Hi, I’m brand new to the group. I’ve loved 67-68 Mercury Cougars since I noticed my first one in high school in 1979.
I happened upon one for sale in Indianapolis a couple weeks ago and plan to go take a look in 2 weeks. It was for sale
by owner, but taken to a consignment place just before I contacted the seller.
I know I need to have it thoroughly checked out before considering purchasing. The fact that I live in Idaho, 1600 miles
away from the car poses a challenge. Does anyone out there know a good mechanic in the Indianapolis area who might
also be familiar with this make and model? I’ll be out there Nov 30-Dec 2, planning to devote Sat., Dec 1 to the car.
Thanks Don, would love anyone’s thoughts! Yes, I’ve watched the video of inspecting the “barn car”, and plan to watch everything I can before heading out there on the 30th.
Incidentally, the seller had the car listed for 19,500 on Auto Trader, and, well, you can see the price Gateway is listing.
Lots of custom touches that I don’t care for. And a lot of things that should have been addressed on a $30k car. The passenger seat is split, the dash bezel looks like bare plastic, I’d be willing to bet the steering wheel is cracked underneath that wrap, amateur job on the exhaust, etc. You can get a heluva lot more car for that money.
I usually don’t like giving opinions on forums but I watched the Gateway Classics video and felt I should weigh in.
Lots of things that give me caution in that video. It starts off by saying “Shelby Powered” which is curious. 1967 Shelby Mustangs came with the “k” code, high performance 289 or a 428, neither of which were offered in the Cougar in '67. So, unless a previous owner ordered a Shelby aluminum 427 block and had that built and installed I think the “Shelby Powered” claim is an attempt by the consignment shop to falsely create value.
Also, the Cougar looks to have been highly modified, so that can be tough to determine the quality of parts used and the work that was done.
They obviously didn’t fix the vacuum leak in the headlights, so that may be an indication.
The front suspension looks to be all the original stuff in need of complete replacement. Figure $2K parts and labor.
There are precious few underside shots, leading me to believe they are not too proud of what it looks like under there.
I guess if you like the way it is modified then the interior and exterior condition is OK.
I would be most concerned about what kind of rust / poorly done previous rust repair is lurking under the trunk mat and under the floors. Also a magnet would tell how much bondo has been used on the body previously.
Definitely does not look worth the price they are asking, a lot of the accessories look like something we would have bolted on back In the late 70s,the comments on the underside, exhaust, front suspension and headlights are right on, for that kind of money I would expect something a lot cleaner and professional looking.
That’s a $15k car on a good day… There are numerous short cuts you will not discover until you have owned it for months. Starting with the $15 imitation plastic quarter emblems, junk yard mustang seats and escalating from there. I would start a wanted thread here and be patient. Your goal should be that whatever car you buy that it not be a money pit and if you should need to sell, when relisted you get all your money back within 60 days.
I was caught by the window stickers. They were decent mods in the 90’s when one wanted to rip some 1/4 mile shots, but these days, you will need some pretty good mechanical skills to keep that machine street worthy, lots of continuous fine tuning. You also need to consider why the modifications were added. Traction bars, race shifter, probable modified transmission with a race torque converter, usually indicate some hard use. Again, not a problem if your mechanical skills are up to it. Also drum front breaks and no power steering make for a different type of driving experience. Im old, i like my relaxed driving.
Also, you should definitely get a lot of underneath and trunk pictures. I felt sorry for the widow I bought mine from and didn’t stick with that thought. I still love my car but ended up paying more for the car than I should have.
Wow everyone, great advice, I appreciate your
time and expertise.
Naive question here - how do you determine the vacuum leak in the headlights?
I noticed that comment about it being Shelby powered in the video, and just figured they made a mistake, as the current owner didn’t say anything about Shelby in his description. It didn’t occur to me that they may have out and out lied to falsely create value.
It does have lots of attention-getting touches that aren’t my style. I want a nice looking car, but not something that screams “look at me!” (I could remove the racing stickers, but what about the gaudy looking traction bars?).
The beautiful paint job got my attention, as did the super clean engine, and the fact that the guy appears to have babied the car. I clearly have a lot to learn.
Perhaps I will post a wanted thread on here…so, it sounds like there’s hope that I will be able to own my dream car someday?? I’m not in a huge hurry, this one just happened to pop up when I googled 67/68 Cougar a couple weeks ago on my birthday!
Thanks again.
The vacuum leak is an assumption since the headlight doors are open without the lights on.
You should definitely post on here what you’re looking for. Don just sold a survivor car that I suspect would have been perfect for you for much less than $30k.
Thanks Steve, I actually saw that one in the classifieds here and sent a msg asking if still for sale. Manual transmission seems rare on these cars, and is my preference actually. I’d absolutely travel to SoCal to take a look, much closer than Indy! Is it the same color green as yours? Yours looks brighter, could just be the lighting. Thanks again!
Mine is painted British Racing Green currently but was originally the same color as that car. The car in SoCal is Augusta green, an original Cougar color.
And yes, manual transmissions are rare on Cougars.
Ok, I’ve decided to switch my plane ticket to Indy for one to visit family at Christmas, and have let Gateway CC know I’m no longer interested in the 67 (I couldn’t afford the 30k, but had been hoping to maybe get it for low 20’s - but now realize that’s still way too high for that car).
I appreciate everyone’s help, advice and thoughts on the car. I am very hopeful that the right car will be in my future, and am actively pursuing one or 2 now.