Road Warrior T-Bird

Googly-Eyed Black Beauty

At first glance this car looks like it's on the walk of shame after spending all night in a dark club; look at those big glassy eyes!

To me it also looks like the post-apocalyptic bad-guy car from the opening chase scene in The Road Warrior:

Regardless what we have here is a 1977 Ford Thunderbird in black. The '77s and '78s were extremely close, but you can differentiate the two years by the grill; the '77 is an egg crate style with chrome on all lines, while the '78 is still an egg crate, but has chrome on only the horizontal bars. Pardon my intense auto-geekdom.

The rusty paint on the front and rear sections of the roof (but not on the easter-basket-handle going over the middle) says that this beast once had the vinyl roof covering. Of course the tiny band of chrome trim along the bottom of the rear window post denotes this as well.

Dig those "Opera Windows" in between the front and back!

 I love the full-width taillight assembly on these models, complete with ultra-stylized Thunderbird logos on each side.

This is the only real dent on this 'bird, which seems to be in fully-functioning condition. These weren't the most powerful cars, being from the "malaise-era" of American Automotive Design. The gas crisis of the early 70s was still reverberating throughout the industry as the big V8 motors were saddled with seriously restrictive smog and emissions equipment, reducing horsepower to puny levels. While this year was over 1,000lbs less than the previous model the next generation was to be even smaller, and would be based on the same Fox platform as the Fairmont. 

Still, it looks pretty mean with the BQE looming overhead.