The ’83-86 T-Bird was very successful for Ford, so it made sense to give it an extensive facelift, even with replacement models only two years away, to protect the franchise. Although their new look was not drastically different from that of the ’83-’86 models, their wheelbase grew a fraction of an inch, to 104.2″, and overall length increased a full 4.5 inches, to 202.1. Meantime, the Fox-based Bird and Cat needed updating, and in 1987 Ford saw that they got it. In 1986, Ford was hard at work on the MN-12 T-Bird and Cougar set to bow for 1989. I’ll wait while you check it out.Īll done? OK, then, back to the ’87s and ’88s. You CCers who just have to know can find Jason’s post on the ’86 Elan here. Well, Sean, your wish has been granted!Ī lot of words have been written about the 1983-86 Thunderbirds, so there’s not much need to rehash them now. Commenter Sean Cornelis made the comment that he hoped one day one of these would appear on CC. While it elicited many positive comments, the one most repeated was that even though this version was nice, everyone would like to see a CC on the revised 1987-88 ‘Bird.

Back in June, Jason Shafer shared with us a CC on the 1986 Thunderbird Elan.

88 ford thunderbird