Welcome to my CarDomain page. This is a timeline of progress (or lack thereof) of my car Blue Bird. This is the most current picture of the car, updated NOVEMBER 2007:

 

 

 

 

 

On eBay January 2007

 

This car is my fifth MN12. I've previously owned an '89 T-Bird, '89 Cougar LS, '93 Cougar XR7, and a '95 T-Bird LX. I've loved these cars since I first drove one back in 1996. Here's the pics of the car as it appeared on eBay:

I bought this car on eBay for $800 in January 2007. The car has over 180,000 miles on the ticker and needs a new transmission. The car is drivable up to about 45MPH then it slips into neutral unless I manually shift it into 2nd. I have a 1996 T-Bird parts car that has a good tranny in it, so hopefully soon I'll be able to do the swap.
The car was apparently repainted recently, but wasn't a very good paint job. From a distance it looks great, but close you can see minor flaws. Overall, it's a nice car for $800.

 

Brought it Home January 2007
Cleaned up a little bit (as much as January weather would allow).

 

 

Fender Badges February 2007

 

It's cold as cold can be outside, so I haven't done much in February except add this fender badge from www.americanmuscle.com

 

 

 

Interior Mods March 2007

 

I've got big plans for this car but being in between jobs has delayed the mods a bit. All I have really done to the car so far is clean it up and a few interior mods. I installed a set of silver faced EL gauges:

 

I also acquired a 150 MPH speedometer from an SHO that I will be installing into the car as soon as I get a 150 MPH EL gauge. I also converted the door switch LEDs to bright blue. The SATC (semi-automatic temperature control) has also been converted to blue:

 

 

 

$20 Bootleg Exhaust Mod April 2007

 

As soon as my budget allows, I'm going to be getting an entirely new exhaust done (after the tranny of course). For now though, I have removed the mufflers to give the car a more aggressive tone. Here's a video of the exhaust:

 

As It Sits Now April 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tinted Headlights May 2007

 

I painted the inner housings of the headlights to give them a tinted look. I will eventually get around to doing the same to the corner lights. Car was really dusty when I took these pictures.

Before and after:

 

 

 

Mark VIII Seats June 2007

 

Got a set of front and rear 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII seats. They make a nice upgrade from blue cloth. Below are some before and after pictures. Soon to follow with black carpet and black seatbelts.

Before:

After:

 

 

 

Transmission Pulled July 2007
The transmission was pulled from the '96 T-Bird parts car (affectionately known as "Turd-Bird". This project was started in July but didn't get finished until August, thanks to a rounded off torque converter nut and oppressive heat and lack of shade.

The infamous parts car:

 

 

 

 

Red LE Stripe August 2007
I had been thinking of doing this since I had gotten the car and I finally did it. I used Duplicolor Cardinal Red Clear Coat. The car is really dirty in these pics and I still have touching-up to do in some spots. I'm also waiting on new red 4.6 badges to replace the blue ones that now look horribly out of place.

The steps:

 

This is the photoshopped pic that inspired me to do the red "LE stripe" (now all I need is the chrome Mach 1 wheels and clear corners):

Now changed are the 4.6 fender badges! I put on the new set of red badges to match the LE stripe.

 

 

Clear Corners September 2007

I have always been "anti-clear corners" in the past. What made me have a change of heart? It comes down to color and composition. When I added the red LE stripe, the front end seemed too busy with the blue, red and amber on the corner light. The eye was drawn to the amber corner light and I didn't like that. The clear corner lights are more subtle. I traded away my "tinted" headlights for a set of standard unmolested headlights. I cleaned the new-to-me headlights with Meguiar's Plastx and they look great.

 

 

Scott's Custom Gauge Faces October 2007

 

I bought a custom designed set a gauge faces as part of an October group purchase over at TCCoA.com . These gauges are made by Scott Hrbacek.

I've had a 150MPH speedometer pulled from '97 SHO since probably February or March. With these new faces, I'll actually be able to use the 150MPH speedometer. If anyone is interested, I'm selling the silver-faced gauge faces that can be seen on page 3. Below is the final proposal image of the faces. I'll have pictures of the actual faces installed soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faces installed. The red needles are from a Mercury Sable and the silver/gray gauge bezel is from a Taurus.

UPDATE 11/23/07: I really do not like the gray gauge bezel and will be re-installing the black bezel. If anyone wants it, let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stuff for Sale:
•Gray '97 gauge bezel, $15 shipped
•Silver EL gauges, $40 shipped
•Orange needles for '97 cluster (set of 4), $7 shipped
•Blue "4.6 High Performance" badges (set of 2), $15 shipped

 

SEE PAGE 2 FOR SOME THUNDERBIRD COMMERCIALS AND PROMO VIDEOS