What Year SC is the best for this story? Youtube “Television” Series.

Hello everyone.

I’m really pushing myself to make something I can show you guys by this July. Hopefully in the form of a short or a trailer.
I want to point out that this series is particularly aimed to please SCCoA members, so I will gladly take any input into consideration. There are a few things I am on the fence about, where I could go one-way or another, and I want you guys to be the tie-breaker.

I have 3 Oxford White Supercoupes that will be portraying the same “hero car” of the series. I have a 1990, a 1991, and a 1993. Since the car is extremely integral to the plot, the audience is going to learn every aspect of the car, including some relevant features that were available for this car’s model year. All three will be made to look as identical as possible on the outside, but there will be some discrepancies between the interiors. I am struggling to decide what model-year the hero car should be. The 1991 will be the physical hero car, but what year should it be in the series to my characters? I will make my case for each and let you decide:

The 1990 was my second car but its the one I have driven the most. My uncle in real-life had a titanium 1990 SC, so for many years I was thinking of pretending my 1991 was a 1990 and tried to make these two cars match. Someday (for the 3rd or 4th season) there could be a “flashback” to the day the hero-car was manufactured in Lorain, Ohio. I was hoping by the 3rd or 4th season I might have the money and resources to portray hundreds of Thunderbirds (with the help of some CGI) rolling down an assembly line. I would also extend an opportunity for SCCoA members who have a 1989-1993 MN12 (SC or not) that looks mint to be a part of the shot. By claiming my car is a 1990, people with 35th Annys (which are generally kept in great shape) could be a part of it. I dream of doing this 5-minute video, but realize it may never happen. But I like keeping my options open and I have a knack for planning ahead. The entire scene would be choreographed to “Empire of Angels” by Thomas Bergersen of Two Steps from Hell. This shot is my biggest reason to pretend my car is a 1990 (the scene could still happen, but the inclusion of 35th annys would make the scene historically incorrect and the exclusion of 35th annys would limit the number of real cars I could use that are in mint condition).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izsjRpcgfmk

The 1991 was my first car and is the only one with a working moonroof. Therefore, I want to use this car for most-all interior shots. It has Automatic Climate Control (a 1991 and newer option) and the moonroof switch is for a 1991-1993. The 1991 does not have auto-dimming headlights either (so there is only one dial next to the headlight switch). If I claim this car is a 1990, I would need to figure out how to swap my moonroof switch to the 1989-1990 style, swap the climate controls, and maybe even the entire black trim around my gauge cluster (for the auto dim dial). Or, I would just have to acknowledge the fact that my target audience is going to know throughout the entire series (or until I go insane and buy an Oxford White 1990 with a moonroof, black leather interior and a 5-speed) that this car is not a real 1990. In other words, it would be cheaper and easier for me to declare the car is a 1991, but it would not be the same year as my uncle’s or the same year as a 35th anny for that killer scene I want to do.

The 1993 has the nicest interior of the three but doesn’t have stainless steel trim on the doors. It does have a remote key fob that I like and it doesn’t have deathtrap-accumulator ball brakes. It has 1993-1995 rims, but I’m putting 1989-1992 rims on it. I’m not really considering the 1993 as the hero car, but you guys can tell me what you think in this forum. I’m mostly planning on using this car as the backup hero car for when I can’t use the 1991. I do love the key fob and was wondering if I could get one for the 1991. I know it wasn’t an option then, but could it be easily added?

I will say that in season 2, the car will have a 1992-1997 trunklid with a spoiler as a modification. I like the light-up reflectors and I want the car to “change” like the character does. It also means my car will kinda-sorta represent all 1989-1993 SCs as it will use both styles of trunklid.

I think you are overthinking it. Personally, I think just having it be a supercoupe is specific enough, but if it works better for the plot for it to be any particular year, make it that year. As for the minor differences, don’t worry so much about them. I have owned countless MN12s over the last 20 years, and I just now learned from your post that automatic climate control was not available until 91, and if you are saying that the 90SC was not available without auto dimming lights, that is news to me too. I would pick up on the different moonroof switches, but I think that would be extremely nit-picky to complain about these things, especially considering that the car doesn’t have to be stock. If they really do bother you though, and you want it to be a 90, I would say just fix the issues with the 90 and use that for interior shots. Externally the 90 and 91 are identical, so the 91 can be used for all the outside shots without changing anything.

Thanks for the reply.
This has been something that has been driving me nuts since I’m very detail-oriented and I’ve been stringing together various isolated ideas I’ve had over the years into a somewhat cohesive story. I’ll wait a little longer to see what others might think but I have been wondering how worked up I need to be over a moonroof switch and climate controls.

I will leave a tiny hint of a spoiler. Based on my door tag, my cars are coincidentally manufactured during the same month and year of a certain occurrence. The hero names his car after one of these occurrences and they only happened a few times per year at the time. It no longer occurs. I will subtly place decals on the inside of the left snd right door jambs as a sort of tribute to these occurrences. This tribute is also a massive factor for why I ultimately decided that the hero car should be white on black with a moonroof.