Hi, everyone. I’m a new guy here. I’m looking to purchase a late 60’s muscle car and stumbled on the ‘69 Cougar linked below. It’s obviously had some modifications, but it seems like a potentially interesting candidate. I don’t live near Sarasota, FL, so I am hoping that I can get some knowledge from this community based upon the photos to make a determination if it is worth a trip to see in person. Who knows, maybe somebody knows the history of this car. Thanks in advance.
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The dealer should display a Marti Report. An H engine code denotes a 2v 351 from the factory, the base engine in the ‘69 Cougar. Steering wheel is aftermarket Mustang.
There are some inaccuracies in the description - factory ram air only came with the R code 428 Cobra-Jet and 1970 was the last year of the first gen Cougar before the car grew in size in ‘71.
Among other things a Marti would tell you whether or not it is a factory 4 speed.
- Phillip
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As Philip stated there are some inaccuracies in the description. If the dealer does not have or want to get a Marti report, a basic report is a inexpensive verification of how the vehicle left the factory. If you order one the correct vin is 9F91H536561 as shown in the dash vin photo. The dealer added an extra character in the listing. A google search of the vin shows it was previously for sale in NY.
Additionally it would help if the dealer would provide a picture of the data on the door plate. It should be located towards the bottom of the driver’s door below the latch. If you post that here we can decode it.
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Great stuff, thank you both. Yup, I asked for the data plate as well.
The front seats are wrong- should have headrests. A/c is not stock or original. Says it has a floor mounted console, but it does not. Limited pics show solid floors. Would want some paint depth readings- suspect mud. Certainly more original cars in that price range have come up and will continue to.
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We had a pretty good conversation about this car over on Barnfinds. There are a lot of modifications and somethings that the dealer claims but offers no documentation to back up those claims. There are also several short cuts that were made when putting this car together, like the bolts holding the rear license plate bracket in place and the screws along the lower edge of the door panel. When I see things like this it makes me question the workmanship on the rest of the car.
Randy Goodling
CCOA #95
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if I recall correctly, head rests were optional until January 1, 1969 when they were required by the Automotive Safety act. I had a couple early 69s one with and one with out headrests.
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The bench seat is an odd choice as I don’t think any bench seats ever were offered with headrests. I think the bench seat option went away early in 1969 model year. Apparently the dealer already found a sucker.
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We don’t know if the seats are incorrect. As Neal stated headrests were not required until 1/1/1969. The serial number indicates that it could have been built late December 1968 or early January 1969. Bench seats were available through the entire 1969 model year, so headrests were optional until 1/1/69 and mandatory after.
The door data plate could help with the scheduled date, but a Marti report or Eminger invoice is really required to confirm.
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Never seen a bench seat car before!!! If I have I don’t recall!!!
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I do not believe that I have ever seen a 1969 Cougar without factory headrests.
Bench seat was a Standard model Cougar (non-XR7) option, with headrests. Body code 65C.
1616, 1969 hardtops with this option.
Perhaps the question here is not if headrests were mandatory or not, but rather was a 69 Cougar ever equipped with seats, bench or not, without headrests? Other than an 69 Eliminator with high back buckets, I have never seen a single one. Even WCCC offers 69 bench seat cores-but only with headrests. Far more likely those are from a 68 or 67.
The full width bench seat was only available with the Decor Group in 1969 I suspect those were recovered without the headrests installed.
I believe that the post support for the headrest was in place on all low back seat backs. The option had a US retail price of $17.00 with a dealer cost of $13.32. The Canadian price was $18.60 with a cost of $14.50.
There is no difference in the interior code with or with out the head rest.
Sample invoice with head restraints.
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‘67 bucket seats have no backrest lock so they are very different from 1968 or 1969 seats. Those can be interchanged but the headrests are very different from 1968 to 1969.
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