How can I make a 67-68 cougar into a daily driver without a engine swap or spending a fortune. Or would they work as daily driver cars anyway?
I was going to use mine as a DD ( or at least an every once in awhile DD)
It was getting the same MPG as the Ford pickup so I didn’t think it mattered.
Any car can be a daily driver. The first thing I’d consider is the brakes and steering systems. Classic cars just don’t stop and handle like todays cars. Why an engine swap? Is your Cougar’s engine worn out? Ford engines are proven across the board. Spending a fortune is relative to the condition of the car. If you are looking to buy a Classic Cougar spend a little more up front and get the best example you can find it can pay off in the long run. West Coast Classic Cougar has some great videos that can walk you through various steps in what to look for in a Classic Cougar.There are members here that use their Cougars as daily drivers and I’m sure they will chime in with their thoughts.
Steven
Thank you for the help. About the engine swap, i thought maybe someone would say buy a crate engine with great reliability or something like that. How much should a good cougar cost? I found a few for around 4k and some others around 7k that look similar, what should i do?
First, where are you? A Cougar as a daily driver is pretty easy in Southern California, but not so much in snowy New England or pretty much anywhere in the northern rust belt.
Up north, you’ll want to make sure that, in addition to mechanical reliability, you have reliable heat and defrost. You’ll want a less aggressive rear axle to minimize spinning on ice and snow. You’ll want to make sure that locks and window regulators are well greased to prevent freezing up and refusing to work.
In the Sun Belt, anything that’s decent could be a daily driver but you may want A/C that works efficiently and reliably in certain areas. The stock engines can be refreshed/rebuilt to be reliable and reasonably efficient, but you need to be OK with running premium fuel at 15MPG. I would definitely upgrade a drum brake car to power front discs for better stopping power. But that’s about it, IMHO.
The stock 289 or 302 gets 20 MPG. No need to swap anything. Give it a good tune up and enjoy.
I drove my 390-4V XR7-G as a daily driver for a year in 1999 - 2000 while living in Long Beach, CA. It was just fine but I was always worried about being hit by crazy illegal aliens with no insurance and no drivers license.