Ford Thunderbird

[Sizzle Chest]

2002 Ford Thunderbird
Black, 42,166 miles
3.9 Liter 4 valves per cylinder DOHC V8
252HP/267TQ
31,368 produced




This is a new client who was a referral. They love this car; however, it really needed some love from me! The paint was full of swirls, scratches, etching, more swirls, some hazing, and some beginning stages of clear failure on some horizontal panels.

Average paint readings were 3-3.5mils, so my usual approach of being as conservative as possible while achieving the ‘most %’ of correction would be appropriate here.



The nuts and bolts:

2BW with SCG Pro shampoo.
GYEON mitt.
Clayed via medium clay mitt.
Sonax wheel cleaner. (Thanks Ron!)
Adam’s tire and rubber cleaner.
Misc. brushes.
303 top cleaner.
Dried via Griot’s PFM drying towels and Master Blaster.
Adam’s APC for engine bay.
DeFelsko PTG.
Flex XFE 7-15, Rupes MkII 21, Rupes iBrid.
Misc. foam and wool/MF pads.
Griot’s Fast Correcting Cream.
Griot’s Perfecting Cream.
Misc. MF towels.
Scangrip lighting.
McKee’s 37 Fast Metal Polish.
McKee’s37 Hi Gloss Tire Dressing.
Auto Finesse Glass Cleaner.
Beta Test glass coating.
Optimum Panel Wipe for final wipe down/prep for coating.
22ple Mistico Elemento Forte as the LSP.
IGL trim coating was used on the engine bay plastics.
Metro Vacuum.
Pinnacle leather cleaner.
Pinnacle leather conditioner.
Adam’s Interior Detailer.
Adam’s Odor Neutralizer.


Thanks for looking! This Bird is ready to fly now!




Before shots:

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-bNSLtHX/0/b65e128e/XL/DSCN2018-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-bNSLtHX/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-CgXFPcP/0/51fdcf87/XL/DSCN2019-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-CgXFPcP/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-QT9WnhV/0/4455ba0d/XL/DSCN2020-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-QT9WnhV/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-7MTQTbD/0/6803d366/XL/DSCN2021-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-7MTQTbD/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-7HMD4m3/0/655c0cad/XL/DSCN2022-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-7HMD4m3/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-tqfcRPP/0/aa81a472/XL/DSCN2023-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-tqfcRPP/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-s245sSg/0/0e9ba1f6/XL/DSCN2024-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-s245sSg/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-5T9Wh6P/0/1f1a1ed1/XL/DSCN2025-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-5T9Wh6P/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-JgTDgtS/0/13c37b07/XL/DSCN2026-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-JgTDgtS/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-6WmLjFC/0/e33fa50e/XL/DSCN2027-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-6WmLjFC/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-mwwjxXL/0/cbea5403/XL/DSCN2028-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-mwwjxXL/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-qRxKqVK/0/99b6553b/XL/DSCN2029-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-qRxKqVK/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-Tqzk2z7/0/7dce63dd/XL/DSCN2031-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-Tqzk2z7/A)

[Sizzle Chest]

During:

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-59NHgfJ/0/f3548e74/XL/DSCN2034-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-59NHgfJ/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-4FTTmv9/0/4ee81dcc/XL/DSCN2035-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-4FTTmv9/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-xTdCHph/0/3fa03837/XL/DSCN2038-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-xTdCHph/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-PRM9hCz/0/2344a89c/XL/DSCN2039-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-PRM9hCz/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-rz5Jgwp/0/611ca7b5/XL/DSCN2042-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-rz5Jgwp/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-w2M9mTW/0/ffea19f4/XL/DSCN2046-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-w2M9mTW/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-qzMNcWV/0/6d205922/XL/DSCN2047-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-qzMNcWV/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-WFMzR8w/0/acff7fa4/XL/DSCN2048-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-WFMzR8w/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-pfwddtv/0/cee5ca82/XL/DSCN2049-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-pfwddtv/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-n5Bhv2F/0/5d64c089/XL/DSCN2050-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-n5Bhv2F/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-8N48n7Q/0/d88bd054/XL/DSCN2051-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-8N48n7Q/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-gnjMLfM/0/ed732957/XL/DSCN2052-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-gnjMLfM/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-gcsGKcK/0/0be3b377/XL/DSCN2053-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-gcsGKcK/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-kHcrnXc/0/48d6fba9/XL/DSCN2054-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-kHcrnXc/A)

[Sizzle Chest]

Final shots:

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-M2Bb6BW/0/e563a08b/XL/DSCN2055-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-M2Bb6BW/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-KqnW5Pp/0/457caf5c/XL/DSCN2056-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-KqnW5Pp/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-TS2nWBL/0/d263ffb9/XL/DSCN2057-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-TS2nWBL/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-F67Ft9F/0/61dd45c4/XL/DSCN2058-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-F67Ft9F/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-mTX32KM/0/b9c5c451/XL/DSCN2059-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-mTX32KM/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-VhC3JCV/0/3925f5a4/XL/DSCN2060-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-VhC3JCV/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-dcK7bds/0/657b2fed/XL/DSCN2061-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-dcK7bds/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-jHTPctJ/0/a7261445/XL/DSCN2062-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-jHTPctJ/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-CNTG5KS/0/904393e7/XL/DSCN2063-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-CNTG5KS/A)

https://photos.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-T28tnhn/0/eba6560a/XL/DSCN2065-XL.jpg (https://autodermatology.smugmug.com/2002-Ford-Thunderbird/i-T28tnhn/A)

[Mike Phillips]

Awesome work and photography.

There's a famous tv start the had or still has one of these cars in black. I watched her get into it and drive away from a "Cars and Guitars" gala affair I attended at the Peterson Museum a number of years ago. Supposed to be a "car person". The car was totally swirled out.


:laughing:

[Sizzle Chest]

Awesome work and photography.

There's a famous tv start the had or still has one of these cars in black. I watched her get into it and drive away from a "Cars and Guitars" gala affair I attended at the Peterson Museum a number of years ago. Supposed to be a "car person". The car was totally swirled out.


:laughing:



Thanks Mike! I always try to document the 'before' and 'after' of the vehicles I work on...it can really tell a story!

It's always much more gratifying to receive a vehicle in this condition and turn it around!

Thanks again for the kind words!

[Kamakaz1961]

As always! Excellent work! I do remember the T-Bird being for sale. The sad thing is that the dealers marked up the T-Bird so much that no one bought them. Soon production was cancelled because the sales of this model were so bad.

But you made that baby look awesome! KEEP ON ROCKING!

[DaveT435]

Looks incredible as always Scott.

[Sizzle Chest]

Appreciate the comments fella's!!

[SWETM]

Awesome work and write up and pictures as always Scott!

[Sizzle Chest]

Thanks SWETM!!!

[JKDesign]

Great save, Scott! Having worked on a number of them as a painter- Ford really failed on the paint!! Thin as can be, horrible orange peel, a funny sort of soft when it came to paint hardness. A great example of a car that could've been a really cool retro inspired ride that was dumbed down by the accounting department. I still think they are really nostalgic and neat to look at from a distance, but the experience goes sour when you get too close.

[LSNAutoDetailing]

The little bird is one of my favorites. I've heard at this point, getting parts to maintain it is extremely difficult. But it paved the way for the retro 2005 S197 Mustangs and all the other retro cars that followed, Beetle, Challenger, Camaro, etc... The Thunderbird was always a trend setter. I've owned two (mid-90's) and my brother is the original owner of a 1979 which is still in pristine condition in his garage.

Awesome job Scott!!!

[Farmallluvr]

Great work on that car Scott,,,,The wire wheels really work well on it.
I am a T-Bird lover and I have owned 4 ,,an 81,,84,85 and my last one was a pretty cherry little 86 T-Bird Elan v/8 Black w/gray interior,,my dad owned a quite a few to back in the 60's

[Sizzle Chest]

Thanks everyone! The comments are very much appreciated!

JKDesign, you hit the nail on the head!