1993 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe

Michael Albee's
1993 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe

I found my 1993 Super Coupe at a small independent car lot in November of 1999 while searching for a dependable "daily driver.

I really didn't know that much about Super Coupes. For as clean as it was it was priced really reasonable, and my first thought was to back away from it because something didn't seem quite right.

After talking to the owner of the lot, I found out that the car had a few problems and that was the reason the price was lower then it should have been.

He told me that the rear-end was making a whining noise under a load and that it would probably have to be replaced. He also said that the front brake rotors were warped and he also noticed that the steering jumped slightly when turning left into a curve on the highway or on the interstate.

Well, not being one to turn down a car in need, I decided to give it a new home. I should also mention that after driving it just 3 or 4 miles I couldn't talk myself out of buying it. It was a lot more fun to drive then what I had been driving. (Think 1986 Lincoln Towncar).

After doing some research and making a few phone calls, I decided to make an appointment to have a professional tear down and fix the rear-end noise. It turned out to be just a bad pinion bearing and we caught it in time so there was no other damage.

The brakes and the steering were also fixed and other than a few little minor things the car was in exceptionally good shape for just over 105,000 miles.

Although I was originally set out looking for a "Daily Driver", This car was to nice to drive in the Iowa winters. In fact, It had never been driven in the snow, (and still hasn't), and it is as clean underneath the car as it is on the top side.

For those of you who may have just moved here from another planet, or if you are not familiar with the Thunderbird Super Coupe, let's just say, "THIS BIRD REALLY FLYS." The power-plant is just a 3.8 liter V6 but it is equipped with a Super Charger, (thus the name Super Coupe). It's a real blast to drive! In fact, I haven't had this much fun driving a car since my high school days (Small Block Chevelle).

Passing cars on a two lane highway is really no problem. In fact it's very easy. Just push down the peddle a little bit and hold on. The biggest problem with passing cars in an SC is: you have to know were you want to pull back in before you start to pass. Because if you wait until you are passing the car, it to late, you just missed the spot. The best thing is, it still get 20+ miles per gallon in town and 27 on the highway.

The only little downfall is that it likes Premium Gas, 92 octane or better, but even with the higher gas prices of late, I think that's still a small price to pay for this much fun.

So far I've upgraded the sound system, removed the air silencer, installed a K&N panel filter, lowered the car just over 1 1/2" with the Eibach spring set and added SVT Thunderbird wheels with 17" Kumho ECSTA Supra 712 Tires. In the early fall of 2002, I also added a 5% ESM Overdrive pulley to the supercharger which has dropped my E/T's into the high 14's in the quarter mile.

Future plans for the car include a partial repaint to remove a few minor chips, scratches and dings. (More Photos)

Other Projects

I have recently adopted two needy Super Charged projects. One is a "Fully Loaded" 1990 Cougar XR7 that needs A LOT of TLC ... and a 1991 Super Coupe (photo right)with a blown head gasket.

The 1991 Super Coupe will be receiving most my immediate attention and the plans are to have it on the street and on the strip by the Spring of '04.

When I purchased the '91 it had the head gaskets out of it, and it was in danger of being parted out.

Plans for this car are to make it stronger, go faster, and make more noise then it ever did before. While keeping the body lines in tact, I am planning some major upgrades under the hood and in the drive line. I'm hoping to put it into the mid-to-low 13's and still make it a very nice and very drivable daily driver.

PROJECT UPDATE: (Fall 2006) The '91 has been on the street for almost two years, and now it has a full season of drag racing under it's belt too. We have only had a few minor problems at the track. The car has raced under almost every weather and track condition and it has performed even better than we expected.

Some small tuning issues still need to be worked out, but the car is still VERY fun to drive down the quarter-mile (13.58 sec @ 101.7 mph) and down the highways and bi-ways (21 city/26 hwy. mpg). Some photos are now available through this "more photos" link.