Nothing about the car is pretty…it’s got the typical Ford clear coat peel, the trim has seen better days and underhood needs at least a day’s worth of detail work just to be passable. At some point this former four-cylinder car got a 5.0 and AOD swap and a tub job out back. If it weren’t for the big meats on the rear axle this would be any other beater Thunderbird that somehow is still rolling along, but this isn’t. This T-bird looks a bit homely, doesn’t it? Take one look at the back tire setup and think about it.

Or maybe you forgot that the cars even existed…and that’s a shame, because with all of the Mustang knowledge out there, you could transfer it to a T-bird or Cougar and wind up with something absolutely bitchin’. You could even get manual transmissions and supercharged V6s if you wanted! Surely some of you older types have great memories of Aero Birds running NASCAR, or maybe you picture the Mercury Cougars that ran in IMSA. Why is it that the Fox and MN-12 Ford Thunderbirds and Mercury Cougars aren’t as popular as their Ford Mustang cousin? They’re effectively the same car, just with a bit of useable legroom…same engines, same transmissions, same freaking everything.

88 ford thunderbird