1978 Ford Thunderbird User Reviews

All About Nora — "Nora" is the 4th of this generation of Thunderbird to grace my driveway. Obviously, ford got something VERY right all those years ago. These have to be amongst the least expensive, most reliable, comfortable and durable cars it is possible to have.

Primary Use: Commuting to work

A True Luxury Sportscar — The styling on the car made it look like it was going 60 mph when it was sitting still. I will definitely buy another one if I find the right color and one that's loaded with options. For the money, you can't go wrong buying one now as an antique car or one for saturday night cruising. A low mileage clean rust=free car can be had for under $6000 with excellent supernice low mileage cars going for less than 10K but shopping around is advised. Don't buy the first one you see.

Primary Use: Sport/fun (spirited driving, track racing, off-roading, etc.)

Land Yacht Luxo Barge — Okay, let's face it--the late 1970's was definitely NOT considered to be the high-water mark for American automobile manufacturing and design. And the luxo-barge segment of that era was, in particular, not world-renowned for it's cutting-edge innovation and performance. But thirty years later, maybe they weren't as bad as we remember... The '78 T-Bird epitomized the phrase 'land yacht'. It was my second car and did not have a high bar to jump as my first was a '79 Buick Regal with a bad radiator and sagging headliner. I have to say that compared to the Buick, this car was simply awesome. It didn't have even 40k miles on it when I acquired it from my uncle in 1985, and the burnt-orange paint and dark brown vinyl interior looked as new as the day it rolled out of the showroom. The front seats were cavernous and luxurious, even if they were vinyl. Eight-way power seats with separate, fold-down center armrests for driver AND passenger. Cruise control. Faux wood dash with large white-on-black circular gauges. It was like sitting in a Lazy-Boy! Awesome. The back seats were really just for decoration, though, because as big as this car was there was almost no legroom at all for back seat passengers! The view out the windshield was awesome, too. You really couldn't tell where the front of the car was...it look like it just kept on going to the horizon. Which it almost did, really. Just massively huge. Staring down all that shiny sheet metal, I just couldn't help but feel like I was at the wheel of a serious piece of machinery. Of course, that's because I was. Although it had a 5.0L V-8 under the hood, it required every last one of those 302 cubic inches to motivate this monster down the road. Acceleration was not, shall we say, brisk. Steering was surprisingly light for such a big car thanks to the hugely overboosted power steering system. Handling and braking were...uh...hmmm...well, let's just say that one had to anticipate any and all inertial changes to the vehicle's trajectory will in advance. So even though in many ways this car represents all that was wrong with Detroit in the 1970's, outside of that context it really isn't so bad. In fact, in lots of ways it's downright cool. I thought so then. I think so now. And that's the truth.

Police Interceptor Luxo Bird — I have done very little to this car over the years. I am the 2nd owner, and aside from routine maintenence, all I have added was the Magnum 500 wheels, and dual exhaust. It has been a very reliable car, comfortable as a lazyboy chair, with great looks.

Primary Use: Sport/fun (spirited driving, track racing, off-roading, etc.)

Pretty Money Pitt — it was a beautiful tutone blue with opera windows and hidden headlights what a beautiful car but it broke down to many times and had to go sold it off and ended up with a little chevy chevette, that was an a needed replacement

Primary Use: Commuting to work