The dashboard is from a 1980 Thunderbird. Ford used this style dashboard in 1980-82 Thunderbirds. The original rectangular panel on the above the glove box was black and had the word "Thunderbird" in the lower right. I removed the entire thing and replaced it with a piece of plexiglas that I painted with yellow plastic paint on the front. I painted the entire back of it black except directly behind the Maverick emblem, which has a back light when the headlights or parking lights are on. The instrument cluster was originally electronic, but I removed it and retrofitted an electronic cluster from a 2001 Crown Victoria. The square panel in the middle of the dash originally contained a small trip computer, but I retrofitted a system monitor/trip computer from a 1984 Lincoln. The buttons to control this are visible at the top of the dash. The main "guts" of the system are located in the driver side rear quarter panel area. The system sounds a tone and gives a text warning for things like low oil pressure, charging system malfunctions, door and trunk ajar as well as headlight, brake light or taillight out. The Thunderbird did have a primative automatic climate control which I retrofitted with an electronic climate control from a 2001 Crown Vic. The system actually works! The seats are from a 1993 Probe and originally were black leather with white inserts. I had some dye custom tinted to approximately match the carpeting, which is available from ACC (color = "Chrome Yellow"). The driver's seat is 8-way power. The steering wheel is from a 1980's van and has cruise control buttons built in. The cruise control is functional, with the cruise control actuator being taken from a 1988 Thunderbird. It is hidden behind the driver's fender. The main part of the steering column is stock Maverick and has been mated to the top part of a 1977 Thunderbird tilt column. The turn signal stalk is from a '77 Versailles and has controls for intermittent wipers. The center console is aftermarket and is called a Hump Hugger. I customized the console by cutting a hole in the front to mount a control panel containing the switches for the power windows and the power mirrors. This control panel is from a 1984 Lincoln Mark IV. The actual side mirrors are from a 1982 Mazda RX-7. The power window motors/mounting were supplied by Thomas Hackmann. Power locks acutators inside the door are aftermarket, but there is a door keypad from a 2000 Ford. The entire wiring harness/keyless entry module was transplanted from the same 1980 Thunderbird that supplied the dash. The electric trunk release was taken from a '70's Lincoln. Custom door ajar switches and lighted entry switches were installed on each door latch. The lighted entry switches trigger the interior lights whenever the door handles are pushed in. The door locks are lighted, taken from a late '70's Lincoln. The keyless entry is supplemented by an aftermarket remote controlled alarm/keyless entry/starting system. The system features auxillery inputs, one of which I used to interface with a custom built computer chip that will raise and lower the power windows automatically from the remote. The interior rear view mirror is from a mid-80's Lincoln with automatic day/night operation and a forward facing sensor for the automatic headlight dimmer. The '80 Thunderbird did have automatic headlight operation, but didn't have the automatic headlight dimmer. The dash was modified to accept the controls for both using a bezel taken from a 1980's Cadillac (Ford and GM used the same supplier for the automatic headlight systems). Using a Dremel tool, holes were cut for backlighting and the bezel was trimmed to fit in the spot where the original sticker was. This bezel shows how you have the headlight controls set. Too bad it isn't visible in any pictures! The '72 style parking brake handle was removed to accomodate the new dash and a later model foot pedal was retrofitted in. The entertainment is provided by a Sony XAV-7W headunit with a 7" motorized LCD color screen and infrared remote which puts out 45 watts into 4 channels. There are 3" Sony in-dash speakers up front and 6 x 9 Pioneers in the rear package tray as well as a 100 watt trunk mounted bass tube. The receiver tunes AM/FM/TV as well as XM Satellite Radio. There is an amplified TV antenna mounted inside the rear window and a rear glass mounted XM antenna. The AM/FM signals are handled by a rear passenger quarter panel mounted power antenna. The system also features a trunk mounted 10 disc CD/DVD changer as well as a 6 disc Minidisc changer. The battery is an Optima Yellow Top and has been mounted in a vented box in the trunk, which has been fully carpeted. Under the hood is a 302 taken from a '77 Maverick and rebuilt in 1988. The heads are 1980's Ford SVO, and I am still running stock manifolds (argh!). The motor has been retrofitted for EFI. The wiring harness is from an '86 Grand Marquis, and the EEC is from a 1993 Mustang. The EEC is custom tuned by a device called the "TwEECer", which allows me to make updates to the tune with a laptop, as well has have up to 4 different tunes at one time loaded and switchable on-the-fly via a rotary switch mounted to the steering column. The high pressure fuel pump is external and mounted on the frame rail near the gas tank. The fuel return is routed through the original fuel vapor line. The fuel sending unit has been modified so that the Crown Vic electronic gauge can read it. The front brakes are stock Maverick discs, retrofitted from a '77. The back brakes are disc, installed from a kit from Stainless Steel Brake Corporation (SSBC) and feature a functional parking brake system. The power braking is supplied by a Hydroboost system from a '75 - '77 Monarch/Granada/Versailles. This system takes pressure from the power steering pump to provide power assist instead of engine vacuum. The master cylinder is from a 1976 Corvette. Although the power steering is stock, the suspension is an upper/lower tubular control arm coilover shock design made by Total Control Products (TCP). The front shocks are adjustable for both ride feel and ride height. The front sway bar has been upgraded to 7/8" and a 3/4" rear bar was added. The rear end is an 8" Equi-Loc, which is similar to a Trac-Loc. The wheels are 14" SS Cragars, with 215/60SR14 Firestone Indy 500 Firehawk tires on all four points.
