1978 Ford Thunderbird First Car?

[Noracon]

I found a 1978 Thunderbird with less than 100,000 miles on it and am thinking about getting it this would be my first real car that I own and am wanting to know if I could actually drive it? The 78 Thunderbird is 215.5 Inches long and 78.5 Inches wide how would this car do on a narrow turn? and could I get use to it?

[LINC400]

There is no reason why a 1978 Thunderbird cannot be used as a daily driver. I had a 1979 Cougar (the Mercury twin), and used it as a daily driver for years, as well as 1978 and 1979 Continental Mark V's which are even larger.

If you are familiar with the car and get used to driving it, the size will be no problem. It has a short wheelbase for its length, and excellent handling for its size. However, some people are not capable of handling anything larger than a Honda.

I did not have much luck with the 302 V-8 though, and would not recommend one that is over 100,000 miles. They are also rather slow. If it is a 400, it should be no problem. I've never owned one with a 351, so I don't know how those are.

The worst thing would be 11-15 mpg city/hwy with current gas prices regardless of engine size. They all get about the same. But gas would be much cheaper than payments and insurance on a new fuel efficient car.

I also would not recommend it if you live in an area with snow and salt in the winter. It might look good now, but several months of snow and salt will bring lots of hidden rust to the surface, and it will look terrible in no time. If you live in an area without snow and salt, no problem.

[58Mustang]

Had you been born in 1960, or so, and were looking to get a car, what would you do? Would you be able to drive a typical full sized American car? Virtually everyone did, back then. There were small cars, but the big barges still ruled the road. What I'm saying is, of course you can drive it. Yes, it will actually go around a corner without making a three point turn and yes, you will get used to it, unless you are not a good driver now. Buy it and drive the wheels off of it

[John_Maine]

It's interesting that the '78 Thunderbird is considered a large car by the younger generations. We were driving larger cars than that back in the 60's and early-mid 70's. A Chevy Impala or Ford Taurus is considered a full sized car now but they are no bigger than many large "compacts" of the 60's.

Of course, a lot young people today don't think twice about driving around in oversized pick-ups these days. A '78 T-bird is certainly smaller than them. I never had a T-bird from the 70's but I did have 3 Gran Torinos which is the same car. Two of them had the 302, one had a 400. The 302 was pretty decent; in the '74 I had, I got 17-21 mpg on the road, 14-15 in town. The 400 was hard on gas, it rarely got more than 15 mpg on the road and 8-10 in town. Of course, by '78, pollution controls were improved so that probably helped the 400 do better on gas.

[Bleach]

Had you been born in 1960, or so, and were looking to get a car, what would you do? Would you be able to drive a typical full sized American car? Virtually everyone did, back then. There were small cars, but the big barges still ruled the road. What I'm saying is, of course you can drive it. Yes, it will actually go around a corner without making a three point turn and yes, you will get used to it, unless you are not a good driver now. Buy it and drive the wheels off of it

A lot of guys I knew had VW bugs as their first cars back then. I don't remember if it was a fad but it seemed almost everyone had one in high school. I bucked the trend and had a fairly new at the time '70 Ford Maverick. It was easy to drive and an easy car to work on.
I don't see any reason the T-bird wouldn't make a good first car. It is a bigger car but it'll have power steering and brakes and maybe some creature comforts. Visibility isn't too bad. There's lots of glass with narrow A and C pillars, except on the diamond jubilee edition. Somethings are harder to work on like changing a water pump where you have to take nearly every accessory off the engine to get to it. Hopefully it'll have all new engine accessories by now.