1969 Mercury Cougar XR7. Under 45k miles per the odometer. Eliminator Package including hood scoop and locks, rear adjustable wing and rare special rocker panel moldings. 351 Windsor professionally rebuilt with .030 over pistons, mild cam, Holley 650 BBL carburetor, Shelby vintage Dual Plane intake manifold, cylinder heads rebuilt with valves, guides and seals including conversion to adjustable valve train with roller rockers. Nine inch Nodular case Posi-traction differential with 350 gears, rebuilt with new clutch and bearing. New rear springs. Thatās probably a C6 automatic on there. Starts and runs even with the very old fuel in the tank (we have a short video of that). Car appears to be mostly complete and original. No major collision damage is evident, with the worst body issue being a crunch on the left rear corner of the trunk. Rockers panels are solid and the frame and floor donāt look too bad. Drive shaft was taken off presumably to be towed. Eric 716-208-5460
Welcome to the group. Eliminator option was not available on XR-7. With that, everyone is going to ask if you have a Marti Report to verify what the car actually is. Do you have the vin available? How about a link to the video or pics you can post?
Along with the previous poster - normally these cars have an FMX transmission. You will have to post pictures to prove it is a C6.
HI, and thanks for the expert advice. The Eliminator designation is per the owner, so that could be misremembered or just wrong. However I do see modern adverts for 1969 Cougar XR7 Eliminator cars in several places. There are also references to 1969 Cougars with the Eliminator package (2250 of them), but I can understand how those could have been exclusive of XR7 models. Donāt know - above my pay grade. What was in the Eliminator package, anyway? Iāll see if I can find out something definitive on the transmission. I see that the codes would be either X for the FMX or U for the C-6. Is there a trim tag or some place I can look for that code? The VIN: 9F93H534478 (1969 / Dearborn Assembly Plant / XR-7 hardtop / 351 Windsor 2V) There will be no Marti report. This is an estate sale car, and the sale is this weekend. Just trying to get the word out to those who are most interested. Happy to send pictures to anyone who wants to contact me directly.
Thanks, Royce. Please see my reply below. Where can the X or U be located on this car? -Eric
Eliminator information straight from the catās mouth 
- Phillip
OK, so not only does it say non XR-7 cars, but there are several contradictory items on there like 4BBL / M code for the 351 Windsor, blackout grill and maybe some others Iād have to check. Very definitive, thanks.
Eric,
As others have noted, itās a. XR7. Base motor, 351-2v. Where is the car located and whatās the asking price? The market for projects is really poor right now, for a variety of reasons. The cost to restore these has gone way, way up, so unless itās a rare car or sentimental project, people arenāt taking them on. I just picked up a rust free, running & driving one-owner 1969 convertible at an estate sale for $6,500. It needed some TLC but was a great car. It was widely advertised, so I didnāt stumble upon a deal. I was literally the only person with any interest in it.
Yes, the trouble with vintage anything is that restoration costs are high and someone can screw you by giving it to you (so to speak). Having said that, thereās an arse for every seat, and we have sold a lot of cars (along with everything else). The experts never want to pay any more than the best deal they ever heard of during the Hoover Administration, so theyāre not usually the buyer. We certainly get granular education from them, though and we appreciate it. Anyway, interest level is good around here. No final decision on pricing and reserves yet.
On the Door Tag or the Marti Report.
Pictures donāt look too bad for a back East car. Good project maybe
Buffalo, NY area
Any 1960s era automobile that spent its life in Buffalo will need more new metal than it will have old metal by the end. They can be presentable drivers but when you dive in to restore and paint them, you end up condemning nearly every panel. My metro NY car was parked (outside) after just 13 years and 90k and it needed doors, floors, quarters, trunk and taillight panel. Crazy. My 21 year old BMW 540 has zero rust and itās lived outside the entire time.
Iād be curious to hear what this goes for, but I doubt weāll hear back from the estate sale representative.
Why would you doubt youād hear back from me? Regarding Buffalo cars, weāre 400 miles inland, so atmospheric corrosion isnāt an issue. On the other hand, coastal towns can really do a number on metal. Iām not sure if this was originally a local car. The floors were all replaced however. In my judgement, a bigger factor is vapor that collects on the bottom of cars that are seldom driven, so that moisture doesnāt get blown off. This can be minimized with a simple vapor barrier on the ground under the car. The main reason for cars rusting (especially ones made before they started charging the panels and paint differently) would be road salt, I think modern road salt is calcium chloride instead of sodium chloride so thatās also not as corrosive. In any case, these collector cars are never on the road during the winter anyway.The car sold in the first hour for a fair price.
āModernā road salt is still, by and large Sodium Chloride ( NaCl ). Calcium Chloride ( CaCl ) may be added to lower the temperature at which the ice melting properties are still operational, but it is still an expensive proposition, when the economics of use is what ādrivesā the choice. The cost of Calcium chloride vs. Sodium chloride is somewhere between 5 and 10 times more ! Mixing the two drops the cost barrier, but the mixture presents its own issues. Most jurisdictions are still highly dependent upon āold fashionedā road salt ( Sodium chloride ).
Hereās a great paper comparing the chemistry and costs of the two types of salt :
Congrats on the sale, good to hear itās on its way to a new home.
Yes, and all other corrosion concerns are minor compared to the devastation caused by road salt on these cars.
Agreed. Fortunately these cars are usually inside for those months. I appreciate all of the good advice from here.