This next car comes as a tip from Art C who writes: These have to be going up soon... never see them around anymore. This one looks pretty good and priced very reasonably... restore it to factory condition, drive it a bit, then sell it on barret jackson in a coupla years for some profit?? Find this 1988 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe offered for $5000 in West Haven, CT via craigslist.
The Ford Thunderbird started life as a lithe 2-seat sports car competing directly with the Chevy Corvette - but by 1967, by then in its 5th generation, it had morphed into a big block monster of a 2-door, and was being driven upmarket by sales of the super popular Ford Mustang. It was restyled in 1969 to include a prominent bird beak that was slightly de-emphasized by 1972 when this one broke free from the GIANT egg that all T-birds hatch from. Find this 1972 Ford Thunderbird offered for $5,500 in SF Bay Area, CA via craigslist. Tip from FuelTruck.
This next car is gonna turn some heads...seriously, it is a good looking beast. It appears, at first glance, to be a first generation (1955-1957) Thunderbird, but is actually something built in the late 1970s/early 80s by a guy named Harry Shay. Read more about the history of the Shay T-Birds on this website, or just buy this one for cheap. Find this 1979 Ford Thunderbird Shay Custom offered for $14,399 in Cary, NC via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
I don't normally like the look of cars when they are painted white. Vans, trucks, and pickups look appropriate in the presence of all colors, but cars from the baddest Lamborghini to the classic '65 Mustang just look out of place in plain white without some sort of flair...maybe a racing stripe, or some blacked out accent trim. Find this 1989 Ford Thunderbird SuperCoupe offered for $2,500 in Greenbrier, AR via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
I hate that classic cars has become a lot like collecting stamps, where low mileage is more important that actual condition and things are only original once...but mostly the prices people want for these things. Anyway, if I'm going to get a really low mile car from the past, it'll be something like this T-Bird Turbo-Coupe...because I could actually drive it! Find this 1985 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe offered for $6,500 via craigslist in Sacramento, CA. Tip from Safety Fast. 
This next car comes from tipper Matt C who writes; You'd posted about how you can't find anything from the muscle car era with two doors, intact sheet metal, and a big V8 at the $5000 mark. Challenge accepted! Not sure what the engine size is, but it's probably a 390. Some of the broken interior trim bits may be hard to hunt down, but if all it needs is a power steering pump to hit the road, this could be a great cruiser. Find this 1965 Ford Thunderbird offered for $4,500 in Lawrenceville, GA via craigslist.
If the universe is indeed as infinitely large as the astrophysicists and heliocentric heretics would have us believe, then Dean Koontz was on to something when he wrote: “In an infinite universe, anything that could be imagined might somewhere exist.” Imagine for a minute that in 2002 when Ford brought out its retro-styled 78th generation Thunderbird that they built a Neiman Marcus limited edition to celebrate third world sweatshops and corporate acquisitions and mergers...or something. Anyway, find this 2002 Ford Thunderbird Neiman Marcus Edition offered for $18,000 in Sherman Oaks, CA via craigslist. Tip from...I dunno where I found this thing...but I think somebody sent it in...
Whenever someone (usually a new acquaintance, typically in an elevator, or other confined space with little escape like a sauna or an any gender restroom, who was trying to hide in his/her phone) asks me what, exactly, is Daily Turismo? I pause, and attempt to articulate that it is a blog masquerading as a media company about cars...and specifically a curated collection of cool cars for sale. But, what I should say is this -- it is a t-bird turbo swapped Mercury wagon from the 80s for a decent price. Most will go back to their twitter rant, meme like-a-thon, or Pokemon Goat, but a few would get it and perk up. For those few, I present this 1986 Mercury Grand Marquis Wagon offered for $3000 in Bethlehem, because where else would a chariot fit for a king be located?...oh...not that Bethlehem. Right. Bethlehem, PA. Tip from David K.
The seventh generation of the Ford Thunderbird was released in 1978 and it was a miserably slow car. Blame it on the aging buyers who wanted a gushy & quiet ride, or the ever-increasing safety standards that added weight, or the ever-tightening emission standards that choked power, but the biggest beast of a V8 engine 400 cubic inch Cleveland V8 that pushed out a hilarious 166 horsepower. What that means 40 years later is that the car makes the perfect sleeper because nobody expects a vehicle from the height of the malaise era to be able to go toe-to-toe with a new Tesla in a drag race. Find this 1978 Ford Thunderbird offered for $4499 in Anaheim, CA via craigslist. Tip from Sean S.
Tipper SecondMouse sent in the following car with these words of wisdom: You say you're dying to do some smoky burnouts in a RWD 2 door V8 with 4 wheel independent suspension, but you don't have a champagne budget, or even a beer budget (more like a tap water budget)? SecondMouse has you covered with a decent copy of the last of the everyman's Thunderbird here:
With a few exceptions, most American cars from the 1980's don't get a ton of love from enthusiasts. The Thunderbird Turbo Coupe won Motor Trend's car of the year for 1987, but still couldn't one up the Ford Mustang. The bird's 2.3 turbo had 190hp vs the SVO's 205hp and the 5.0 V8 in the bird sport had 150hp vs 225hp in the Mustang. The Turbo coupe is often thought of as a American version of the BMW 6 series coupe from the same time period. Prices on the 6 series have risen substantially in the last couple years so today's super clean bird is a lot of coupe for the dough. Find this 1987 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe for sale in Trumbull, CT for $5,950 via craigslist. 
Modified Ford Mustangs are a dime a dozen so it takes a lot to come across one that is out of the ordinary. Ford's Thunderbird Super Coupe was available from 1989-1995 with a 3.8 pushrod V-6 huffed on by a Eaton M90 supercharger that was good for up to 230 hp and 330 lbs of torque. The Ford 3.8 SC engine made good power, but never seemed garner the cult following that the similar displacement Buick Grand National turbo engine did. Today's Stang takes the road less traveled and has the unusual V6 engine swap into the state highway patrol favored notchback body style. Find this 1989 Ford Mustang Notchback for sale in Beacon Falls, CT for $5,500 via craigslist. 
There were no shortage of big domestic coupes to chose from in 1970's. However, it rare see them on the road these days. The Malaise era land yachts were big on the outside and small on the inside. Their asthmatic V8 engines got gas mileage in the teens and baroque styling stands out like a sore thumb now. It makes you wonder who in the world would drive a car like this in 2017. Today's seller left a little clue in the ad into their persona. Find this 1977 Ford Thunderbird for sale in Torrington, CT for $4,500 via craigslist. 
Find this 1983 Ford Thunderbird Heritage here on eBay bidding for $2,300 with a few hours to go, located in Mount Carmel, TN.
It is hard to remember, but at one point in time the Ford Thunderbird was a legitimate competitor to the Chevrolet Corvette. A dozen years later and the T-Bird had pulled an Elvis and got fattened up with fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches before being sent to an early grave, while the Vette continues on. Find this 1971 Ford Thunderbird offered for $5,000 in Cape Coral, FL via craigslist. Tip from Dascpcu.
As the TV show The Wonder Years grew up with its audience, so did the Thunderbird. The trim, stylish dude with a pack of cigs in his sleeve who bought a '55 could stroll right back in to the Ford showroom sixteen years later in a bowling shirt covered in mustard and still find his dream T-bird waiting for him. Find this 1971 Ford Thunderbird here for sale in Ft. Meyers, FL for $5,000 via craigslist.
The tenth generation Ford Thunderbird was released in 1989 and within a few months the Super Coupe (SC) version was Motor Trend's Car of the Year. Luckily for people who like cheap cars, the COTY award is worth about as much as one of those 4x6 pre-paid post cards that fall out of automotive magazines like oversized confetti and the Super Coupe can be picked up for super cheap. Find this 1990 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe offered for $4,500 in Star, ID via craigslist. Tip from FuelTruck.