This is one of the pictures from the Craigslist ad for this car. It was on the East coast of the US if I recall correctly, but you could build your own from your own sticker drawer.
Kelly Kirk
Author of Camshaft Corner
What do models in bikinis know about cars? I mean, some of them might know a great deal about them, but I’m sure a lot of them also don’t. This guy here, he knows. He’s wearing his everyday clothes, holding his everyday beer, and posing with his everyday car. This is all just speculation, but it seems like a pretty legitimate guess on my part. He may have bought it like this, but I doubt it, as being able to buy a car like this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and this one is (was?) for sale.
How many of you have a cabinet that you stick parts stickers on, or a refrigerator door or something? Probably a lot of you. How many of you have a box that you keep spare stickers in for future use, or even a drawer? Every toolbox has that one drawer that’s too narrow and shallow to hold anything aside from a fraction of the screwdrivers you own. That’s the sticker drawer, that’s what it’s for. I bet this guy has an awesome sticker drawer, probably one of the bigger, deeper ones. You know the drawer you usually keep the hammers in? That drawer. I bet this guy keeps his hammers handy for when he needs to do some pit-style bodywork after a poorly negotiated left turn. Usually, I wouldn’t have much to say about a 1987 Ford Thunderbird, but in this case, a little creative styling goes a long way.
The more I look at the two pictures that I saved, the more I wish that I’d saved more information. I think it was a five-litre V8 car, and I know it was an automatic. Did it have performance parts added? Nothing noteworthy. Was it a labour of love, or was it just a fun thing to do with a mundane car to make it a little more outstanding? I have far too many questions for a guy who should have just answered the ad to ask them. I do know that someone took the time to paint it, get decals made at what is likely a great expense based on the size of them, and even fabricate a fairly accurate rear spoiler. If you look closely, the exhaust even pokes out in front of the rear tire. Does it have mufflers? Small ones, I hope, as extreme muffling would taint the tribute that it’s so perfectly pulling off, and the five-litre Ford is (in my opinion) one of the best sounding production domestic engines out there. After seeing this, I think more people should really go for it and build some cool competition clones from typically boring affordable cars. A Ford Focus is pretty common, for example, but how many rally car clones are out there? None that I’ve seen. What does this treatment do for the resale value, though? This guy was asking seven grand American not long ago. Sounds tall, but maybe he was testing the waters, or pacifying a spouse by being able to say that it is indeed listed. Either way, I’m glad he listed it so I could know that awesome fun projects like this still exist out there.
