(09-27-2023, 01:14 AM)tqd7mb Wrote: Hello all
I have an 88 turbo coupe in pretty good shape. I want to recondition her and finding decent parts are incredibly hard. I have black with scarlett red interior. So does anyone make seat covers? Where can i find switches for door locks? What i really want is the console switch plate for dual seats. I cant believe how hard this is. Any ideas where i can get to bring her back? Thanks
Welcome to the challenges of owning a 35+ year old car!
In 2001 I set up a search on eBay and have been collecting parts ever since. I probably have a small warehouse—well, an average-sized room—full of parts. Some are (were) new (some are New Old Stock [NOS]), many are used that I either bought from there or got from salvage yards, or new from the dealer or parts store.
Sadly you’re kind of late to the game, so to speak. Every year there are fewer and fewer parts available. 30 years ago you could visit a local yard and there was a good chance you’d find a Turbo Coupe there, or maybe at least a Fox body Mustang or standard T-Bird. Those days are long gone. I know of one car that’s pretty much stripped down to nothing 120 miles away in Tucson, and one in a yard in Northern California that’s mostly complete but the guy wants a fortune to ship parts. It’s probably cheaper to drive there in a U-Haul truck and just load it up, avoiding that shipping.
I couldn’t even tell you the last time I saw another TC on the road, or even parked somewhere.
Generally, many Mustang parts will fit our cars—but generally not body or interior stuff. Engine, transmission, some suspension, etc. Since there were and are so many Mustangs sold, you can often get a new replacement part by just walking into a parts store—the better counter people will help you determine if it will fit your car by its listing and doing some research. And there is RockAuto.com.
There is a site called
Car-part.com (there is also an app) that is a database of salvage yards in the US and Canada. You put in the info and it tells you what salvage yards have that part. It’s often inaccurate in that the yard doesn’t properly list the stuff. Fort example, it might say it’s a Turbo Coupe but in reality it’s a standard Thunderbird or even a Super Coupe. The people I have done business with have sent photos to verify it’s the correct part.
One thing that happens is you become incredibly ingenious at either modifying another part or fashioning one yourself that will work.
If you have a list of what you need we can try and help you locate it based on our experience.
