1988 Thunderbird Sport V8
My stable also included a 1988 Ford Thunderbird V8 Sport. I know it's not a Cougar but let's just say it was a great deal that I could not pass up.
It all started back in the spring of 2001. My buddy had just bought a 2000 Lightning and was saying how he wanted to store it for the winter. Problem was, he was driving it every day. He then asked me if I'd be interested in selling my '88 XR7, which was my daily driver. I thought about it....really, it was about time for me to get another car. The XR7, though still plently powerful and more than adequate as a daily driver, was literally rotting away. The body had been damaged before I owned the car. The best I could do was live with it, as fixing would prove to be more expensive than the car was worth. So I agreed to sell it to him, and the search began for a new daily driver over the summer.
Gotta be honest here folks...I've never owned anything but a Cougar for a daily driver. Was it time for a change? The thought had crossed my mind. Here in the Northeast it's very difficult to find a Cougar with a mint body, let alone one you'd want to drive in the winter. And it seemed that everyone I knew was driving a car that was in much nicer shape than mine. I deserved a better car. I wasn't seriously looking from the outset, which probably turned out to be a good thing.
 One day, on one of my numerous adventures to the local salvage yard, I saw this complete '88 T-Bird Sport sitting all by its lonesome where the new arrivals are parked. The fenders were in great shape--just what I needed for my '88 Blue Max project. I went to ask the owner of the yard about a price, then I backtracked. This car was in WAY too nice of shape to be in a salvage yard. What was it doing here anyway? I asked him, and he told me the previous owner's son sold it to the yard because they needed fast cash, no questions asked. He was told that the motor was bad but the transmission was good. And he told me the title was clean. So I made an offer for the whole car, he took it, and it was delivered to my home within the next week.
If you've never heard about a T-Bird Sport model, or don't know much about them, let me tell you---it's a pretty neat car. Basically it's a carbon copy of my old '88 XR7. Same analog gauges, console, floor shifter, V8, and dual exhaust (as all '88 5.0 Cougars and T-Birds had). It has a 7.5" rear with 3.08 gears, Traction-Lok, quad shocks and 10" drums. The Sport was never labeled as such on the exterior, but the VIN number does reflect that it is such. They had Turbo Coupe seats (mine are Raven with Smoke Grey centers) but not the TC door panels. This particular car was well optioned: power moonroof, automatic temperature control, dual power seats, auto dim/delay, power antenna, etc. Hell, even the a/c worked! Obviously my heart is always with the Cougar, but since this car was so loaded up, I really felt compelled to buy it.
First thing I did when it was home was to drop in a spare Ford battery. The car turned right over, the oil pressure built up, and she ran very smoothly. Then I went to put the car in Drive. No luck--the car instantly stalled out. I called my mechanic to explain it to him. Turns out the motor was good, the transmission was bad. Do you remember the story of how I had 5 AOD transmissions in my convertible back in 1999? Yeah, let's just say that's not what I wanted to find out. Nevertheless, I got an AOD from the salvage yard (donated by a 1990 Cougar) and had my mechanic install it. That got the car running great, and after changing the valve cover gaskets, new rotors, a tune-up and a new battery, the car was physically running good and ready to go.
 The body and interior, on the other hand, were far from being presentable. I started tearing the interior apart in order to clean it. As soon as I dug in, it was obvious that the previous owner of the vehicle had a small white dog that he took everywhere. And after removing the seats, I found this.
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 Mmmmm, just lovely, no? A few hours with the Bissel machine and it actually came out decent. Best of all, I got rid of the pungent dog smell. Can-O-Scents rule.
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 The exterior, however, was not as easy to clean up. Years of dirt embedded itself into the clearcoat. This is what the car looked like after buffing half the hood. After a LOT of buffing on the outside, I'm happy to report that it was shiny once again.
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 The trailer hitch was sort of a nice freebie, but I didn't trust it to haul anything, so it came off. And yes, those were the original wheels---argent (and rust) 14" steel rims with beauty rings.
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In February 2002 the car was treated to an HO conversion with a modified exhaust system. My mechanic had the HO parts literally laying around and he was going to throw them out, or take them to the swap meet to dump off cheaply. He did the engine and exhaust work himself, and the workmanship was excellent. The car idled so smoothly that it was difficult to tell it was even running sometimes.
The car saw daily driver duty through summer 2005. Unfortunately these northeast Ohio winters really took a toll on the body, and even with keeping up with salt removal, the damage was pretty extensive below the beltline. With a shift in priorities in life, and already having the dark Blue Max as the good weather daily driver, I decided to sell the T-Bird. It was sold on September 16, 2005 to a very happy owner that promises to keep it maintained. I know he'll enjoy it as much as I did.
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