What’s up CCC??
My name is JD Martinez and I am a zinc plater based out of beautiful Fallbrook California and this is my first personal project that needs a complete restoration. I started my own business-Flawless Zinc Plating almost 2 years ago and am finally making enough extra cash to fund this build. I bought this car about 6 months ago and got it delivered 3 months ago. In these past 3 months, I have been busting my ass just to get this piece of art running.
This beauty had been sitting untouched outdoors for a few decades so I’m sure you all know, I have my work cut out for me. Rust and rat shit has had it’s way with the roof and floors, surprisingly enough, I’ve seen alot worse. When I saw this car for sale on offerup, I knew one day it would be mine.
I made a deal with the previous owner and now this beauty gets to sit in my 2 car garage getting pampered almost every day.
So far, just to get her running, I have changed just about everything with the starting/ignition system. New starter, starter solenoid, plugs, plug wires, battery, etc. I got her to crank but still no luck turning over. I picked up a pertronix ignitor and an MSD Digital 6al and called in the reinforcements. My buddy in town is a wiring god and there is no job that has defeated him. He installed the pertronix and sure enough she fired right up with a little fuel in the carb. That took him all but 5 minutes so he installed the MSD right after. This car no longer cranks, she just fires the second you turn the key, it’s pretty orgasmic.
Now that shes running, I can focus all of my attention on the rust repair and paint. I thought I would share my love story on here so that people interested in building a car out of a bucket of rust can see that it is entirely possible and that there is beauty behind rust, you just have to have a vision and make it happen. I will post current pics later but as of now, these are the pics of how I got the car.
Disclaimer
This car is 100% guaranteed to piss off any purist(upon completion). I have mad respect for the guys/gals that go for 100% original…I’m not one of those guys. I will zinc plate and keep as many original parts on as possible but I will not kill myself financially or mentally trying to get NLA factory parts, I am okay with aftermarket as long as they work. I have alot of crazy thoughts running through my head for this build and it will be one of the craziest cougars you have seen in awhile. The car already has a theme and will be a driver, not a show car. So get ready to see some unusual custom shit down the road.
I look forward to getting to know everyone here!
-JD
Awesome, man. Congrats. It’s a good looking car and I look forward to seeing the progress. There is a lot of good info and people on here. Keep up the good work.
Thank you! Nice to meet you polarbeard! I will take some nicer photos and post them once I clean up some of the mess. Right now i have front/rear glass out and front fenders off. It’s like a treasure hunt with the bondo hahaha.
Awesome to meet you, Royce!
She is a very solid car given the conditions she endured. Thank you for the warm welcome! I look forward to making some friends here that I can actually hold an interesting conversation about cars with. Next step is fixing all the holes, makes me very grateful to have a little brother that’s an amazing welder hahaha.
Nice to meet you, Pacifica! Thank you for the welcome! Oooooh yeah, shes getting my undying attention…I think my wife regrets getting on board with buying the car hahaha.
Welcome! Great start to a fun project! Don’t worry about the purest, even the most diehard purest still enjoys seeing another cougar get back on the road!
Can’t wait to see what kind of fun mods you have in store!
Nice to meet you DieselD! Hahaha I feel the American muscle world would be more accepting of customs.
I work alot with the Porsche world and some of the purists can be very intense. I guess its suitable for million dollar cars!
Hey Sir Ed!
The car came with a complete interior, already reupholstered in blue. It doesnt suit the theme of the car though so I will probably be dying it all black. I saw another guy on here had a bench seat and rear seats in black on the east coast but transport would suck trying to get it here.
Some updated pics of the progress. This last weekend I’ve focused my attention on some bondo work, undercoating, and prepping for installing the new fuel line.
Welcome JD, looking forward to following your progress. Looks like you need a roof, lol, or are you making it a convertible? Either way, there are folks here that have BTDT, so you are in the right place.
Nice to meet you, Chris!
I definitely need a new roof and entire floor lol. I’m looking to building a driver rather than a concours car so I’m just gonna fix what I have while buying as little parts as possible. I’ve already bondo’d the roof and I’ll be getting the holes in the floor repaired next. I would love to do a period correct frame off restoration but it’s just not in the budget right now so I’ll be building this custom beast of a car that should be a real head Turner (except at car shows hahaha)
I hear that, projects that don’t fit in the budget are just nice daydreams. Rest assured, anytime I’ve seen Cougar folk gather (from CCOA national events to the local cruise), “mangy cats” like ours get lots of love.
Hahaha exactly! I used to work for California Porsche Restoration and know how much goes into a frame off restoration and it isnt cheap in the slightest! That makes me happy that I can still participate in all the cougar events even though I’m going very custom, I just have a vision in my head and want to see if I can bring that vision to life with this car. Eventually I’d like a more rare cougar that I can bring back to factory original but for now i just want a muscle car again to tear up the streets.
Oh no that’s just a late mustang seat lol. A local shop was throwing the set away and i decided to use them until I’m ready to put in the nice reupholstered interior in.
Huge step for me the other day. I got the damn tank to pump fuel line installed. There is not much info online about installing these properly and I watched WCCC video probably 100 times. After a shit ton of frustrations and yanking on the line, I realized I bent it out of shape when pulling it in and out. It is now semi-properly mounted and routed. It works so I’m not gonna mess with it anymore. Next is changing the pump and installing the new tank.
Nice to meet you stonesg! That’s great to know, I think I’ve been around the Porsche guys too much. They are very unimaginative because they want it spot on how it would have looked off the showroom floor. I personally prefer customs more because people can really push the boundaries of what can be put in these amazing cars.
Update: I had quite a few hours of kid free time yesterday and got the entire fuel system finished up. I just need the filler neck gasket and fuel line grommet for it to be all buttoned up.
