Mark's Cougars
I bought a 429 from a friend and was looking for a car to put it in. I was thinking maybe a 66 Fairlane or something midsized. Then I saw a picture of a Cougar, and that was it. I imediatly fell in love with the hidden headlights, sequentials and the perfect layout of the body lines. I had also realized the Cougar has all the potential of a Mustang, but with alot more class. With intentions of installing a high performance big block I was looking for a car that had no A/C---kinda ironic since I live in South Florida. Not much time had passed before I saw a Cougar in the local Auto Trader for a pretty low price, I had called and ended up buying it. That was in March '95. It was in really bad shape--pretty much parts car status. Bad enought that I had to change the roof that was "swiss cheesed" by the vinyl top. I towed it home and started buying parts and I am still buying parts. But now it is painted, has interior and a 460 under the hood with an AOD trans. It is currently my daily driver.
When I had first installed the 429CJ it was really too radical to drive on the street. So I needed to get something that would be a daily driver. Since I had a bunch of Cougar parts already, why not get another Cougar? How could I be seen in anything with less style anymore? A friend knew of a 69 Cougar and we went in together on it he kept the engine and I kept the rest---with no engine, I towed this one too. I had installed the 351c that came out of my 70 into the 69 along with an AOD. All the bushings were gone in the suspension, you can watch the road go by through the floor, get wet if it rains, cook when it's hot, freeze when it's cold and get asfixiated by the exhaust. But the car drives great, strait as an arrow and it gets 20 mpg's. I have driven it to Masachusetts twice since I have owned it. It is next on the list to be "raised from the dead". Currently it is the secondary driver.
I was up north visiting a friend in Rhode Island (Pat Beauchamp who owns a 70 std triple white conv) had shown me a 70 XR-7 convertible that was for sale in the next town over. We went an looked at it an I was hooked I just had to have a convertible. So we contacted the owner and he wanted $2000 for the car. I all I could get was $1000. For the next couple days, I was thinking about where I am gonna get the rest of the money. Then out of the blue, a friend calls asking to buy a 514 big block I had. So he overnighted the money to me and I had all that was needed. Believe it or not, but I drove this car away from where I bought it, along with the Florida tag from my other car. I parked it in my godmother's garage in Masachusetts, and it is sat there since. All that is really needed on this car is cosmetics, it drives pretty good. Oh, and it needs an AOD so I can cruise.
Everything has to be balanced and symetrical, so I like things to be in even numbers. So I needed--yes needed another Cougar. But I said I'm not gonna get another one unless it is a rreal Eliminator or a factory big block car. A few months later a friend told me his cousin has a 69 Cougar that has been sitting for the past ten years and he said it is an Eliminator with a sunroof. So I looked at it, and whoa nelly, it needed a lot of work. I told him I'd think about it, so I took the vin nnumber and got a Kevin Marti report to prove it is really an Eliminator. I turned out to be real, and I found it is one of 101 that were made for Hertz Rent-A-Car. I sent in the numbers to Phil Parcels' Cougar Database Project and found out it is the earliest known Eliminator to still exsist. Although it is a basket case, this car will receive a very careful and thorough restoration back to stock. In fact this morning I picked it up, and yes, I towed this one too. I had bought it about a year ago and just finally finished the deal today. I still have more parts like the engine, tranny, hood, deck lid and other miscellanious parts to pick up. I also need to get a gallon of Ospho to try and slow the rust movement for now. I think when I do start the restoration, I should have the body dipped and treated. Oh, this Cougar will not get an AOD---whaaaaaaaaahh! Just keep it original.
Logan, I heard you say long posts are good, but is this overboard? If I had one Cougar, the post would only be about a 1/4 as long.
Thanks for reading through.