The car's braking system was fantastic, when it worked. When it broke, EVERYTHING cost a great deal of money unless you could cut corners like I did or you knew people. I once had to have Ford do an entire search to find an ABS sensor and it had been sitting on a service shelf for 8 years.
The car also loved to overheat, and of all places, on the highway. You would think hard city driving would be the key, but not so in this case. My guess was that it was just a poorly-engineered water pump.
The fuel pump was the anti-Christ, and replacing it (and the fuel sending unit) was like the fifth ring of hell.
The postings on here made me think about a car that I loved dearly but no longer own. Despite its shortcomings, I have to be fair since the car was ten years old when I bought it. Although I have owned a few cars since then, this was one of the finest vehicles Ford ever made. It is a rarity too: I used to see one every three to four days; I am lucky if I see one now every three to four months.
I used this car as a daily driver, which was a bad idea in terms of my then broke-college student budget. I think I had the least-optioned TC available: no illuminated vanity mirrors, auto dim/lamp, etc. However, the color scheme (Black with Scarlet Red velour) was the best!
I'd eagerly recommend anyone to buy this car if they find a decent one, which is quite hard to find. The lower mileage, one-owner car is worth the extra $700-1000, trust me.
I have a 1987 T-bird Turbo Coupe with a manual transmission. I absolutely love the car. My step dad was the original owner of the car he always had another vehicle that he drove too. The car sat in the garage for a long time as a result it only has 41,000 miles and it still runs great, I have never had any real problems with it. The brakes aren't the greatest, but they aren't horrible.