SeanPwnery
Click here to upgrade
- Reaction score
- 58
- Thunderbird Year
- 2003
Good evening all - two weeks ago, I could have told you that a Thunderbird was never even on my radar - just because I thought I'd never have an opportunity to own one. I recently paid off my daily-driver last Monday (at the time of this posting) - a modest little Fiat 500 Pop that I bought as a 10-month old CPO. It had served me well for 5 years and 55,000 miles, but after making my first major road-trip with it (a 1,060 mile round trip in a single day with a 4-hour exhibition show in between) I quickly realized that little city car was no longer what I needed.
So for the past couple of months, I was considering what I'd like to replace it with, and the list was vast. I've had hot rods, muscle cars, giant 4x4's, you name it. The list was bizarre... 11-14 FJ Cruiser, 12-15 F-250 4x4 Diesel, 15-17 Ecoboost or 5-liter Mustang, and the out in left field option, 11-14 Jaguar XJL V8.
Thankfully none of those panned out and on a whim I started looking around at CPO's near my shop - and lo and behold a 2002 Thunderbird popped up with 50k miles, the optional hard-top, and after my trade-in, a tidy $9k asking price. I found the car on a Saturday evening after the dealer closed, and they weren't open on Sunday so I immediately spent the entire weekend looking up the details of the "intro" year for the 11th generation. Sure, it didn't have heated seats, the VVT engine, or the select-shift option, but the price was right and the condition was seemingly immaculate. I put in an inquiry and patiently waited.
Monday morning came, I got a call, I made an appointment and notified the Internet-sales manager that I'm literally right around the corner and will be there 10 minutes to 5pm... 20 minutes later, he calls back and apologizes profusely that the car was already sold without his prior knowledge... by his general manager. 😡
Seemingly burned, and really annoyed, I let the guy have it about my frustration and disappointment that they would put a listing for it before they left for the day, and were unable to field a single inquiry before the boss can take it for himself. Feeling a bit dejected, I went back to the lull of checking listings and ads again, now knowing "Hey, I could actually have one of these... I never thought I could!"
The following day, I hit pay-dirt. Not only did I find one, but the sales guy from the dealer before *called* the dealer I found and had them hold it for me and call me first. This one was also "Whisper White" but a 2003 model - fantastic. Now I've got two tone heated seats, select-shift trans, VVT engine, and it still had the optional hard top too. To make things even a little sweeter, the car had only 42k on the clock, and one of the previous owners decided that the head-unit needed modernizing and replaced the factory unit with a really sweet 6.2" touch screen in-car computer/nav/hd radio and backup camera system, with a mic, and a usb connector for my thumb-drive full of music.
6 hours later - I literally financed my first car... at age 39. I've worked hard most of my life, take care of my elderly folks at the cost of several relationships, work for a boss who underpays me immensely but takes advantage of my financial frustrations, and most of my previous cars were purchased cash outright. I felt really proud to finally get something *really* nice, and without anyone's help so to speak. The icing on the cake is, I brought my 83 year old Father along for the ride, and he lamented the entire time about how his first car was a 55 that he partially built himself while working for Ford. Now I've essentially got his nostalgic time capsule and we were taking it home.
*If you've made it this far, I commend you - I have a reputation of being a little long-winded, but I'll get to the point now.
I've had the car for 5 days now. Here's what I've discovered :
Everything else works - the engine is so clean, I could eat off of it, as is the interior. I'm fairly certain a female owned the car last, because every time I start up the air, I catch a small whiff of what smells like Chanel No. 5 - I can live with this - because it beats generic air fresheners by a huge margin. I've also begun doing what I call "modern touches" - replacing all the exterior lights with LED's (yes.. I've acquired a proper turn signal relay so it doesn't flash ultra-fast) was first on the docket. Next will be a set of Wilwood brakes - I generally address handling and brakes before even considering any power-adders. This is a much heavier car than the one I came from and I like a commanding road feel and control when it comes to braking and handling. Other than that, I'm absolutely enamored by my new acquisition. I had a few strange looks when I told people "To go forward, you sometimes have to go back..." to explain why I traded a 5 year old car for a 15-year old one, but I don't regret it at all. I never used the back seats of any car I've ever owned, so ... this works... perfectly.
Anyhow, if any of you have some insight about the cluster lights being dim, or the defroster - I'm all ears. Thanks for taking the time reading this miniature novel (I'll try to edit as we go along in case I forgot anything).
So for the past couple of months, I was considering what I'd like to replace it with, and the list was vast. I've had hot rods, muscle cars, giant 4x4's, you name it. The list was bizarre... 11-14 FJ Cruiser, 12-15 F-250 4x4 Diesel, 15-17 Ecoboost or 5-liter Mustang, and the out in left field option, 11-14 Jaguar XJL V8.
Thankfully none of those panned out and on a whim I started looking around at CPO's near my shop - and lo and behold a 2002 Thunderbird popped up with 50k miles, the optional hard-top, and after my trade-in, a tidy $9k asking price. I found the car on a Saturday evening after the dealer closed, and they weren't open on Sunday so I immediately spent the entire weekend looking up the details of the "intro" year for the 11th generation. Sure, it didn't have heated seats, the VVT engine, or the select-shift option, but the price was right and the condition was seemingly immaculate. I put in an inquiry and patiently waited.
Monday morning came, I got a call, I made an appointment and notified the Internet-sales manager that I'm literally right around the corner and will be there 10 minutes to 5pm... 20 minutes later, he calls back and apologizes profusely that the car was already sold without his prior knowledge... by his general manager. 😡
Seemingly burned, and really annoyed, I let the guy have it about my frustration and disappointment that they would put a listing for it before they left for the day, and were unable to field a single inquiry before the boss can take it for himself. Feeling a bit dejected, I went back to the lull of checking listings and ads again, now knowing "Hey, I could actually have one of these... I never thought I could!"
The following day, I hit pay-dirt. Not only did I find one, but the sales guy from the dealer before *called* the dealer I found and had them hold it for me and call me first. This one was also "Whisper White" but a 2003 model - fantastic. Now I've got two tone heated seats, select-shift trans, VVT engine, and it still had the optional hard top too. To make things even a little sweeter, the car had only 42k on the clock, and one of the previous owners decided that the head-unit needed modernizing and replaced the factory unit with a really sweet 6.2" touch screen in-car computer/nav/hd radio and backup camera system, with a mic, and a usb connector for my thumb-drive full of music.
6 hours later - I literally financed my first car... at age 39. I've worked hard most of my life, take care of my elderly folks at the cost of several relationships, work for a boss who underpays me immensely but takes advantage of my financial frustrations, and most of my previous cars were purchased cash outright. I felt really proud to finally get something *really* nice, and without anyone's help so to speak. The icing on the cake is, I brought my 83 year old Father along for the ride, and he lamented the entire time about how his first car was a 55 that he partially built himself while working for Ford. Now I've essentially got his nostalgic time capsule and we were taking it home.
*If you've made it this far, I commend you - I have a reputation of being a little long-winded, but I'll get to the point now.
I've had the car for 5 days now. Here's what I've discovered :
- I need to invest in Shell/Chevron/Valero - I'm coming off a car that made 31.5mpg ... so far, I've driven 3/4 of a tank, and I've done maybe 180 miles (almost all congested Houston city traffic, but mostly flowing, average speed somewhere in the low 20 mph's) - this doesn't bode well, but good god the ride feels like I'm riding on double-cream
- The rear defroster on the hard top appears to not work. Fuse in the trunk looks good, relay tests good as well. I did a bit of poking around here and elsewhere and it appears there may be an issue with the lock-down pin on the passenger side where the electrical ground is made for the defroster? I won't be able to investigate this any further most likely until Spring as I don't have a garage, and I'm still in need of the hardtop caddy so I can store the top at my shop.
- The hard-top makes a little creaking noise moving around ever so slightly on the driver's side right behind my ear... nothing major, I had a feeling this could be a thing and will learn to cope. I heard there's a "buffering tape" you're supposed to use and I suspect the previous 3 owners probably never took off the top or replaced that.
- When I brought the car home from the dealer, the entire process took 6 hours. I got there in the middle of the day, I drove it home in the dark. All the lights work, all the signals and relays work... everything seems great... but ... hang on ... the cluster lights are on, just really dim. A lot of people I've noticed post about 02's with clusters that go completely bonkers or have no lights at all... this is not the case for me. My lights all work - but the backlighting is dim (this is with the rheostat as far upwards as possible without turning on the interior lights, they will get even dimmer if I run the dial lower) - I'm hoping a number of the bulbs are out and the few that remain are doing their best.
Everything else works - the engine is so clean, I could eat off of it, as is the interior. I'm fairly certain a female owned the car last, because every time I start up the air, I catch a small whiff of what smells like Chanel No. 5 - I can live with this - because it beats generic air fresheners by a huge margin. I've also begun doing what I call "modern touches" - replacing all the exterior lights with LED's (yes.. I've acquired a proper turn signal relay so it doesn't flash ultra-fast) was first on the docket. Next will be a set of Wilwood brakes - I generally address handling and brakes before even considering any power-adders. This is a much heavier car than the one I came from and I like a commanding road feel and control when it comes to braking and handling. Other than that, I'm absolutely enamored by my new acquisition. I had a few strange looks when I told people "To go forward, you sometimes have to go back..." to explain why I traded a 5 year old car for a 15-year old one, but I don't regret it at all. I never used the back seats of any car I've ever owned, so ... this works... perfectly.
Anyhow, if any of you have some insight about the cluster lights being dim, or the defroster - I'm all ears. Thanks for taking the time reading this miniature novel (I'll try to edit as we go along in case I forgot anything).
This page contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated. As an eBay Partner, and Amazon Associate I may be compensated if you make a purchase at no cost to you.
Attachments
Last edited:
