1987 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe: Reskinned, Intercooled, Car of the Year

This record's own dek states that the Turbo Coupe was reskinned and intercooled for 1987, rated at 190 horsepower with the five-speed and 150 with the automatic, and that it was Motor Trend's Car of the Year; this record's own overview repeats that figure split on an SAE J1349 net basis, and this record's own engines section carries both ratings against the same 2.3-liter turbocharged, intercooled, EFI four, each rating's own standard field naming the transmission it goes with.¹

This record's own overview also states that the North American Turbocoupe Organization's 1987-88 specification sheet lists a Borg-Warner T-5 five-speed with a 3.55 final drive, or an A4LD four-speed automatic with 3.73, an 8.8-inch rear axle, 240 lb-ft of torque at 3,400 rpm, an 8.0:1 compression ratio, and a 3,415-pound weight rising to 3,419 with the automatic; this record's own engines section repeats that same 240 lb-ft figure with a note that the club spec sheet does not name which transmission it was measured with.¹

This record's own overview also states that The Autopian reports the 1987 refresh budget grew from $100 million to $250 million, and that the Turbo Coupe was Motor Trend's 1987 Car of the Year, while Car and Driver's October 1986 test of a five-speed car, as reported secondhand by Old Car Memories, ran 0-60 mph in 8.0 seconds with a 137-mph top speed; this record's own performance section carries both of those measured figures directly, its own conditions field noting the original Car and Driver page was not read.^2,3

This record's own overview also states that Wikipedia's production table gives 128,135 Thunderbirds of all series for 1987, with no citable Turbo Coupe count found; this record's own production section carries that same 128,135 figure as its single row, labeled a whole-line total, with its own note again stating that Turbo Coupe production by year was not found in any citable source and that forum figures are held as an unpublished lead instead.⁴

This record's own keyFacts section repeats the 190/150-horsepower SAE net split and the Motor Trend Car of the Year distinction, and separately states that Hagerty puts total 1983-1988 Turbo Coupe production at about 130,700, with the 1987-88 cars nearly half of it, while year-by-year Turbo Coupe figures circulating on owner forums add to 128,533, so this record's own text treats neither total as confirmed; this record's own prices section gives $16,805 for the Turbo Coupe, sourced to Hagerty's own 1987 paragraph rather than to a period catalog.⁵

This record's own transmissions section carries the Borg-Warner T-5 five-speed as standard with its 3.55 final drive, and the A4LD four-speed automatic overdrive as optional with its 3.73 final drive, both cross-sourced to the club spec sheet's own transmission and final-drive lines. This record's own unpublished-leads section carries a forum breakdown giving 23,833 Turbo Coupes for 1987 specifically, plus two separate quarter-mile figures for the same October 1986 Car and Driver test, 16.0 seconds from Old Car Memories against 16.5 at 85 mph from a search-engine summary, with a reason field noting the magazine page itself was never read and the two secondary figures disagree.¹

This record's own specifications section gives a 104.2-inch wheelbase, 202.1-inch length, 3,415-pound weight with the five-speed (3,419 with the automatic), 22.1-gallon tank, 0.36 drag coefficient and 8.8-inch rear axle ring gear for the 1987-88 Turbo Coupe from the club spec sheet, alongside a separate, rounder 3,400-pound Turbo Coupe weight this record's own text attributes to Hagerty rather than to the club sheet, kept as its own row rather than merged with the more precise figure.^1,5