Only 44K Miles: 1989 Ford Thunderbird
UPDATE 11/13/18 – The seller has dropped their price by over $2,000! It’s now listed here on eBay for a much more reasonable $3,100 with the option to make an offer. Will it sell this time around?
FROM 10/15/18 – Thunderbird was one of those cars whose target market changed with the times. Some of the shoes it filled were 2-seater, personal luxury, 4 door sedan, full-size luxury, mid-size luxury, compact luxury, and sports luxury. By the time 1989 came around, it was time for a new body style. Where the two previous generations had been based on the Fox platform, the 1989 Thunderbird was based on a new MN12 platform. The total length was shorter but it looked longer with its longer wheelbase. Here is a nice example of that generation, a 1989 Ford Thunderbird LX for sale here on eBay in New Rochelle, New York. It is being offered at a Buy it Now price of $5,500.
The car has apparently been well cared for. It is in very good condition with all the service records. About the only fault, I can find with the car is a little scuffing around the driver’s side rear bumper. While the Super Coupe got a lot of the marketing attention in 1989, this LX served as the mid-priced model that most buyers seeking luxury features purchased at a price of $16,817 when new. The LX included the aluminum wheels seen on this car.
The blue interior is in excellent condition. The interior includes luxury cloth bucket seats with power driver’s side, power windows and door locks, AM/FM stereo radio with cassette player, center console with automatic shift, cruise control, and tilt wheel. The air conditioning provides cold air.
The seller does not provide any pictures of the engine. Under the hood is the 3.8-liter V-6 fuel injected engine. This is a low mileage car that has been driven only 44,500 miles. While General Motors’ mid-size products of this time went to front-wheel drive, the Thunderbird remained rear wheel drive. This is a one owner car that is part of an estate sale.
This Thunderbird is not quite a classic car status but it is not your average used car either. For a reasonable price, you can purchase this approaching 30-year-old car, enjoy driving it often and have people crowding around you in parking lots giving you compliments on your car.
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Comments
My family had a ’90 Cougar we bought from my grandfather. Loved how the notch on the Mercury made it not look like a badge-engineered version of this one. It was a fantastic car in almost every way, better than the low-mileage ’96 he replaced it with. Except for those damn motorized seat belts and the head gasket problem I think was built into that 3.8. Yet another car on my list of those I wish I could have today, in the same condition as when I got them.
I just put a head gasket on a 89 t-bird 55000 original miles it blowed gasket in 1995 been in a garage ever since. These are notorious for eating head gaskets. It carried over to mustangs as well I probably did over 50 gaskets on these engines.
I had a 1989 Taurus wagon, with the same engine, that blew a head gasket at 71K. Ruined the engine, and had to scrap an otherwise good car.
I also have an ’89 Tbird up in Canada that I bought with 30,000 miles on it. Now I’m at a similar level of mileage about 3 years later. I absolutely love my car. They are very pleasurable to drive. With regular maintenance, I have had very very few issues (maybe I should consider myself lucky!). I’m a bit of a Tbird fanboy now and I would say the price is on the very high end. With that said, if I was in the area and with a bit of extra cash, I would most definitely try to make a deal! I certainly hope the next person who buys this vehicle treats it with as much love and respect as I do to my ’89.
I rented one of these in Florida back in 1989.
I was impressed with the fact that I had parked it the night before after coming back from Disney in Orlando, and in the morning the interior was still cool from the A/C.
If I were to buy one of these it would have to be the S/C just in case I wanted to run it.
I see these in really good shape fairly cheap often, but I haven’t been motivated to get one.
My grandmother had an ’89, very similar to this one. She had a few more options on hers, like auto headlamps and auto dim rear view mirror, but very similar, Hers was a dark red color with grey interior Nice car. Spent most of its life in their garage at home. She kept it until 2002 and it only had around 50k miles when she let it go. Prior to this she had an ’80 T’Bird, with about its only redeeming quality being the 302 V8.. and the TRX wheels/suspension package did make it handle decent. This white one featured here is a nice mid-level version. Need to find out about head gasket before anyone makes an offer..
It appears the seller has dropped the Buy it Now price since I initially wrote this article. The price has been reduced from $5,500 to $4,200.
I had a Black with Red interior 91 3.8 V-6. Fun car to drive but it was a bear to change the sparkplug on the rear drivers side. I still have a 94 Opal Blue with Blue interior with the 4.6 V-8 engine. Even more fun to drive.
I like them, otherwise I wouldn’t have had two of them so far.
I had black with grey interior. Yup I remember that plug being miserable to change. I loved that car!
I had higher hopes for this generation when it first came out, as it LOOKED like a slightly larger 635. From the outside at least. When standing still.
Slipped one on and I woke up from the daydream. What coulda been wusn’t.
This one is real close. Maybe i’ll give it the half-over just for the memories.
I like this car! I have recently been trying to help an elderly neighbor, sell her 2005 Toyota Camry ,with 40,000 miles and like new condition. The market looks to be about 5K, and I think it would be a great buy for someone, but if I had my choice, I would buy this T-Bird, in a heart beat over the Camry
Just sold on eBay………$3,100.00
This one gets a big “meh” from me. There’s just nothing exciting about them. Honestly, if Ford had held back on the bird emblems and called it the Taurus Coupe, I wouldn’t have batted an eye.
I will not buy any car with passive restraint automatic seat belts. Hate them.
If I remember right, you could unclip the shouldbelt from the mechanism to keep it from strangling you. I also hated that about the 91.