Minneapolis Street Sighting: Ford Thunderbird LX

In 1955, the Ford Thunderbird came out as an arch-rival to Chevrolet's Corvette. But, in the years that followed, the Thunderbird would carve out an entirely new niche for itself--and Ford's future. With its first redesign in 1958, the Thunderbird established itself as a personal luxury coupe; not a sports car, and not quite Lincoln opulence--at a Ford price, to boot. From then on, the Thunderbird got bigger and bigger, and more and more luxurious until it finally encroached on Lincoln's turf.

When the Thunbderbird name is spoken, four cars distinctly come to mind: the first generation 1955-1957s, the1961-1963s, the much-loved TurboCoupe of the 1980s, and the final straw for the historic nameplate, the 2002 to 2005 cars.   Of course, the generation I left out was the 1977 to 1979 cars. Not because I don't like them, but hoards of other car enthusiasts don't care for them.

The generation that's been made subject of today's post is the M12 generation; introduced in 1988 to replace the "aerobird" that from 1983 to 1988, the 1989 car introduced was a much roomier, much sleeker (and often called bland), and pricier model than its predecessor. The 3.8 V6 was carried over, and the aging 5.0 was replaced with a 4.6 Modular V8 in this model run; to offset the loss of the enthusiast-favorite TurboCoupe, a SuperCoupe made its debut in 1989 and lasted until the 1995 model year; like the "aerobird"'s facelift in the 1987 mode year, the MN12 received a subtle facelift in 1994. The front bumper added two air intakes on either side of the front license plate mount, to freshen up the look (and to coincide with Ford's rounded styling theme that debuted on the 1994 Mustang). Aside from new wheels in for the Supercoupe and new wheels and colors across the board, nothing else was new.

Unfortunately, a slightly altered fascia did nothing to improve slagging sales, and Ford's personal luxury coupe were dropped after the 1997 model year. Did Ford ultimately clip this Bird's wings? No. Not quite.  In 2002, the Thunderbird would fly once again, this time spearheading the retro movement which took the automotive industry by storm in 2000, with such marketing gimmicks as the Chrysler PT Cruiser and, ultimately, the final iteration of the Thunderbird.

Being a twenty year car in the rustbelt is no easy task, especially for a vehicle whose residual value was fairly low from the time to rolled off the dealer lot. One one hand, you have owners who preserve their Birds and modify them with a plethora of performance mods culminating in fast-ass boats; the other hand deals with the multitudes of Ford's best luxury coupe that have fallen into the hands of people who view them merely as "transportation". As such, a large portion of these cars have been neglected and are now fairly scarce in unmodified condition.

This example was chosen, not for its supreme condition, but because it represents the typical color and wheel combination that I remember from my childhood. As I remember, this shade of green, called Light Evergreen Frost, adorned practically every single new Ford Thunderbird at Laird Noller. Well, okay, the Supercoupes weren't this color, but still. I've always liked this color, too, which is sort of odd considering it wasn't anything fancy, even in 1994.

Inside, the typical Ford interior hasn't shown its age very well; the seat  bolsters were incredibly torn and the dash was cracked in all the usual spaces; but rest assured  this has no bearing on vehicle comfort; I didn't get to talk to the owner, but he was surprised that I acknowledged his vehicle, and thanked me for shooting it; I think I made his day!

As always, I did have fun shooting this; pity about the surface rust though; at least it isn't in worse condition.  Once the rust starts, it never sleeps; I have a feeling this car might develop severe frame rot soon.  Shame, really.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Kia Borrego

In the 1980s and 1990s, and even into the early 2000s, the big,body-on-frame-truck movement was going strong; in the 1980s, the Japanese saw a space in the marketplace in took it, with the Mitsubishi Montero, and Toyota 4Runner. By the 1990s, the movement would grow ever stronger, and the market swayed towards the luxurious end of the segment, with the popularity of vehicles such as the Range Rover, and Lexus' LX (Toyota Landcruiser), and even the posher versions of the Toyota 4Runner and Mitsubishi Montero. By the middle of the 2000s, the market waned considerably, and due to slow sales (and a relatively high asking price), the Montero was pulled from the US market; the Lexus LX also grew much bigger (and suffered a $24,000 price hike to boot) and would go on to compete with the Infiniti QX56 (Nissan Armada), and the 4Runner became less and less luxury oriented and went back its off-road roots.

With the Koreans upping their game considerably, the gap between car-based crossovers and luxo-utes like the Land-Rover LR3 was left wide-open; and Kia saw a chance to jump into what once was a thriving market.  Unfortunately, several factors ultimately culminated in a very slow-selling, often-discount five-door rig that probably had more chops than credit it was given. New, they listed for about $35,000 or so, but you can pick one up for about half that, even with the 4.6 V8. Reliability is typical Kia-strong, so if you can live without the prestigious badge on the grille, this ute makes sense.

Since the vehicle itself wasn't exactly a sales-success, drivers of the Borrego aren't likely to see themselves coming and going, as drivers of, say, a Ford Explorer would.  While this is a good trait, if drivers want to stand out, it could be a downfall, come repair time.  With not many examples to go around, parts supply is fairly limited, thus making crash repairs a hassle, both in time consumption, as well as cost.

Overall, a very nice actual truck-based-SUV in a sea of mini-me-too crossovers, and definitely a unique sighting, even if it doesn't qualify as a "classic" yet.  Only time will tell if this Korean ute is the next "must-have" collectible truck.

 

Outside, the finish is typical of that of a five year old vehicle, let alone a sport utility; no actual damage but orange peel aplenty, and several minor nicks and bruises, but nothing inherently serious.  It seems ass if 90% of the Borrego's production was finished in this orange hue (very similar to one used by Nissan as well), because all of the ones I've see have been this color, and for once, the cladding on the rockers and lower fascias is not a hindrance.

Since this is a fairly new vehicle, no further comments can be made about the interior quality, nor its condition, except that this is a fairly bottom-rung model without leather, and without the Kia UVO navigation system. Would it be a better spot if it were a fully-loaded model? Possibly. But the fact that a base-model of a not-well-known vehicle was bought is a novelty in itself.

As with all my sightings, I had fun shooting this particular truck; I'm not so sure I will get the chance to shoot another one in depth, so I might as well make use of this example.  Will I shoot another one? If I find one, yeah, I will.