Long passed over by collectors, vehicles from the 1980s and 1990s have become increasingly popular – and in some cases, more valuable – in recent years. This trend applies to the Ford Thunderbird as well, as more and more nice examples from those decades are popping up for sale and commanding solid money at auction to boot. Now, that trend continues with this 1984 Ford Thunderbird listed for sale at Bring a Trailer, which has a mere 16k original miles on the clock.
This particular 1984 Ford Thunderbird isn’t a turbo coupe or any sort of performance-focused model, but rather, a plain Jane Midnight Canyon Red example with wire wheel covers and whitewall tires – something that we could see our grandmothers tooling around in decades ago. Regardless, it’s a pretty amazing survivor, as well as the kind of car that we just don’t come across very often.
As one might imagine from a car with this sort of mileage total, this T-Bird is simply immaculate inside and out, with no flaws noted in the auction listing. The matching Canyon Red velour looks ultra-comfy with its plush seats, and there are plenty of amenities present inside the cabin to boot. That list includes items such as cruise control, power-adjustable front seats, an AM/FM/cassette stereo, woodgrain dash trim, power everything, and air conditioning.
Power for this older coupe comes from Ford’s 3.8L V6, which was rated to produce a modest 120 horsepower and 205 pound-feet of torque – not the sort of thing people imagine when they think of the sporty Thunderbird, in general. That powerplant is mated to a three-speed automatic transmission for what promises to be less than thrilling performance, but then again, this T-Bird is far too nice to drive in an irresponsible manner, anyway.
We’ll have more cool auction finds to share soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford Thunderbird news and non-stop Ford news coverage.
Comments
Had one great car quality outstanding priced just right. Cannot say the same about fords today sad real sad
My family had an ’83 T-bird in the exact same color. Ours had flipped the odometer twice and was about to again when we finally got rid of it. It was a great car and very stylish for the time.
I had a 84 Mustang convertible with that V6 and 3 speed tranny. It was a slow boat and only got 21 mpg, but still fun. This Bird probably even slower and less mpg, but still a cushy ride. In 20 years maybe it will be upgraded to 400 hp electric motor.
When this gen Bird launched, one year before the original Taurus, ford was working hard on leveraging its “Q is J1”(launched in 1981) tagline.
For this car, the tagline was:
“Before we made it beautiful, we made it right!”
I had one of these but white with the same red interior. Loved it at the time. All the other Fords were blocky and ugly (this is just before the Taurus was released). I had a ’73 Honda Civic with 50 hp and a 84 Celica with all of 115 hp. This was considered the norm back then.
I had an 84 and 86 Turbo coupe both manual. They were lots of fun to drive and handled well for their era.
I now own this exact car. It still has just 16,325 miles on the odometer and was just exhibited at its first car show. It received numerous views and comments and received nothing but praise and compliments. My wife and I now have the Car Show Fever and will be exhibiting it in many more future shows. Although this car did not win any awards at this first showing for this car as well as my wife and I, There is no doubt that as my wife and I get more experience in showing that it will win many many many future awards.
I whole heartedly agree this is not a muscle car, but to drive this car specially at 70 to 75 MPH feels like riding on a magic carpet. I also agree that this 84 Thunderbird is totally stock and unblemished in any form or fashion. I also have the history Marti Report and Car Fax Reports on this car and both confirm the authenticity as well as maintenance verifications for this car.
In addition my wife would like to request a colorized version of this Article from the Author Brett Foote to display at future shows?
We had an 84 T-Bird, same color, Elan, V8 with 4 spd automatic, 3.08 rear gear. Fun car, great highway mileage, city not so much. Unfortunately the wife got hit twice and refused to drive it anymore, it was cursed. Kept it for awhile as a weekend cruiser. My son begged me to sell it to him. I was refusing to but my wife wasn’t buying it. I warned my son, its a nasty car to drive in the winter, get snow tires and sand in the trunk. He spun it out and smashed it up. Bye, Bye, Birdy.