Original cars, owners, documentation

[thunderjet302]

Adding my Marti report just for fun. I'm the second owner of my Thunderbird. My dad's cousin bought it new.1FABP62F3JH104628_dlxrpt.pdf

[rodsterh]

Thanks for sharing, I enjoy checking out Marti reports. Your car is pretty unique being 1 of 106 with that paint/trim combo. Looks like the car sat during the winter before your dad's cousin bought it.

You should post a picture of your car here too so we can see the car the Marti belongs to.

Thanks!

[thunderjet302]

Thanks for sharing, I enjoy checking out Marti reports. Your car is pretty unique being 1 of 106 with that paint/trim combo. Looks like the car sat during the winter before your dad's cousin bought it.

You should post a picture of your car here too so we can see the car the Marti belongs to.

Thanks!

Added pictures to the original post.

Oddly enough my dad's cousin didn't buy the car at Drew Ford. She purchased it new at Santa Monica Ford in Santa Monica, CA. The car must have been part of a dealer trade.

[rodsterh]

Looks good! Thanks for the picture to go with the Marti report.

[rodsterh]

Great piece of early 83 TBird documentation from a set of seats being sold on ebay!

1FA = Ford vehicle manufactured in USA
B = active belts, no airbags
P = passenger car
46 = Thunderbird 2-dr sedan
3 = 3.8L V6 engine
0 = VIN check digit
D = 1983 model year
H = Lorain Assembly
100058 = 58th 1983 Ford scheduled for production at Lorain Assembly

0051 = trim & chassis assembly line rotations #0051
S = Thunderbird model line
63D = Thunderbird 2-door sedan
9D = Polar White exterior paint color
DD = cloth & vinyl seating, low-back bucket (1st D), Dark Red interior trim color (2nd D)
T = test vehicle order type

3 = 3.8L V6 engine
T = AOD transmission
A = automatic air conditioner
DJ520BA = 1983 model year (D), 49-state Thermactor emissions (J), 3.8L engine (520), calibration level B, revision level A
E3SP BA = auto trans (P) originally engineered for 1983 (E3) Thunderbird (S), release level BA
S = power seat
2 = low-back front buckets
D = Dark Red seat belts

W = interval windshield wipers
E = electric rear defroster
R = AM/FM stereo radio w/ cassette
X = premium sound system
V = light group
T = tinted glass

DA = regular duty battery
V462A = Van Dyke axle plant (V), 28-spline 3.08 non-locking differential (462A)

19575R4 = P195/75R14 tires
W = white sidewalls
S = speed (cruise) control

seat.jpg

[rodsterh]

For those of you considering replacing your old dew wipes, part of your maintenance routine for the new ones should be to care for them with some kind of rubber treatment. We never know for sure if all of the car care products really help or if it's just marketing, but in this case, there seems to be proof.

These are the original dew wipes on my 83 TBird with 130,000+ miles, maintained with rubber treatment.

Unfortunately the dew wipes on my 83TC have the typical cracking so they will need replaced at some point.

83 dew wipes.JPG

[thunderjet302]

I've been applying rubber protectant to the dew wipes on my 88 Thunderbird for years. They are pliable and pretty much like new still.

[William]

Anyone here interested in the 'concours' part of the hobby? I know it's not for everyone but it does help document how the cars came from the factory.

I have an interest in the 83-84 Tbirds since the were the first Aero-birds built and so different from the previous body style.

Hi, I'm also working on mine too. I have 88 T-bird. But I don;t have exact idea how to do that

[rodsterh]

There is no book on concours for our cars so the goal here was just to get folks with original cars to share details to help document how they came from the factory.