Still, in a car of this vintage, it’s nothing but cool. Funny thing is, many of us are yearning for such gauges, as a a traditional tachometer and speedo becomes a thong of the past. I’d even be willing to bet she complained about it to the salesman, pining for a return to the analog gauges of her youth.

Inside, you get a taste of the future with that rad digital gauge cluster, certainly far more high tech than your grandma or Aunt Sally was used to. The bodywork shows no evidence of rust or major dings or dents, making it even more likely this is a total grandma car.

The seller says the appearance in pictures is no fluke, with even the underside of the trunk lid still shining like new. That being said, this example is notable simply for not ending up on the downward slope of becoming a cheap and useful beater like so many Thunderbirds and Cougars became after their third or fourth go-round. Like I said, the Turbo Coupe is the hot ticket, and if we were looking at such a model with similar mileage, the asking price would be considerably higher. The Thunderbird seen here on craigslist shows just under 50,000 original miles but looks like it has about half of that, and the seller is asking $7,000 on Long Island.

The 1986 Ford Thunderbird is a perfect example of this phenomenon, as it is a car that doesn’t rate very highly on the desirability charts but it’s hard to ignore one in the lower-tier, non Turbo Coupe trim that has somehow remained in exceptional condition since new. There are some cars that are inherently not desirable, but still begin to trends upwards on the interest-o-meter when you realize how few still exist in road-going condition.

86 thunderbird for sale