So, I have a copy of How to restore your Cougar right the first time, but I’m wondering, does a more comprehensive document or source for concours-level restoration details exist? I’m finding it lacks in terms of markings on parts (leaf springs, drive shaft etc…) and have recently decided to aspire for a more concours restoration instead of an over restoration. I’ve also looked at the CCOA judging sheets, which pretty much mirror How to restore… I posed this same questions over on the Eliminator Enthusiasts facebook page, but I figured this would be an excellent place to ask also. Thanks for the help!
The Concours Mustang Forum hosted by Jeff Sneathen is a great resource, particularly if you have a build sheet for your car.
I got pictures of a nice restored 69 428CJ Eliminator I can send to you if that will help you out.
Thank you Royce for the heads up and Brian for the offer! Those pictures will help greatly with my 69 SCJ Eliminator. I am aware that the more we think we know about our cars, the more they don’t make sense due to the zaniness of how they build them in Dearborn or San Jose. I will attach my copy of How to restore…it’s a text document, appears to have been written in the mid-nineties by Jon Morris.
I had this wonderful idea last night that the community or maybe the CCOA develops an NCRS-level restoration manual, complete with pictures and acceptable variations. For instance, I have seen many hood latch brackets on the grill painted black with a black X, then I’ve seen many others painted or have a natural finish on them. Is this one of those variations or is it a misrestored part? Same goes for control arm ends. Some are natural finish tipped, some are all black. Which is correct? This is information, compiled into a single source, I believe would be extremely helpful to many of us, and body shops who are not familiar with concours-style restorations of our beloved cats.
Think you mean Jeff Speegle, correct? Now get in touch with me ASAP so you can make arrangements to pay me off. This way, I won’t be forced to tell Jeff that you called him a “Sneathen” (sounds very derogatory)… 
Speegle, double ee’s.
I don’t have the time to develop this guide, but I can supply the hosting for it if this were to be an online resource.
Right, Speegle is the one who hosts the forum. Sneathen owns SEMO Mustang parts, also a great resource.
Does anyone have any real interest in an NCRS-style restoration guide? Or is everything too similar to our Mustang cousins that there’d be too much overlap and not necessary?
That would be a “huge” undertaking and very time consuming. I could see a lot of debating going on to get to a final consensus.
I figured the effort and time required to create/compile it would be massive. After being involved with the classic cougar community for a decade, I’ve seen enough to know that there are no absolutes when it comes to our cars which is why if the guide were created I think it would be pertinent to include known deviations/variations. I think in terms of scale, something small to start would suffice. With all this running through my head, I think I’ll take a novice’s attempt at beginning this project, and perhaps Bill I’ll take you up on your offer to host it online at first. Well…here goes nothing!!!
Brian is right. There would have to be a separate document for each year if it were truly to be comprehensive. The amount of time it would take to document every single part of every model year would be astronomical. Each model year would take at least 50 pages to fully document and explain. I think it would be great but in the end, after all the effort, how many people would actually restore their car following the guide exactly? 5 per year? I’m not sure the benefit would justify the effort.
Which leaves me right out of this discussion!
http://www.concoursmustang.com/forum/index.php
Is a whole forum/web site devoted to comprehensive concours restorations. It is a living document. It is mostly about Mustangs, but our Cougars shared many internal parts. There is a huge amount of information and talented contributors.
When I first became a part of that forum, I thought that it would be ‘how to’ on restoring a car to how Ford intended. I quickly learned that for discussion purposes, you must include where and when your car was built. There have been many discovered and proven differences, that separate the factories and the period of time different cars were built. Collectively all of these things make the difference between a good restoration, and a great restoration.
Tips and discussions on restoring individual parts instead of buying reproduction parts. Lots of shared information on how to get the assembly line look on many many parts.
For example: Cast grey paint in a rattle can isn’t used on cast iron parts. Cast iron parts are cleaned and tumbled in media, and then coated with specific products to maintain the fresh cast look.
There is a science to getting the end results.
I think this is a great idea. It would be an amazing resource to have. Of course it’s a huge undertaking, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy.
I think it would be good to simply have the “basics” all in one place, to reduce redundant questions and make it easier to find answers - and not have to verify those answers.
Answers to questions that always come up, like “what sheen of black for the engine bay” and “what parts were painted slop gray”. All of which are easily answered by using the search button, yet we see the same questions come up time after time.
Ok, I know those same questions will still come up, but if you can point a person the “The Guide” then maybe they won’t have to ask the other 6 questions they have.
Just my thoughts on it.
I’ve done some more researching, looking, and thinking. I agree it would be a massive undertaking, but as Al said nothing worthwhile is easy. So this is where my head is with this: After looking at the NCRS website, they offer their guides for different year groups, i.e. for the mid-year 'vettes they offer a 63-64 book, then 65, and 67 get their own which all 6th edition. Jeff makes a good comment, very few people would actually use the guide, but I was anticipating this being a digital manual. There’s no way a Cougar guide would sell in any sort of high volume, leaving it best to the electronic realm.
I think in total, the vast majority of the work involved is compilation, but at the scale is needed? Part numbers are out there but not in a list for all options; general exterior finish and appearance information exists; paint daubs and other factory marks are known but not captured in a single, centralized location. So, how does a community in 2016 share its collective knowledge to advance the community? A wiki, of course! I think this solves many obstacles facing the creation of a guide for Cougars: the overwhelming consolidation is not left to a single person, subject matter experts can directly provide input without mistranslations, compilation time can be greatly reduced if efforts are concerted, newly found knowledge can be updated in real time without having to wait for an updated edition are some of what I see this solving.
So I guess now the question is does the community want this? If so, can the wiki be established to begin this endeavor?
I think your biggest challenge will be using verifiable information. Posting misinformation is worse than no info at all.
I agree. That is one of the drawbacks of using a wiki sadly, but one of the nice features of a wiki is it tracks all edits, and who they were done by. Not saying anyone would purposely put any information in it, but I believe for the most part we are self-policing and would quickly catch any errors and correct them.
There was a Cougar wiki started several years ago. No one posted anything and eventually it died. I think the best way to do this is to take control of the project and just do it. Use the forum to hash out the “correct” stuff and then make the changes to the living document.