1985 Ford Thunderbird Reviews, Pricing & Specs

I had the 30th Anniversary Edition, it was the first new car I ever bought. I loved it! Truly a drivers car; it hugged the road and had great feel to it. The 302 engine was bulletproof. I racked up around 390,000 miles on it, until finally, it was going to cost too much to get it to pass California smog. I drove it another six years without tags until it was impounded. Hated to see it go, I still miss it, but had to move on. Apr 04, 2024

Bought this car new. It is the Elan with the 5.0 engine. Lot's of power. Original motor at 167,000 miles and 2 years ago I replaced the transmission after 25 years.. Not bad. I always use it as a back up these days. It's always ready to go. I wish it had the abs brakes and the air went. But when you start it the motor and the steering wheel is steady and smooth.. I love, Love this car. I will never get rid of it. All though my 12 year old thinks it is so "old". Getting ready to clear coat. Afraid I won't find parts for it in the future. But Besty is doing well.. Mar 23, 2012

You know at the time I sort of complained about it... it smoked when you started it.. and made noises (it had 120K on it when we bought it) but in retrospect it was a fun car and I wish we'd fixed it and restored it. *note* the picture is actually an -86 model.. mine didn't have the hood vents and was smoke blue. HOT! Oh.. and a manual transmissionApr 25, 2008

A sweet car. 8 way power bucket seats with lumbar support. You didn't sit in these seats, you were warmly welcomed, enveloped, and gently held in place. You felt as if the seat was happy holding you, lol. I made some changes on this car, FMS springs, intake, rotors, new 5 lug axles, short throw shifter, and a chip. Fun car. A 4 cyl that ran a 15.063 at the drag strip and beat an 8 cyl Corvette in the process.Jan 13, 2008

When I got this car it was a regular 6 cyl Thunderbird, blue outside and blue inside. Not very imaginative, eh? I'd dreamed of having a racecar for a long time, as a kid I went to the local track with my dad, and I guess that's where it began. I was running in SCCA SOLO events, and this car was my chance. I stripped the car inside, put in a racing seat and a 5 point seat belt, I had set of gauges installed, an MSD box, and a new distributer. I had the engine rebuilt, had it bored 40 over and fitted with a 4bbl carb. The car was an automatic when I bought and that had to go, the trouble was, Ford never mated a 5 spd to the V-6 in a Thunderbird. But they did in the Mustang (whew). So I had the clutch and tranny installed with the newly refreshed V-6. I got new 5 lug rotors for the front and got new 5 lug axles for the rear. The factory car had 4 lug wheels. I had the frame tied, new shorter springs, for that low down stable feel, headers and duel exhaust. I never did that great running the car, but that wasn't the car's fault and it was a hell of a lot of fun!Jan 13, 2008