1978 Ford Thunderbird review from North America
"No frills, except for gas guzzling engines"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
This car was built solid unlike today's Fords. Apart from normal maintenance, this car ran despite the body falling apart from rust. The valves starting making noise at around 40000 km and it burned oil from that point on till I scrapped the car. Blue smoke would be shot out of the exhaust pipe.
General comments?
Too bad Ford doesn't make cars like that again. Cast iron engines are the way, unlike today's aluminum engines. The 5 litre V8 was too small for a huge car like the Tbird. Unfortunately the 5.7 litre and the 6.6 litre engines were hard to come by that particular year.
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| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | No |
| Year of manufacture | 1978 |
| First year of ownership | 1980 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 1997 |
| Engine and transmission | 5.0 Automatic |
| Performance marks | 7 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 7 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 7 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 5 / 10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 4 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 20000 kilometres |
| Most recent distance | 92000 kilometres |
| Date of Entry | 21st June, 2002 |