[slo89stang]

So a little backstory on the car. Sorry for the long post.

1970 Cougar XR-7 with 351w, FMX and was factory green exterior, green vinyl top and green interior.
My father and I bought this car back in early 2008 and planned on restoring(ish) and rebuilding the car into a fun driver. We found in someones backyard while driving through Charlotte NC.

We freshened the engine up with new rings and bearings, put a shift kit in the trans and just went over the engine to get it back running. Also went through the front suspenion to get everything okay for the road.

My father had a stroke on July 4th 2009, was in the hospital until November 18th 2009 when he had another brain bleed and passed away. I haven't really touched the car since then.

I just moved into my first house and have a 1200sq ft shop with a lift and tons of room. I am about a month into teardown, and a repaint/restomod.

Initial plans were to go 4.6 DOHC from a Mark VIII, Mustang II style front suspension, interior swap over to black from green, repaint exterior(get rid of vinyl top, change color from green to white, all chrome trim will be black), IRS rear end and custom driveshaft.

Due to money I will probably stick with the paint ideas, but for the time being I will just freshen the motor up(performance cam, intake, mill heads etc), rebuild the trans or swap it, freshen up the rear end.

So right now I am in the middle of stripping the paint down and getting the body work taken care of. I will attach a few pictures to give you guys an idea of what I am working with.

My Dad wanted to rebuild it but wanted to go restomod, something different that would give some more power and be something kind of out of the ordinary.

 

[slo89stang]

Here it is in early 2009 after we had it road ready. It was repainted at one point and has some cheap clear on it that would flake off every time it got cold/warm. lol

first night of progress:

Pulled all trim off without bending anything

 

[slo89stang]

Vinyl top off:

Solid rear panel

Passenger door is off

Interior out:

Rear glass out:

Front glass out:

Some rust on passenger side:

Overall pretty solid:

Rust on drivers side only has one quarter sized hole.

 

[slo89stang]

My new custom seat installed: lol

I have some more pictures from this weekend uploading now. Let me know of what you guys think. I am new to Cougars, but have repainted my 89 Mustang so I know a little about prep/paint work but not everything.

 

[slo89stang]

started stripping the paint down to metal.

door hinge cleaned up

more paint stripped

you can see the one hole in the forward most ribs in the floorboard. Should I just go ahead and replace the whole pan?

Passenger side cleaned up and solid

 

[Harvey]

Looks like a good solid car to start with. Great job so far stripping the paint. Looks like it is coming off clean and quick?

 

[slo89stang]

The roof did since it was adhesive and stock paint/primer. The body where it has been repainted it taking forever with a DA with 80 grit. So many layers of paint with a old compressor that cannot keep up with the DA is very frustrating. I was going to send it off to get soda blasted but I think that money will be better saved and spent on parts/supplies. I am not in any hurry and don't mind the time spent. I may sand blast the the interior though since there are more nooks and crannies.

Going to be upgrading the Compressor in the next couple weeks I hope.

I tried some gel aircraft stripper on the trunk lid and it will work awesome in some spots but hardly will touch some spots.

 

[Harvey]

I found that stuff temperature sensitive. Didn't work at all when it was cooler out. Did ok when it was warmer but made a good mess. I think I would save that for nooks and crannies you cant get at with the DA.

 

[slo89stang]

I found that stuff temperature sensitive. Didn't work at all when it was cooler out. Did ok when it was warmer but made a good mess. I think I would save that for nooks and crannies you cant get at with the DA.

Yeah it was about 75ish when I was applying. Its almost like it eats the factory paint like its nothing, but the stuff that is on top it doesnt work with very well.

 

[Prorallye]

Looks like a nice solid car. I really like the original color combo too. Very 70's. Good luck!

 

[slo89stang]

Looks like a nice solid car. I really like the original color combo too. Very 70's. Good luck!

Thanks, I actually cannot stand green or vinyl tops so It will be drastically different when I am done. Tastefully done though. I am shooting for clean simple lines.

 

[ceedoubleyou]

wow, what a nice and clean '70 car, didn't look like it needed a bare metal restore.

 

[slo89stang]

wow, what a nice and clean '70 car, didn't look like it needed a bare metal restore.

Its been repainted once, and the paint was really rough in a bunch of spots.

The rear passenger panel had bondo in it from the trunk down. Looks like it might have been hit and someone did a crap job trying to pull the panel back out. I will massage it back into shape with some body hammers and skim over the rest.

No real rust on the outside that I have found yet, but I am going with a color change so all the green has to go by by!

 

[Brad555]

Nice and i like your pics,thanx for sharing thse pics.

 

[Bad69cat]

Looks a a very solid one to start with. You have made excellent progress thus far! I'm not a fan of that color green or vinyl either - bet this thing will be awesome once you get it finnished. Dad will be proud! Keep us posted.....

 

[slo89stang]

Thanks guys. I hope to get a little work done and maybe get the rest of the outside shell sanded down this weekend.

 

[slo89stang]

I will update with some pictures tomorrow. I have it down to the bare chassis(minus the running gear.)

Patched two rust spots in the trunk.

Wire brushed the undercarriage to get all the dirt off.

Scraped all seam sealer from the interior, floor shot with some rust converter paint just in case. Have two small holes to patch but nothing bad.

 

[olistoys1]

Have fun with her !!! Like restomods

 

[1969XR7Vert]

Don't know how I missed this thread, but loving it! Thansk for sharing the story and looks like you are doing great work. "In memory of" only makes it even more compelling. Keep at it!

Regards,

Bob

 

[slo89stang]

Have fun with her !!! Like restomods View attachment 33953

Oh. My. God.




I think I need to change my shorts. That car is sexxxxxxxxxy!