- Joined
- Sep 22, 2023
- Messages
- 966
- Location
- Tennessee
- Vehicle Details
- Chameleon 1995 Thunderbird LX 4.6
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This may actually be the answer. 1992-95?I say go with a SHO spoiler.View attachment 4316
This may actually be the answer. 1992-95?I say go with a SHO spoiler.View attachment 4316
I tend to equate wings, chin spoilers, hood tachs, rear window louvers, non-factory/non-year correct stripes to fuzzy dice grade accessorization, only they're perminant. I pretty clearly said that spoiler plausibly fits those Torinos for period correctness, but for me it just doesn't fit the formal body that never had any sporty pretentions in the Torino line. I'm a purist with these kinds of things. A spoiler on any car called a Brougham is a ridiculous contradiction; its like wearing a tuxedo to the ball with a backwards sports hat.
I don't like reproduction 15" Magnum 500s at all, but I like the original 14" ones on original cars. I never got the appeal as this "go-to" universal wheel, period mags(cragar, torque thrust, slots) fit that criteria better.
Well, considering that Magnum 500s were stock options for some new cars back then, why wouldn't they be considered "go-to"? I like the 15" reproduction Magnums if they have the same detail at the rim edge, meaning there's like a double dip of curve towards the middle of the wheel.
View attachment 4319
You see where the nipple is for the air hose, that's the second dip. A lot of repro versions and larger modern versions have smoothed out that outer area, flattened it, they're not nearly as good-looking. 15" is fine, still fits a Redline tire great in the wheelwell. I would want a 17" if the detail could be maintained though I understand that that option simply doesn't exist for some cars, which also includes enough inset to allow for those tall center caps.
The closest I will be allowed to get for my Thunderbird is going to be those 17" SVE Mach 1 style Mustang rims -
Not bad considering the offset needed.
I kind of agree except where those pieces were stock options on some versions of the same cars. So, T/A Challenger spoilers look fine on any '70-'74 Challenger regardless of original equipment, same with stripes (I like modded billboards with alternate cubic displacements with the same font) or passenger side mirror or hood scoop or whatever. Rear window louvers look great on most of those '70-style cars (whether they're actually from 1970 or not) and some were stock options.
While the Brougham may have pinky-extended name, the lines of that version of the Torino actually allow for the spoiler better than the fastback versions that really don't have a horizontally flat area for a pedestal spoiler to sit on, it's a constant ski jump into the air. The Brougham actually feels more MN12 to me with that curved trunk dip down.
Would a spoiler look better on the Brougham if it were named something else, like Boss Torino or Torino Mach 1? The name shouldn't matter, Tempest/Le Mans/GTO is the same basic car, Belvedere/Road Runner/GTX as well.
I really don't like it. It doesn't really accentuate, to me.
My father in law had an 82 AMC Concord wagon that had these same rims on it with the trim rings and center caps. Not sure if Ford made some deal so they could use the same rim, but they looked nice on the car. I had it for a few years after I put a new motor in it.Real Magnum 500s from the era looked like this, they had a chrome trim ring over the rim with brushed/machined silver spokes. Whenever I see those all chrome ones I know they're not original, there's no depth to them. They look so much better like this
View attachment 4320
Billboards only look right on a 71 to me, if they're on a 72-74 it looks poseur to me. I just don't really like clutter, I think real deal 71s look 10000x better with the billboard delete option, and apparently even car designers from the era didn't care for the crap the marketing departments festooned on their hard work based on some books I've read.
I don't know if it came across I was being a tad facetious with the brougham, I just plain don't like spoilers on that body. But since you asked a Tempest/Lemans GTO or Belvedere/Satellite/Roadrunner/GTX shared the same basic BODY. The Torino had two bodystyles and only the sportsroof ever had the GT and Cobra packages in 70-71, its apples and oranges in terms of what's appropriate. In 1970 Olds made the Cutlass Supreme a unique formal roof rather than the fastback, a good looking car in of itself IMO, as is the Torino hardtop(I'm not disparaging it), but it looks utterly stupid dressed up with 442 garb as opposed to the regular fastback body. I think a spoiler would look awful on a sportsroof, and I don't care for it on Mustang fastbacks either for the same reason you mentioned, but at least I could imagine a Cobra with it factory if I didn't know any better.
back then you didn't have all these aftermarket companies spitting out body parts like now,
I say go with a SHO spoiler.![]()
I'm just really glad you don't want to put an LX fox body spoiler on like the FB poster today had. It was beyond atrocious.
I saw that and said “eeeww”I'm just really glad you don't want to put an LX fox body spoiler on like the FB poster today had. It was beyond atrocious.