☹️☹️
Hell Yeah, Bob Glidden ran a Turbo Coupe Bodied Pro Stock in 87 and 88 Those were my favorite Glidden Cars, his 86 T Bird was Bad Ass too, the Blue Chief Auto Parts Sponsored One RIP Bob.
My brother bought an 89 Mustang LX from an owner who installed a 5.0 engine. He said the LX has a lighter body weight, so having a 5.0 in there makes it faster than a GT with a 5.0 Sounds like BS now, but we believed it then lol.
It gets worse; when I was 18 (yes I had to drive it), I was rear-ended and it was totaled - they bought another one. Thankfully, I went to college a couple of months later and got my own car. My little sister drove that piece of crap to college when she went. LOL I got an '88 Honda Prelude. I was soooo stoked
Based on the intro, you might have to upload this whole episode...sounds like there were a few other interesting stories! John nails it with his comments on the T-Bird models. I've always thought of the '87-88 TurboCoupes as the second generation of Mustang SVO. Looks-wise, the '85-86 Mustangs are second only to the SVO, in my opinion. I remember being somewhere between disappointed and heartbroken when I first saw the '87's. The LX's were an unholy mix of '86 Ford Tempo headlights and grille mixed with a cartoon version of the SVO bumper cap. And don't even get me started on the GT's! LOL
I miss my 87 5.0LX. bought in 95 with 47,000 miles. drive it until 2001 with 148,000 miles. so trouble free and comfortable. I still miss that car. my 2012 300 today sorta reminds me of that car, being rwd, and having a similar emblem on the steering wheel.
I still have my 1990 5.0L Mustang LX. The sedan not the hatch back. That 5 speed transmission is so smooth to shift as compared to the 6 speed in my 2004 350Z. The old Mustang is not as quick as my 04 Z or my 2014 Infiniti Q60S, but it is no slouch either. The lighter LX I have was clocked with a 0-60 at 6.2 seconds. That is not bad for a 28 year old car. I bought that one new and did not drive it much so it has all of 11,000 miles on it. The thing is a sort of time capsule from 1990.
I still have a 1990 5.0L Mustang LX with a 5 speed. Bought it new and still own it. In it's day, it was one of the quickest cars on the road and handled better then most. Also always liked the Tbirds of this era. In 90, you could get the 5.0L V8 in a Tbird and those would move out pretty good. Even by today's standards, those old Fords drive nice.
Funny that the Fox platform had another 6 years of production run left; I had a '93 notchback LX 5.0 5-speed purchased new and sold it in 2002 with about 105k on the odometer. While I miss that car, even back then it was already getting some body panel rust in odd places, the door hinge pins were shot, and the interior was fading fast... chalk it up to sentiment I suppose. Fun to watch these old reviews though, especially when you see what was considered "high horsepower" and "fast" back in the day. I did love the torque of that 5.0 though...
The first car I bought on my own was a Ford Turbo Coupe 88 dark red brings back a lot of memories it was a beautiful car that’s about all I could say about that reliability with that turbo not so much
My father had a blue '88 TBird. It wasn't the TC but still had plenty of bells and whistles and had a real clean look. This is when cars still had a lot of NASCAR influence. He was a big Bill Elliott fan and staunch Ford guy. I'd happily take the the '87 TC 'Bird or the white Mustang GT. Both have aged really well based on domestic car design standards of that era imo.
I love the tail lights and the bonnet vents on the Turbo Coupe. In fact the whole car looks pretty slick for an '87....electronically adjustable dampers and ABS as standard too! The Mustang by contrast looks very stuck in the early 80s, but 6.5 to 60 was genuinely fast back then. I think its really sad how Ford are turning their back on fun affordable cars in favor of silly SUVs and trucks. A sad sign of the times :-(
A buddy of mine had a T Bird turbo coupe back in the day with a 5spd manual tranny. Very quick car, although he didn't have it for very long, too many speeding tickets forced him to sell it.