Thinking about getting this 97

Unpopular opinion here but just being honest.... Drivers seat is about to be worn out in 5-10k miles, needs new tires, old plastic intake manifold, lackluster options, steering wheel cover, no floormats, for $4000K... Not trying to be negative here, but if you didn't finalize it already there are better ones out there.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
The ball joints were recently done, correct? No noises? Good boots?

How is the leather on the driver seat?

Overall, this sounds like a fair price. Personally, I would try to push a bit lower, but I'm cheap.

The hazard are likely an easy fix. No idea about the manifold.


How do you feel? Did you drive it? Driving it is the most important thing.
Click to expand...

All suspension components looked fresh, yes. New end links, UCA / LCA, bushings, etc

Just posted a picture on leather. Literally looks new. Even the cluster surround and radio bezel are perfect. Like, they even still had their felt look and feel to the plastic. Perfect sample for scanning and reproduction.

I started at $3,500 and agreed to $4,000

Drove it for about 45min, going WOT a few times, tried to produce the shudder, but was unsuccessful. I didn't hear any rattles anywhere during my drive.

The only issue I that is "mechanical" I'd say is the O/D button not working. What could that be?
 
CDsDontBurn said:
All suspension components looked fresh, yes. New end links, UCA / LCA, bushings, etc
Click to expand...

That's great value in my opinion.

CDsDontBurn said:
The only issue I that is "mechanical" I'd say is the O/D button not working. What could that be?
Click to expand...

I read a few times about failing harnesses inside the shifter. The wires are extremely thin. I have a harness for sale.
The button is also somewhat fragile.
Are you sure it didn't work (to shift)? Not just the O/D Off bulb broken?

Kenz said:
Unpopular opinion here but just being honest.... Drivers seat is about to be worn out in 5-10k miles, needs new tires, old plastic intake manifold, lackluster options, steering wheel cover, no floormats, for $4000K... Not trying to be negative here, but if you didn't finalize it already there are better ones out there.
Click to expand...

Always good to hear another rational view. No point in just cheering on any MN12 purchase.
  • The seat. It's remarkably good, but it'll need immediate care to stay that way. I never see the leather un-torn in junkyards.
  • Tires. Agreed. Decent set for $500.
  • Manifold. No idea. Someone state cost and work hours please.
  • Options? Lackluster? I mean that depends on your preferences. I'd prefer no spoiler. I love the CD player.
  • Steering wheel cover. Covers often damage the actual leather. Check!
  • Where are the floor mats?
Are there better ones at that price? Possibly. The mileage is not super low. But if the body is rust free and the suspension is fresh, then that's a plus. It's not a price I would jump on. At $3,500, I think I would.
 
Probably the wires are broken either in the shifter, or just below it. Either way, you’ll have a replacement shifter available soon, right? For $4000, I really don’t see how you can go wrong with this car. 15” wheels and soft suspension are a positive for a daily driver. Put an intake manifold and tires on it and drive it for 200k miles.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Are you sure it didn't work (to shift)? Not just the O/D Off bulb broken?
Click to expand...

I pressed it and it didn't lock the TC, no. So I'm sure the wires are busted somehow in there.

Is this an easy fix otherwise?
 
Codes from Sticker:

CategoryCodeMeaning
EXT PNTBALight Prairie Tan CC
RC71Sales Region, but not sure what 71 means
BRK1$-wheel disc (without ABS)
INT TRB7Leather; Prairie Tan
R5Premium AM/FM Stereo
AXLEW5This code is not in the book, but that was discussed before. IIRC, it's the same as "5" = conventional axle
TRL4R70W
SPR33GGThese designate the spring part numbers, but I don't know how to distinguish Standard vs. Sport
 
4000 seems fair. The used market has been jostled in the last 5 years and I don't expect it to get much bettter. I imagine a dealer would mark it up to 7500 at the lowest, if the transmission is ok
 
CDsDontBurn said:
I pressed it and it didn't lock the TC, no. So I'm sure the wires are busted somehow in there.

Is this an easy fix otherwise?
Click to expand...

It is unrelated to the torque converter. It inhibits shifts into 4th gear (=overdrive gear) when "O/D Off" is illuminated. The torque converter clutch still functions as normal.

A harness fix is fairly easy, yes. Some people, like yours truly, relocate the button altogether.

No ABS is a double-edged sword.

There's way less to maintain/fix. That's good. But you have to be cautious on slippery surfaces. Always maintain a safe following distance and then some. If a friend borrows the car, you have to brief them that there is no ABS.

My car doesn't have it, although the seller insisted that it did over the phone. Oops.

Did you check if it has a supplemental transmission cooler? Some where installed by dealers under the TSB. Would be one less thing to do in a hot climate.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
It's too quiet...what's going on? 🧐
Click to expand...

13-cigars_03130_375759.png
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
It is unrelated to the torque converter. It inhibits shifts into 4th gear (=overdrive gear) when "O/D Off" is illuminated. The torque converter clutch still functions as normal.

A harness fix is fairly easy, yes. Some people, like yours truly, relocate the button altogether.

No ABS is a double-edged sword.

There's way less to maintain/fix. That's good. But you have to be cautious on slippery surfaces. Always maintain a safe following distance and then some. If a friend borrows the car, you have to brief them that there is no ABS.

My car doesn't have it, although the seller insisted that it did over the phone. Oops.

Did you check if it has a supplemental transmission cooler? Some where installed by dealers under the TSB. Would be one less thing to do in a hot climate.
Click to expand...

The best part about the car not having ABS was that the guy didn't know that it didn't have ABS 😂.

I didn't check to see if it had a supplemental ATF cooler. If it doesn't, I can add one later down the road, no problem.

1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
It's too quiet...what's going on? 🧐
Click to expand...

I was driving home and had to run another errand on my way back home.
 
I think that is a great buy. You can put the sport wheels from your pearl car on this one. At least that is what I would do. Congratulations on the purchase. Mechanical stuff is easy. Rusted out garbage underneath is not.
You'll have to decide what you want to do with the intake manifold. Since the real PI intake isn't available new anymore (unless you stumble across a NOS one), your choices are used PI, new aftermarket NPI, new aftermarket PI (which probably flows about the same as an NPI intake). For the money and ease of assembly and since you are just driving this, a new aftermarket NPI might be the way to go. Some (not all) come with a lifetime warranty which will be good for as long as they are still making them.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Well, I'm going say that, as a "car warming gift", once you disassemble the console and find that the shifter harness is indeed to blame for the lack of O/D OFF functionality, then I'll send you a good harness free of charge (you pay shipping). Keep me posted.
Click to expand...
Much appreciated! I'll keep you posted on this.

KevinVarnes said:
I think that is a great buy. You can put the sport wheels from your pearl car on this one. At least that is what I would do. Congratulations on the purchase. Mechanical stuff is easy. Rusted out garbage underneath is not.
You'll have to decide what you want to do with the intake manifold. Since the real PI intake isn't available new anymore (unless you stumble across a NOS one), your choices are used PI, new aftermarket NPI, new aftermarket PI (which probably flows about the same as an NPI intake). For the money and ease of assembly and since you are just driving this, a new aftermarket NPI might be the way to go. Some (not all) come with a lifetime warranty which will be good for as long as they are still making them.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's going to be getting Pearl's Sport wheels for sure. Thinking about getting those wheels powder coated a stock-ish silver like color as they're all peeling right now.
 
CDsDontBurn said:
Yeah, it's going to be getting Pearl's Sport wheels for sure. Thinking about getting those wheels powder coated a stock-ish silver like color as they're all peeling right now.
Click to expand...
I'm sure I've posted this here before, but I refinished the wheels off of my old '93 SC at least 5 years ago with the Rustoleum wheel paint and they still look good after that time and probably 65k daily driven miles on our '97. The color match was about as close to perfect as you can get (put old original center caps on and you cannot tell a difference in hue). It might be more prep time, but the finished result is pretty good for a fraction of the cost, and I'm generally kind of picky with stuff like that. PM me if you want more info on what I did.
 
KevinVarnes said:
I'm sure I've posted this here before, but I refinished the wheels off of my old '93 SC at least 5 years ago with the Rustoleum wheel paint and they still look good after that time and probably 65k daily driven miles on our '97. The color match was about as close to perfect as you can get (put old original center caps on and you cannot tell a difference in hue). It might be more prep time, but the finished result is pretty good for a fraction of the cost, and I'm generally kind of picky with stuff like that. PM me if you want more info on what I did.
Click to expand...
Definitely an idea.

After seeing what powder coating looks and feels like, powder coating just looks better 😅.
 
Just ran the CarFax report on the car and it checks out. No accident history, no structural damage whatsoever reported on this car.

The service history is pretty consistent throughout the history of the car. The guy's story saying that this was his dad's car checks out via CarFax as well. Or at least, it checks out that this guy is the 2nd owner.

In the repair history, there is one that has me kind of baffled. What would a "body computer / module" thing be about?

1751254179238.png

Then there was a failed emissions test in 2005 which required the ECM to be repaired (I imagine replaced).

Otherwise, it's all pretty consistent history on the car.

1751254267347.png
 
Im owner five with no records beside the registration reports. Seems like a good report
 
A bit of speculation here:

I think all of these are in reference to what Ford calls the PCM (powertrain control module), which is the ECM (engine control module) and transmission control module combined. We have a PCM behind the passenger kick panel.

When they say Body computer/module, that's a bit peculiar, because we don't have one of those to my knowledge.
BCMs are common in newer cars and usually combine several modules into one that used to be individual modules in older cars, e.g., turn signal flasher, daytime running lights, auto lights, alarm, locks, delayed accessory power and countless other things. Body generally referring to anything other than powertrain.
Either they meant the PCM and just worded it funny, or they were referring to some other module, relay block, or junction block. Hard to say.

PCM issues don't seem uncommon. My car was on its second PCM when I bought it, and I have since replaced that with a junkyard unit (as part of my fix for a crankshaft sensor code, though wiring repairs may have been the main fix, and I keep the other PCM as a backup). @Rodeo Joe is also on his second PCM.


All in all, these Carfax items wouldn't concern me. There were issues, and they were fixed.
More important is that the car passes inspection now.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
All in all, these Carfax items wouldn't concern me
Click to expand...

Same. The only thing that the CarFax report does for me is quell my curiosity on accident history. The owner can say all they want, but unless the owner(s) are body shop people doing this on their own dime or know someone who'll do the work for them on the side, then it'll get reported. And here, I now know that no accident history was reported.
 
Agreed, though nothing beats your own personal inspection.

One thing I forgot to mention, and I'm not sure if anyone else did:
Did you check that all VINs matched? There are VIN stickers on most body panels, including fenders, core support, inside the trunk lid, etc.
 
LOL, I did not check the other VIN on the car to make sure they were matching.
 
So, I'm starting to get that "buyer's remorse" thing, and I don't even have the car in my possession! It was basically a "hand-shake" agreement that we came to that I'd be picking up the car on Sunday the 6th.

While my wife is all for it, I'm beginning to doubt. Why? Because of the money.

This money that I'm using for the car is / was earmarked for projects around the house. My Honda is having issues to boot and that's looking like it's going to be a $1,000 fix. And while the intention of this T-Bird is to replace my Honda, it's looking like we will still be keeping the Honda for my kids' to drive as they are starting to get close to that age of driving.

This T-Bird will end up costing me roughly $5,000 up front all said and done as it will be:
  • Cost of the car
  • Registration & Taxes
  • Tires
  • Fluid changes
  • Possible Intake Manifold
  • Honda
    • If we're keeping the Honda as my kids' first car, that's an extra $1,000 I'll have to drop there on top of the $5,000 for the T-Bird
    • $6,000 total

Again, I have this money but the money was earmarked for projects around the house. The house needs stucco work done, landscaping (front & back yards), flooring (tile), and if we can stretch it, a new patio. Buying this car, I will still have some money, but it won't be money to get all these projects done. Honestly, it'd probably be either the stucco work OR flooring.

Getting my Honda fixed will only be $1,000 as I said before. I could potentially squeeze out a little more to get bits and pieces for my Pearl T-Bird as well; things like caliper adapters for front and rears, and tires. So Probably about $2,500 between my Honda and my Pearl T-Bird? The stuff for my T-Bird, while I want it running sooner rather than later, could still wait and can be acquired over time like I've been doing still.

Am I right to be getting cold feet on this deal? Does buying this car still sound like the right thing to do?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top