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Marketplace => LEADS on T-Bird/Cougar Stuff For Sale => Topic started by: hpdog259962 on November 18, 2018, 02:59:52 PM

Title: 1988 Ford Thunderbird
Post by: hpdog259962 on November 18, 2018, 02:59:52 PM
Fellas, I have some sad news to report.

Back in October, my '88 Thunderbird was rear ended while out on a car club function. After the month long process with dealing with the insurance companies, they have decided the vehicle is a total loss.

I have looked at the vehicle and do not think it is something I am able to repair myself so I would be looking to sell the car.

As you can see in the photos, the car was in impeccable condition (minus the accident damage, obviously). I have talked over salvage rights for the car with the insurance company and the price difference has me to believe the car will go to salvage, and I think the car has much more benefit to someone who has the means to rebuild it / needs parts than it just to go to a salvage yard.

The details on the car : An '88 Ford Thunderbird LX with a 232 V6 engine. 98,000 miles. I have owned it for about 3 years, and have kept it maintained on Ford's Fleet Maintenance service guide for the car. (more extensive than the standard service). It has power seats, AM / FM Cassette and Graphic Equalizer, A/C, Power Mirrors, Power Doors. A good amount of new parts on the car (which I could go into if someone needed).

The bad news : The collision was on the passenger rear with the damage I can tell being to the rear bumper, passenger rear fender, rear tailing, rear trunk lid (possibly minor), exhaust system (it sounds a bit louder than before and the tailpipe was on that side so I assume something is misaligned somewhere), and rear unibody (I am attaching the photos from the body shop estimate for you to see. I'm not a body guy so I can't tell you how much would be involved in that outside of the estimate).

The good news : The car is completely driveable. I drove it from the accident site to home, a distance of 97 miles. It made it home under its own power, and minus the louder exhaust, I didn't notice any driveability problems. The interior is incredibly clean with very few blemishes (some cracking on the uppr dashboard is about it), and its has a clear title.

I am only listing the car here because A: I have benefited for some tech information from the forum (even if I was a bit of a lurker and didn't post, I was still learning the car), and B: I would think it would be people from this forum who would appreciate the notification of this vehicle available.

I'm not going to make millions off the car. The importance for me is that it goes to someone who would rebuild it and put it back on the road, or if not that, someone who will take the car for parts to get another car on the road. I've been around vintage vehicles and antique automobile clubs my whole life. I wouldn't want to see it head to a derby, or to salvage, which again is where I think it would go with the insurance company.

So if there is someone out there who would want to bring it back to life or bring another to life with it, please let me know.

The car is located in Mc Henry, ILL; a north-west suburb of Chicago nearing the Wisconsin state line. I will log in frequently to check posts and will answer any questions anyone has.

Thank you again,

ChrisXXX
Title: 1988 Ford Thunderbird
Post by: hpdog259962 on November 18, 2018, 03:02:03 PM
Found out there is a limit of 3 photos per post. So I have to break them up. Here is group 2.XXX
Title: 1988 Ford Thunderbird
Post by: hpdog259962 on November 18, 2018, 03:03:11 PM
XXX
Title: 1988 Ford Thunderbird
Post by: hpdog259962 on November 18, 2018, 03:04:06 PM
XX
Title: 1988 Ford Thunderbird
Post by: hpdog259962 on November 18, 2018, 03:05:05 PM
Here are the photos the body shop took which show more of the unibody.XX
Title: 1988 Ford Thunderbird
Post by: thunderjet302 on December 20, 2018, 04:18:19 PM
I just noticed this but is the car still around? There appears to be a whole bunch of stuff I could use from the car as spares for mine (my car has the same interior but in leather).
Title: 1988 Ford Thunderbird
Post by: hpdog259962 on December 26, 2018, 01:25:47 PM
The car is still somewhat around. I no longer own it. It is now in the hands of CoPart in I believe Elgin, Illinois.

The good news is that I found the auction page for the car which is as follows : https://www.copart.com/lot/53464248

There is currently no bid on the vehicle. It does now have a salvage title not a standard vehicle title, but everything else should be the same as they drove it onto the tow truck and took it there. I'm not sure what you have to do to register to bid on vehicles on CoPart. That's outside of my expertise.

I hope you are able to get it. It is good to see it go to someone who can really use it to keep another one going.
Title: 1988 Ford Thunderbird
Post by: thunderjet302 on December 26, 2018, 03:17:04 PM
Quote from: hpdog259962;468310
The car is still somewhat around. I no longer own it. It is now in the hands of CoPart in I believe Elgin, Illinois.

The good news is that I found the auction page for the car which is as follows : https://www.copart.com/lot/53464248

There is currently no bid on the vehicle. It does now have a salvage title not a standard vehicle title, but everything else should be the same as they drove it onto the tow truck and took it there. I'm not sure what you have to do to register to bid on vehicles on CoPart. That's outside of my expertise.

I hope you are able to get it. It is good to see it go to someone who can really use it to keep another one going.

Thanks for the response/link. I've got about 2 weeks so I'll see what I can do.
Title: 1988 Ford Thunderbird
Post by: hpdog259962 on December 27, 2018, 11:14:21 AM
I wish you the best. By the way, if you get the car, I have some more items to it which may be of interest to you. I was going to sell them but if you get the car, I'll give them as thanks that the car didn't go straight to salvage.

I have the full sized wheel, hub cab, and center cap for the passenger front which is missing in the photo, I have a dealers brochure for the car, I have the book folder thing which had the owners manual, maintenance schedules, and all of that in it. I have all of those books as well. I also have a car bra for it too.