[TgoodW]

My grandmother bought a 68 xr7 in early 1969 and just gave it to me knowing how much Ive always adored it! More than willing to do research but I do have a couple items that I feel I need to know sooner than later

1 Since Ive moved the car to my home in Arizona and having experienced what our sun is capable of when it comes to dashboards etc this cougar having no dash or vinyl roof cracks/holes... What is commonly used to clean/ protect these items (car will be garaged)

2 I noticed the body is straight with small damage on one front corner (the piece is cast but im sure repairable) The question though is on the front lower corners of d/s and p/s doors there is rust starting in the exact same spot (may be common) whats showing and bubbling the paint is a dime in size... How urgent is it that it be repaired and stopped from rusting (inherited the car but not a car resto budget) again Im in Arizona and it really is dry here most of the year

Also heres the ride

 

[woodsnake]

Welcome! That is a clean looking cat indeed! I can't help with your questions, the cleaners are a matter of preference. You will be happier if you can keep the car out of the sun, but I'm sure you already knew that. As far as the rust goes, that is a pretty common spot, but I wouldn't worry about it until you are ready to tackle the paint and body work. Honestly, being in Arizona, you can probably get a few more years out of it without any obvious growth...

 

[Bad69cat]

westleys is probably the most common vinyl top cleaner....works pretty well. The sun is hard on them - but there seems to be a bit of discourse on what the best "protectant". If it's garaged I don't know that I'd put anything on it?

As for the spots showing rust bubbles, it's almost certain it's worse underneath than it appears. You would want to tackle that in the not to distant future. depends on what you budget/abilities are I suppose. Nice looking cat for sure!

 

[68XR-7Cat]

If the picture is current and represents how the Cougar looks today, I'd find a way to fix the rust spots sooner rather than later. The car looks like a clean survivor and the less you have to do to it, the better. Keep it the way it is unless there are larger problems not seen in the pictures or noted in your post. The door corners can probably be fixed for a few hundred dollars and will keep the rust from spreading and/or growing.

For detailing of my Cougar, I use the Surf City Garage line of products. Even though the car won't spend a lot of time out in the sun, you want to put some suppleness back into the interior, vinyl, and rubber trim to minimize the potential for cracking.

I'd love to see more pictures of this car, especially of the interior. It looks like a really nice one!

 

[JB BATTERSHILL]

Welcome and nice car, you lucky cat.

 

[letsroll]

Welcome and nice ride! I love the color combo, had a 68 deluxe mustang coupe with the black over sunlit gold. I can recommend an product called 303 protector for the top. We learned of it when our RV manufacturer said to use it for the roof on our RV whereas it was excellent UV protection. We have used it on anything plastic, rubber, or vinyl that gets sun and have been happy with it. But since you are in AZ I would meet up with some car guys there and get some expert opinion from the region.

 

[TgoodW]

Thank you for all the replies gives me some ideas of where to start! As they have been requested a couple times Ill be taking pictures tomorrow when I have some sun and posting them !

 

[leonbray]

Another vote for 303 from the sub tropics where the sun shines all year round

 

[TgoodW]

Pics were requested 97000 miles the front seats are well worn and has one ding on p/s front corner runs great!