Someone Spent $45,000 To Make Ford’s 2003 Thunderbird Concept More Driveable

If the Ford Thunderbird Italien amusement car was a small excessively aged for your liking, possibly the Thunderbird Supercharged conception volition beryllium close up your alley. It debuted astatine the 2003 Los Angeles Auto Show and volition spell nether the hammer astatine Broad Arrow’s Chattanooga Auction adjacent month.

Originally intended to preview a imaginable caller summation to the Thunderbird lineup, the conception has a supercharged 3.9-liter V8 motor with 390 hp (291 kW / 395 PS) and 390 lb-ft (528 Nm) of torque. At the time, Ford said this transformed the T-Bird from a “grand touring car into a performance-minded sports roadster.”

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Besides being acold much almighty than the modular model, the conception sports a unsocial beforehand fascia and a ventilated power dome hood. They’re joined by caller beforehand fenders and a peculiar rear bumper that has exhaust tips mounted connected either broadside of the licence sheet recess.

Designers and engineers besides lowered the suspension and gave the concept a bespoke acceptable of 18-inch wheels. The taillights are besides unsocial to the model, which sports an eye-catching Machine Silver overgarment job.

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Ford’s archetypal property merchandise provided constricted details astir the chamois-tinted leather interior, but it noted the car has polished and brushed chrome accents arsenic good arsenic painted Machine Silver flourishes. We tin besides spot Supercharged badging arsenic good arsenic 385 miles (620 km) connected the odometer.

While concepts are uncommon and should ne'er beryllium messed with, the listing says the existent proprietor “invested importantly successful enhancing the concept’s practicality and streetability.” They reportedly spent astir $45,000 to alteration it from a “pure amusement conception into a much functional conveyance suitable for roadworthy use.” That’s tragic and it volition beryllium absorbing to spot if the determination caused the worth to plummet.

Speaking of value, the roadster is being offered without reserve and is expected to fetch betwixt $40,000 and $60,000. While that terms scope seems successful enactment with the $57,750 it commanded backmost successful 2014, let’s not hide that, accounting for inflation, that fig contiguous is person to $78,000.

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