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jgoedd99
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- Reaction score
- 20
- Thunderbird Year
- 2003
I am going to post this a couple paragraphs at a time, but this is my story with acquiring a 2003 Tbird and getting it to where i want it to be, Stay tuned.
This is a chronicle of my recently purchased 2003 Thunderbird. It may be of interest to others for its story and a summary of maintenance issues associated with the retro Thunderbirds. Your results may vary but everything in here is what I experienced.
My wife and I have been admirers of the retro bird for a number of years. My oldest brother has a 2002 turquoise Thunderbird. We saw this car probably 2015 or so. In the meantime I had kicked around picking up a 1980’s vintage 911, or a 1960’s vintage F100. Gave up on the Porsche due to cost and limited availability. Never really found a F100 that made me pull the trigger. I should mention that I am pretty loyal to Ford, currently owning an F150, Edge, and an Escape. During this time I also did a bit of research on the retro bird becoming familiar with the car, its issues, pricing, colors, etc. Most of the retro birds in western New York offered for sale were black, turquoise, and occasionally yellow or red. None of these colors appealed to me. I prefer the silver, white, or grey colors. Additionally 2002 tends to be the most common year as they sold the most. After reading as much as I could I figured that going with a 2003 or later would be the way to go because the hydraulic fan is gone and there was additional horsepower. I also figured it is usually not a good idea to go with the first year of any new model.
So that’s where we were for a number of years, not really looking but occasionally looking at FB marketplace or Craigslist. Took a vacation in Florida in spring of 2024 that took us to friends’ condo in Cape Coral. As we pull in we drive past a guy pulling a white retro bird into his parking spot and I mention ”nice car”. His reply was “it could be yours”. Turns out it was a 2003 Whisper White with black soft-top with 21,469 miles. The car had been in Florida for at least the past 2 owners (since 2018). The owner indicated he was having some health issues and was looking to sell the car. From Carfax we learned the car started out in Maryland and was there till 2018. At that time it had 10,700 miles, so it basically was a garage queen. In 2018 it was sold to its second owner brought to Florida with 11,978 miles. 3rd owner, who I purchased from, bought it in October 2021 with 11,978 miles. I purchased it in February 2024 with 21,469 miles.
Our Thunderbird was a 3 owner 2003 in Whisper White, manufactured on 6/10/2003 and originally sold 10/13/2003 in Maryland. It included a white hardtop. We saw the car with the soft-top on and we love the look of the black soft top on the white car. The hardtop was in the garage (we were hoping for black) and it was white. Oh well. Interior was black and white, again a color combo we really liked. As with the exterior color I was not a fan of red, turquoise, etc. interior. As far as other stuff, there was an original spare tire, all the owner’s manuals, the hard top, the hard top cart, and 2 receipts from the current owner showing all around replacement shock/strut & coil spring assembly and oil and filter changes. There was no: window sticker and no maintenance records from the prior 2 owners. We looked at it inside and out and it was in excellent condition, with a clean Carfax. Couple very minor scrapes/issues on front and rear bumpers. You really can’t see much under the car unless you put it on a lift, but from what we could see it was in pretty good condition and most metal looked like new. Tires were in good shape (2020 date code); battery also had a 2020 date code.
We negotiated a price, and then I had to deal with getting it back to New York State. Being a new car to me I was hesitant to get in it and drive 1,300 miles. So we elected to use a transporter. That was a bit of a cluster dealing with car transporters, brokers, etc. Paid for enclosed transportation, yet car showed up pretty dirty. That’s another story, anyway it arrived, and mileage was still 21,469 so at least it was not driven from Florida to Western New York.
Top be continued...
This is a chronicle of my recently purchased 2003 Thunderbird. It may be of interest to others for its story and a summary of maintenance issues associated with the retro Thunderbirds. Your results may vary but everything in here is what I experienced.
My wife and I have been admirers of the retro bird for a number of years. My oldest brother has a 2002 turquoise Thunderbird. We saw this car probably 2015 or so. In the meantime I had kicked around picking up a 1980’s vintage 911, or a 1960’s vintage F100. Gave up on the Porsche due to cost and limited availability. Never really found a F100 that made me pull the trigger. I should mention that I am pretty loyal to Ford, currently owning an F150, Edge, and an Escape. During this time I also did a bit of research on the retro bird becoming familiar with the car, its issues, pricing, colors, etc. Most of the retro birds in western New York offered for sale were black, turquoise, and occasionally yellow or red. None of these colors appealed to me. I prefer the silver, white, or grey colors. Additionally 2002 tends to be the most common year as they sold the most. After reading as much as I could I figured that going with a 2003 or later would be the way to go because the hydraulic fan is gone and there was additional horsepower. I also figured it is usually not a good idea to go with the first year of any new model.
So that’s where we were for a number of years, not really looking but occasionally looking at FB marketplace or Craigslist. Took a vacation in Florida in spring of 2024 that took us to friends’ condo in Cape Coral. As we pull in we drive past a guy pulling a white retro bird into his parking spot and I mention ”nice car”. His reply was “it could be yours”. Turns out it was a 2003 Whisper White with black soft-top with 21,469 miles. The car had been in Florida for at least the past 2 owners (since 2018). The owner indicated he was having some health issues and was looking to sell the car. From Carfax we learned the car started out in Maryland and was there till 2018. At that time it had 10,700 miles, so it basically was a garage queen. In 2018 it was sold to its second owner brought to Florida with 11,978 miles. 3rd owner, who I purchased from, bought it in October 2021 with 11,978 miles. I purchased it in February 2024 with 21,469 miles.
Our Thunderbird was a 3 owner 2003 in Whisper White, manufactured on 6/10/2003 and originally sold 10/13/2003 in Maryland. It included a white hardtop. We saw the car with the soft-top on and we love the look of the black soft top on the white car. The hardtop was in the garage (we were hoping for black) and it was white. Oh well. Interior was black and white, again a color combo we really liked. As with the exterior color I was not a fan of red, turquoise, etc. interior. As far as other stuff, there was an original spare tire, all the owner’s manuals, the hard top, the hard top cart, and 2 receipts from the current owner showing all around replacement shock/strut & coil spring assembly and oil and filter changes. There was no: window sticker and no maintenance records from the prior 2 owners. We looked at it inside and out and it was in excellent condition, with a clean Carfax. Couple very minor scrapes/issues on front and rear bumpers. You really can’t see much under the car unless you put it on a lift, but from what we could see it was in pretty good condition and most metal looked like new. Tires were in good shape (2020 date code); battery also had a 2020 date code.
We negotiated a price, and then I had to deal with getting it back to New York State. Being a new car to me I was hesitant to get in it and drive 1,300 miles. So we elected to use a transporter. That was a bit of a cluster dealing with car transporters, brokers, etc. Paid for enclosed transportation, yet car showed up pretty dirty. That’s another story, anyway it arrived, and mileage was still 21,469 so at least it was not driven from Florida to Western New York.
Top be continued...
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