All original 1994 Red SC 5-Speed for sale or trade, can deliver to Shootout!

So did this nice car find a new lucky owner?

Not yet. I have not advertised it anywhere but here as I am really hoping a Super Coupe enthusiast buys it.

If no one steps up by next week, it's going on Hemmings Motor News, Craigslist, or maybe even Bring A Trailer as my Mark VIII will be out of the paint shop and bumping the SC from the garage.

Come on SCCoA community, somebody buy this beauty! It will break my heart if someone gets it who does not truly appreciate it.
 
Hemmings & Autoweek feature my car!

I posted this car on Hemmings.com and those chose it as their "Find of the Day". And as if that wasn't enough, Autoweek tweeted it out to their 150k followers on Twitter!

Needless to say, I have had a lot of people contact me about the car over the last 24 hours but it's still not sold and I am really hoping an enthusiast will buy it.

Hemmings.jpg
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/...-the-day-1994-ford-thunderbird-super-coupe-2/

Autoweek_Tweet.jpg
http://autoweek.com/article/classic...cialflow&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
 
Sold

Well, I just received a non-refundable deposit from a guy in Canada so the SC is headed up north. I think the owner will genuinely appreciate the car but it will be one less SC in the USA.

Selling price was $3,200 USD for reference.
 
Well, she's gone. On her way to the great white north. So sad to see her go but the new owner seems to really appreciate her.

I have registered the car on www.VINwiki.com to keep track of her in the future (this is a great new free website/app that everyone should use).
 
She's back!

I'm the buyer of this car and wanted to let everyone know it's back for sale. Sadly, the car has some serious issues that preclude it from passing a safety inspection in BC. Mechanically, it has the following non-fatal issues issues that I paid a local Dodge dealer—because there is no Ford dealer local to the former seller in Paris, KY— to inspect and report:

The water pump is leaking slightly from the weep hole, so the bearings are likely going on it, though I drove it all the way from Kentucky to California and up to BC without any issues;
Both inner tie rods are loose;
The radiator leaks a very slow leak;
The lower radiator hose is leaking (same slow leak);
The oil cooler oil line hose leaks a very slow leak; and
The inside rear view mirror sits loose on it's mount on the windshield.

The fatal issue, and what has me madder than heck at the dealer I paid actual money to inspect and report back on, is the fact that it has some serious rust-ROT. I'm having a hard time attaching photos, but they'll follow.

If you sit there and look at the car, or drive it, it's perfect in every way, except as written above, plus what the initial Seller noted above.

So right now, the plan is to register it in Washington since they don't have a frame inspection requirement and then sell it at a loss or worse, part it out. Whoever takes it on has to tear it right down to the frame and put it back together. I'm posting here to see if there is still interest in it.
 
Price Uncertain

So I got some of the photos posted. You can see the mounts are literally ROT and so is the frame in spots. Someone put new lines on the car and never bothered to tell the seller that his car was rotten to the core. I'm guessing because there is no frame or safety requirement in KY. Note, I don't blame the seller—it's why I hired a dealer to do an inspection—so please don't start with him. He's been honest and straight forward with me. I suspect he just never worked on it himself and did not know.

So at this point, I ask for offers or collective wisdom on how to recoup my money out of it. I hate to part it, but I know she's worth a ton more in pieces than whole. I've tried looking for another 94-95 Super Coupe here and all over Craigslist, all over the US and Canada. So far, nothing. I'd consider a clapped out car with a solid body to do a transplant of all the good bits in this one.

What say you all?
 
So I got some of the photos posted. You can see the mounts are literally ROT and so is the frame in spots. Someone put new lines on the car and never bothered to tell the seller that his car was rotten to the core. I'm guessing because there is no frame or safety requirement in KY. Note, I don't blame the seller—it's why I hired a dealer to do an inspection—so please don't start with him. He's been honest and straight forward with me. I suspect he just never worked on it himself and did not know.

So at this point, I ask for offers or collective wisdom on how to recoup my money out of it. I hate to part it, but I know she's worth a ton more in pieces than whole. I've tried looking for another 94-95 Super Coupe here and all over Craigslist, all over the US and Canada. So far, nothing. I'd consider a clapped out car with a solid body to do a transplant of all the good bits in this one.

What say you all?

Where about are you located, and how big of a project are you looking to get yourself into?

-Tim
 
Where about are you located, and how big of a project are you looking to get yourself into?

-Tim

I'm in BC, but the car is going back to Washington where I have a workshop, just south of the border. How big of a project? That depends, what did you have in mind? Maybe you should PM or EM with your ideas
 
I'm in BC, but the car is going back to Washington where I have a workshop, just south of the border. How big of a project? That depends, what did you have in mind? Maybe you should PM or EM with your ideas

I only ask for you mention a few different options - 1.) Part out 2.) Rebuild with just a good shell or 3.) sell as is. Options 1 and 2 are going to be pretty labor intensive and option 3 will probably make ya lose your shirt but save ya time. So again makes me question how big of a project you're interested in.

I am in Virginia - have a couple parts cars that are nothing more than shells at this point - rust free...had you been closer and determined to rebuild I was going to offer it to ya for free.

-Tim
 
Tim,

You're a true gentleman with a huge heart. Thank you for the offer. You made my day for even making the offer.

However, you're right, it's just too far to justify going, even if time and the cost involved were not an issue. On the up side, I've located a guy in Vancouver, Washington (near Portland) who has listed a white '94 5 speed for $3K that looks somewhat promising, but I'm far less enthused by white on tan than red on red.:( It may be worth a check, but I feel like I need to unload one before I get into a second one; that is if I want to remain happily married. :D

The rock and the hard spot I now find myself in has to do with time. I went to KY to get a car specifically to avoid a project car, and that's exactly what I wound up with. It's hard to pay running car money for a project car. Parting it seems like a crime considering the rarity of the car. On the other hand, I could do most of the work involved in conjunction with a body shop if I only had the time. I've got little ones who suck up my time and I wouldn't have it any other way. In about 7 years that will all change, but the question becomes what to do for the next 7 years?

On the one hand I'm still very unhappy, but on the other, I completely recognize that I have high class problems with no real right to complain. So now I need to find some cheese to go along with my whine, together with some good ideas.
 
This has happened to most all of us here I'm sure, I know it has to me and I have always lost money on these cars but I continue because I really enjoy them when they're right. I wish you the best .
 
Thanks guys. I agree, this type of thing happens. I still maintain that had the shop done it's job, spotting rust like that would have been the easiest thing to see and point out. I may take it to a bodyshop, just in case, to see if they have any creative ideas, but I suspect I'm looking at $10,000 (on top of the purchase price) at least, to make this right. That's what really makes this so difficult. I was already planning to spend about $4,000 on a quality paint job too.

If I choose to save the car, I'm sitting there making decisions that have nothing to do with rational behavior. Now, I'm like all of us here: irrationally attracted to a car that has not been built in at least 23 years . . . but at the same time, this is getting too rich for my blood to justify. I could buy a lot of other cars for $30,000 plus, when you take into consideration my costs to purchase, insure temporarily, fly to Kentucky, hotels, food, gas all the way home, plus the above repair bills.

I'm thinking someone who lives in a state without body inspections will be getting a heck of deal on a car that will run fine for years to come, but knowing that somewhere down the road, serious money or time will need to be devoted.

My kind wife, after giving me a couple days to soak in the "tragedy" of my new find, has convinced me that taking the time to fix it myself is not something I realistically have time to do right now. Sure, in 7-ish years, I will, but not now.

So now, it's down to parting it or selling it whole. One has more money in it, and the other means maybe it will go to a good home, maybe to a 20-something version of myself without the kids and with all the time to fix it right and keep her on the road to decades to come. Spread the word far and wide folks!
 
Update on Thunderbird

Hello everyone. For those curious about how it's going and who have written, I've decided to fix the car, despite the cost. I view my role in owning a car like this as preserving it for the next generation, and I just can't stomach the idea of parting and crushing it, nor selling it to someone in a known defective condition, even with a full disclosure, knowing that the car is just not safe as-is.

So as I write this, the car has had the undercarriage rust all removed so I can see where the good metal ends, to know just how extensive the damage is. The good news is that it can be saved. I can't do it as pretty as a pro shop would do it, but it's all on the underside, and I can at least make it as strong or stronger than when the factory issued it.

This is where you all come in. I need new rear sub-frame brackets for both sides and the bolts that go with them. As you can see from the earlier photos, these are shot on my car. Here is a photo from the factory service manual showing what I need.

Do I try to get these off a non-S/C in the boneyard, or does anyone here know where I can locate something brand new, or NOS left overs, or perhaps something that is aftermarket that works?
 
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