Dream Car
Yes, the 1982 Thunderbird is my dream car. Too bad I didn't take better care of this one. More pictures...

Of all the generations of the Ford Thunderbird, my favorite would have to be the 1980-1982 (Fox) body style, particularly the 1982, particularly the Town Landau edition. That was the first car I ever raised hell in. :) Bought for $550 on May 31st, 1996, and sold for $50 to a junkyard in 1997.

Mileage when I got the car: unknown
Mileage when the car was sold: 99960 (approximate; 5 digit odometer)

Notice in the picture at right that the car has only one hubcap. This is because I was going to buy them as I could afford them, one at a time. I still have one original Thunderbird hubcap as well.

The Thunderbird and I have been to just about every place one can go in Denver, including Freaky's, a cool tobacco and gift shop, Cigarette City in Arvada, a good place for cigars, and to work and back innumerable times. The Thunderbird was also the centerpiece for our unannounced and unplanned trips to Wyoming, sometimes to get Dr. Slice, sometimes just for the ride. (And once to get pulled over by the Wyoming state police for urinating in public.. d'oh! Stupid kids...)

Eventually, my lack of automotive knowledge led to car problems, like when I thought the brakes grinding meant "replace soon" rather than "you idiot, the rotors are scraping" .. oops. The brake problem was the car's ultimate downfall, as one day I couldn't stop in time to avoid a trailer and plowed into it. (We got out of the Thunderbird and pulled the wheel well back into place by hand... total damage: $0.) Unfortunately, by then the brakes were already killed, and against my better judgement and will, my grandfather sold the car to a junkyard for $50. Luckily, I was able to salvage my hundreds of dollars of sound equipment. The stereo went into the station wagon and the speakers went into storage.

More information to come. For now, though, here are some promotional pictures of the 80-82 generation, courtesy of Ford Motor Company.