Tale of the Tape
An ugly secret is causing Ford Thunderbird owners to blow their tops, Ward's has learned. About 90% of the more than 20,000 '02 Thunderbirds sold by Ford feature a removable hardtop. But when deployed, the bottom edge which is trimmed with a gasket rubs against the painted surface of the rear deck lid. As a result, disgruntled owners say, paint gets smudged, scuffed and even scratched. Mark Scanlon
January 1, 2003
An ugly secret is causing Ford Thunderbird owners to blow their tops, Ward's has learned.
About 90% of the more than 20,000 '02 Thunderbirds sold by Ford feature a removable hardtop. But when deployed, the bottom edge — which is trimmed with a gasket — rubs against the painted surface of the rear deck lid.
As a result, disgruntled owners say, paint gets smudged, scuffed and even scratched.
Mark Scanlon of Cortland, IL, tells Ward's he bought an '02 Thunderbird with the removable hardtop. He even paid $11,000 over sticker, only to discover the top has “differential movement incidental to normal operation that wears the paint off.”
His dealer supplied him with a Mylar tape Ford had developed to protect the deck lid paint, but T-Bird owners say it hasn't been a cure-all.
A Ford spokesman tells Ward's a fix is on the way in the form of an improved stainless steel molding that will be factory-installed on '03 Thunderbirds and available as a retrofit on '02 models.
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