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1970 Mercury Cougar convertible for sale, California car

13K views 30 replies 21 participants last post by  rvercoe218 
#1 · (Edited)
Pictures are here
http://photobucket.com/70cougar

and video is here
http://youtu.be/Z7u9lTEav9I

You are looking at a lovely example of a classic Mercury Cougar convertible, finished in dark red with red interior, a very solid rust free California car since new, still wears the original blue and yellow california license plates. I recently purchased this car form the estate of the original owner, who sadly passed away.

The car has 351 V8 2bbl with automatic, the car has had an Vintage Air air conditioning system professionally installed at a cost of nearly $3500, its a really nice installation.

I have put new brake pads, calipers, master cylinder and booster. New KYB shocks front and rear, and a brand new custom made dual exhaust system that is nice and subtle that will not upset your neighbours on a Sunday morning!!

I also added a Petronix ignition system to make the car a reliable everyday driver. The electric windows have been rebuilt and the car has a power top with new cylinders and hoses, the top is in excellent condition with a glass rear window.

The interior is exceptionally nice, carpet is like new, the seats are excellent, and the dash pad is perfect, not warped or cracked, an Alpine AM FM Cd player has been installed with upgraded speakers behind stock looking door speaker grilles

This convertible body style was only made for 1969 and 1970, so they are pretty rare, only 2322 convertibles were made in 1970 !! So there cannot be too many left.

The car runs and drives very well, and needs nothing but a driver, the transmission shifts well, car brakes perfectly, and the top, windows, wipers, and lights all work.

The car is sold completely as is, no warranty expressed or implied, this is a 42 year old car, please ask questions, I strongly encourage inspections, the car is titled in my name, no liens, with a clear California title, and the car is currently registered and insured. The car is located in Los Angeles, I can arrange shipping overseas or nationwide at your cost.

No lowballers, flakes, tire kickers, or scammers, have your finances in order before you look at the car. If you have to ask your wife, bank manager, cat or dog, please move on !! Thanks for looking

Price $19,995 obo

Contact Neil on 310 seven 39 71-80 or email neil@thecarappraiser.com
 
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#3 ·
No lowballers, flakes, tire kickers, or scammers, have your finances in order before you look at the car. If you have to ask your wife, bank manager, cat or dog, please move on !! Thanks for looking
Is this a misplaced Craigslist ad? Sounds like it because I surely would lowball you for a car priced at grade 1 level but not a grade 1 car. Good luck...
 
#4 ·
yes the floor pan were professionally replaced by a restoration shop, with weld through primers and undercoating to prevent any further issues, and the price for high retail is as you call it is $36,000 according to NADA and to in addition to my professional opinion, and as a classic car appraiser, so you can low ball but you wont buy the the car !! the car is priced fairly according to the the condition, and reasonable offers will be entertained, so either make an offer or shut up !! no offense intended :smoke:
 
#5 · (Edited)
A reworked h-code standard with bolt-on air for 20 grand?

Maybe I can use you for my next insurance appraisal. lol
 
#6 ·
The hole in the muffler and the garbage on the floor are a nice touch.
 
#10 ·
Aweful lot of overspray in the engine compartment. Air cleaner looks rusty. Firewalls / inner fender aprons look like they need painted. Incorrect front floors. And I'm far from an expert.
Where is the pic of the Marti report? Is the car even supposed to be red on red?

Granted, it does look relatively clean, and he will probably be able to find a buyer in the uninformed masses. Price still seems steep to me though. Heck, Don bought a survivor CJ ragtop for that price! LOL!
 
#12 ·
lol. Looks like a nice driver and we can talk as much as we want, just like you can ask as much as you want for your car.

NADA is , well, um......WRONG.
 
#13 ·
#15 ·
#14 ·
Yep, Craigslist ad. Well, my "professional opinion" puts your car between grade 3 and grade 2. The AC adds nothing in my opinion to the overall value. That is not comparable to putting in a new kitchen in your house therefore you don't get back your investment. Last, nothing special or unique about the car so $10,000 pending mileage and quality of work done. However, painted fender bolts are clearly low quality work. NADA has always been clueless regarding older cars and is nowhere near my latest quarterly update.

Another one quoting NADA again. These two must be using the same book, LOL.
 
#16 ·
You know you rushed the paint when the hood hinges and windshield washer squirters are painted red. Also, the plastic 80's horns look really bad. A pair of OEM stock refurbed high /low horns went on EBay Monday for $51.

How does one work the a/c when the original non-a/c controls are still in place?

Overall, the car could get closer to 19K if a weekend was spent fixing the wrongs...
 
#18 ·
You know you rushed the paint when the hood hinges and windshield washer squirters are painted red...
Fender bolts too. This is one of my pet peeves and something that is often seen on our cars...
 
#20 ·
I think they put the comma in the wrong spot of the price. $50k for a full sized 1968 Merc rag top? dented bumper, dents, scratches, etc, seriously?
 
#22 ·
Car actually looks to be an attractive 'driver' unfortunately priced as if it is a more stellar example of the marque! When folks use NADA as a pricing reference for classic cars that is all too frequenty the case!

Besides all of the other aforementioned items on the car did anyone notice that 3 of the 4 Power Window Bezels were incorrect 1971-1972 pieces?? Only the passenger door has the correct '69-'70 style and it has something underneath it that does not look right. The master control panel on the driver's door and the 2 rear 1/4 window bezels are all '71-'72 style bezels!

Just thought the incorrect bezels were an oddity and the fact that only 3 of the 4 were changed!

69Shelby
 
#23 ·
Besides all of the other aforementioned items on the car did anyone notice that 3 of the 4 Power Window Bezels were incorrect 1971-1972 pieces?? Only the passenger door has the correct '69-'70 style and it has something underneath it that does not look right. The master control panel on the driver's door and the 2 rear 1/4 window bezels are all '71-'72 style bezels!

Just thought the incorrect bezels were an oddity and the fact that only 3 of the 4 were changed!

69Shelby
That style of bezel was used toward the end of 1970 production so they may very well be correct. It depends on the production date.
 
#24 ·
Well....I have learned to NEVER say NEVER with absolutes on these cars. So with that being said I guess they could be correct. While I certainly have not seen every 1970 Cougar built; I must have never seen a super late build Power Window car as I have NEVER seen the '71-'72 Style Bezels in a 1970 car. Not to say it could not happen, just that I have never seen it!

As an aside; of all the '71-'72 style Power window pieces I have had and seen over the years never did I come across a bezel of that style with D0 engineering numbers on them.

So if the logic we are using is that this is a late build car, the ODD bezel would be the passenger door bezel in the earlier '69-'70 style which might explain what ever is going on with the door panel under that bezel as the '69-'70 bezel is dimensionally smaller than the later '71-72 style that would most lilkely have covered what ever that is on the door panel.

Last observation I will make in the absence of a VIN or a build date is the original 6 digit Blue & Yellow California plate. California started numbers first and later on in the year with letter first configuration. Based on the numbering sequence on the California plates on this car I would assume it to be a mid year 1970 or later issuance so the car could very likely have been a late build as suspected!

I know plenty......but I do not know it all!

I still seem to learn something new everyday!!

69Shelby
 
#27 · (Edited)
GREAT! - now I have that stupid "never gonna get it" song stuck in my head.......

But seriously - if you want top dollar you are better off auctioning it where nobody has the time/opportunity to drive/look it over. I just saw a decent car recently go for way more than I thought it would! Turned into a bit of feeding frenzy - but I bet there is buyers remorse right about now.....

How does kelly blue book even make money? What reality base do they use - cuz I want to sell my stuff where they are getting thier info from!
 
#28 ·
Only the passenger door has the correct '69-'70 style and it has something underneath it that does not look right. The master control panel on the driver's door and the 2 rear 1/4 window bezels are all '71-'72 style bezels!

Just thought the incorrect bezels were an oddity and the fact that only 3 of the 4 were changed!
My entire PW system, wiring to motors to switches, to bezels came out of a 1970 cougar whose doors had never been open.

The switch bezels were the same ones that are in that car. I used my old bezels on everything except the driver door. I used the 1970 bezel on my driver door because the original 1969 bezel was rotted to the point that the clips would stay in place. I have seen both versions on 1970 cougars.
 
#29 ·
OK, as I said in a previous post I do learn something new everyday.

The 70 cougar I have has what we will now officially call the early build traditional 1969-70 style Power Window Bezels!! It must be an early build and all 4 of them are the same!!! There is not 1 Early and 3 late.....or 3 late and 1 early!

Now that we have established the fact that they came both ways based on real hands on experience; the fact remains that the Red car discussed here has an odd bezel configuration being 3 of the late style and one of the early.

Perhaps the owner or the shop working on the car with him encountered the same clip issue you did and hence the replacement.

Until a VIN or build date is made available we will be left to wonder which style bezel does not belong in this car!

69Shelby :sun:
 
#30 ·
Just an update about this car, she sold to a buyer in Tenessee for $17k on ebay, the Marti report which i ordered, shows it was a red on red car one of 166 built in that combo, car was built june 29th 1970. The buyer was extremely happy with the car, and i was happy with the sales price. The bolt on ac does add value to a car, not to a purist maybe, but to anyone living in the sweaty part of the country its a big deal, i know i sell alot of my cars to east coast, and its a deal killer if a car doesnt have ac. If you can buy car like this for $10k well i will buy everyone of them and sell them for $17k. I see cars for sale all the time with a one line description, and some crappy photos taken from a cell phone, people wonder why they dont get fair money for their cars? I think i know why !! As far as the window switches, i am sure they were taken from another car, as i believe the door panels were replaced, and the window motors were rebuilt, thats is probably why there are mismatched.

neil
 
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