![]() Aftermarket companies prefer to focus on larger production vehicles with bigger potential markets such as the Ford Mustang. Second, due to the relatively low demand, aftermarket companies have limited economic incentive to tool up to manufacture OEM parts replacements. As a low-production vehicle of only 68,095 cars, fewer replacement parts were produced for the Thunderbird than for other higher-volume cars. Why are OEM replacement parts for the 2002-2005 Thunderbird so hard to find, and why are they so expensive? First, the 2002-2005 Thunderbird has been out of production for over ten years. This part, which sold for under $ 150.00 when it was in production, now lists for a whopping $ 3,417.25! No, that’s NOT a typo! Over thirty four hundred dollars for ONE piece of interior trim! Take the OEM glove box trim panel for a 2005 Thunderbird for instance. The small supplies that remain are shrinking every day, and prices on OEM Thunderbird parts still available climb higher every day. Most have been discontinued and out of production for years. I find I'm liking this car more and more every trip.Looking for 2002-2005 Thunderbird OEM Parts? – OEM replacement parts for the 2002-2005 Ford Thunderbird are becoming harder and harder to find. Fortunately, this car has the satellite radio option so I am not so bummed about this problem.Īll-in-all, a hella-fun car to spend a weekend drive in. I did note that this car's stereo does suffer from the typical Ford CD-changer failure prone to ALL Ford's of the mid-2000's. I made a point to have the coil-on-plugs and spark plugs inspected and found the inherent oil ingress issue (a known issue with the 3.9L in the Thunderbird, Lincoln LS and Jaguary S-type ) in the spark plug wells, and had the valve cover grommets replaced along with new spark plugs and coils. ![]() These tires completely smoothed-out the ride and the whisper-quiet tires enhances the top-down experience. The handling is decent and traction is on the mark with wide footprint 17" tires.I opted to put new Pirelli Cinturato A/S Plus (grand-touring) tires on to replace the aging Continentals. The 3.9L V-8 provides ample power and acceleration. The car was not designed to be a sports car, but a roadster - something with driver comfort in mind. The light gray interior of this car will reflect more sunshine heat than the black interiors, and give a longer life to the leather seats and vinyl interior trim. Having owned a convertible with a black interior decades ago, I knew better than to own another black interior convertible, and learned that 95% of the 'retrobirds' had a standard black interior, albeit for the limited-editions (2003 007, 2004 Pacific Coast Roadster, or 2005 Cashmere). An added-plus is that this Thunderbird has a detachable hardtop for the off-weather seasons to allow for fun driving in the late Fall through early Spring. Being only a 2-seater, it's definitely limited to fun driving, as it's small trunk and 2-passenger capacity make it impractical for anything else. ![]() ![]() Also, being that I am 6' tall, I wanted a car that I could be comfortable in and not feel like Dino in the "Flintstone-mobile at the drive-in".this is one of the few cars of it's 2-seater size that allows for a full-size American to be comfortable in. This car DEFINITELY fits the bill.rarely see one of these on the road, and even more rarely one of these limited-edition Pacific Coast Roadsters. I was seeking an convertible for summer fun, and I wanted to find something unique, not a dime-a-dozen Mustang, Camaro, or foreign convertible. ![]()
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