Ok here’s a question that has been rattling around in my head. On my Cougar the Dan Gurney Special / Motor Trend Car of the year sticker is on my drivers side rear quarter window. I have read posts replies in the past and on different websites that the Dan Gurney Special option is really no big deal (maybe not worded exactly like that but close enough ). From everything I’ve read it states that the sticker was placed on the passenger side rear quarter window. So which is correct? Drivers side or passenger side?
I know I might get the answer it could have been placed on either at the dealership because there was a DGS option through the dealerships. My DGS is a factory listed option on my Marti Report and with my sticker on the drivers side rear window I’d figure this would be the uniform place to put the sticker while on the assembly line. I’ve yet to read anything that says the DGS sticker was placed on the drivers side. So does this make my Cougar DGS a really valuable 1 of 1 factory example? ( that last question is really just a joke. ) Oh I forgot to mention my sticker appears to be original.
Any thoughts or answers?
Steven
Hey, this is the situation that I have! Sticker in the Drivers rear quarter window. We’s cousins!! lol
In addition to this, my car came with the Steel wheels, though not on the Marti, listed in the original loan paperwork. And it a July 7, 1967 (a day behind schedule according to the Marti) production car. How late in the year did they make these anyway? I thought that tthey didn’t offer the steel wheels until the XR7-G came along!?
The 67 DGS that I owned had one sticker on the passenger side. I have seen them on the driver side, passenger side and on both sides. I don’t think there is anyone who can conclusively say that either side is wrong.
Does anyone know why I would have a casting date of 8 on a 289 manifold. I thought they didn’t even have 289’s after 67, so why would they stamp it for the following year?
I don’t have a break down of the codes in reference to the 8 on the manifold. I do know that there were 289’s in 1968 Cougars. The used up the 289’s before going to the 302’s if I remember correctly.
Steven
The 68 was intended to heve the 302 as the lovest engine, but due to the UAV strike, they started to go short on 302, so the 289 was placed as the base engine for std models, and 302 got marked as base engines for the XR7`s
So if the XR7 is rarer than the standard Cougar, then wouldn’t that make an XR7-DSG even rarer than a XR7? I found somewhere that it added 10% to the value which seems low even if it was a minor option upgrade. Can anyone tell me if the DGS had different color styled wheels (or was it just all chrome), and shouldn’t the trunk lock show the XR7 logo if it’s an XR7? Should the wheel center caps be black or red XR7 logo or Mercury head? Lastly, what is the difference between a 65A & 65B code? This is regarding my '67 XR7-DGS which has many discrepancies. Thanks!
In my opinion, there is no significant value in the DGS option, whether paired with another trim package or by itself. It’s not particularly rare and didn’t add all that much to the car. Today, it would be a very distant runner up, in terms of value, to overall condition, the rest of the option list, and the history of the vehicle. At best, it might serve as a tie-breaker between two comparably equipped cars at roughly comparable price points.
Early production XR-7’s still got the Cougar emblem on the trunk lock (my '67 XR-7 GT is an example and it has a later production date than yours).
65A is the standard interior and 65B is the XR-7 interior, as I recall (I don’t have my book here at work with me).
There were three body codes in '67 and '68: 65A was Hardtop Standard Bucket Seats, 65B was Hardtop XR-7 Bucket Seats, and 65C Hardtop Standard Bench Seats.
Standard as used here means that it was a Standard Cougar, not an XR-7 Cougar. Your car should be a 65B.
The center caps for styled steel wheels was black with the mercury god head in the center.
I think the DGS adds some value, but only if the original under-hood chrome is still in place and it show on the Marti report. I would guess that it might add $500 to the value.
Woo-Hoo!! Cha-Ching!! My DGS still has it’s original chrome dress up kit, sticker and it’s listed on the Marti report. Big $$
All joking aside I think the DGS adds a little bit to a Cougar. I think just a lot of people can get confused between the DGS and the XR7G (if they are not a Cougarholic). Two completely different models. I’m proud of my DGS and others should be also. Just understand exactly what the option is. In the case of my 1967 DGS I think it means really only a window sticker. Being that it’s a S code 390 it would have come with chrome valve covers and air cleaner lid, so the DGS package didn’t make that change on my car but the 6.5 litre option did. Did the master cylinder cover and radiator cap get the chrome treatment on the 6.5 litre cars or are those because of the DGS?
Steven
So what happens when the 2 worlds collide of the XR-7 AND the Dan Gurney Special, now is it more special?
I have a 65B meaning it’s an XR-7, but with the DGS option, however I have SOME XR7-G options (all leather seats, woodgrain dash, etc.) The original sales order (from the dealership, not the Marti) with Steel Wheels option not the hubcaps. It’s a July 7, 1967 date according to the Marti. Is this somehow late enough in the year that the XR7-G features were starting to be added?
To answer your question, nothing happens. The XR7 and the DGS are two separate option packages and could have been ordered individually or together. The XR7 was an interior comfort/convenience package and the DGS was a sticker and some extra chrome under the hood.
Leather seats and the woodgrain dash were standard in the XR7, including the XR7-G. Those two items in your car do not mean you have XR7-G features. The XR7-G is an interior/exterior comfort/convenience package. Visit the CCOA site for information on XR7-G specific options.
The G also got a suspension upgrade to the Performance Handling Package, wide tread radial tires, and dual exhaust even for the 302 2V. In this respect it was also a performance package.
I understand that, but for some reason, mine was ordered with the DGS, then left out the chrome dip stick, and chrome valve covers. The steel wheels were ordered by the original owner (I have the original loan paperwork showing this) so the car has the Steel Wheels, chrome air cleaner cover and DGS sticker on the drivers side window but a standard Cougar decal on the trunk lock. The car is the original 55k miles on it so I’m pretty confident that it is all original.
I thought it was odd that the car is an XR-7 (65B) and DGS, as it appears most were standard (65A) Cougars. Any thoughts on this combination anyone?
Dealers were encouraged to buy Dan Gurney Special kits and to install them to dress up otherwise “ordinary” Cougars including Cougars that were already on the road. It was common practice for the service department to pitch dress up parts to customers in for regular service. The DGS kit retailed for $101.74.
Additionally dealers could order any part of the kit including the special DGS turbine design wheel covers. This meant that there were lots of cars that did not get the entire package. It was very common for dealerships to remove the wheel covers from every car, every night to reduce theft. This could result in cars with the wrong wheel covers. It was also common for dealers to swap out parts from car to car to make a customer happy. Lots of cars left the lot with more or less than what arrived from the factory.
In the case of a factory installed DGS, the wheel covers were shipped in the trunk and not installed until the car was made ready for the lot. I suspect that the stickers were also installed by the dealer, as was the antenna for every radio.
I would be surprised if a car arrived at the dealer missing the rocker covers and the other engine dress up as that was installed on the engine at the time of assembly in the same way that the AC and power steering pumps were also pre-installed. It would be very easy to imagine a dealer pulling off a set of chrome valve covers to put them on another car and replacing them with the set they took off. Radiator caps ans dip sticks got lost or tossed on a regular basis so it also possible that they disappeared over the course of 45 years.
What is important to know is that a factory DGS should have the chrome dress up kit under the hood, and unless it got some other wheel cover option it would have been equipped with the turbine style covers. If you want to make you car like it was originally you would want to put all of those items on the car.
The badge on the trunk lock cover would not have said XR7 on a '67 it would have been the same as the standard Cougar with the word Cougar in that position. The DGS got no special external badging.
Every Cougar is special and we are lucky that any survived to still be here today. We all hope to find that super rare example and they do exist, but for the most part they cranked these cars out at better than 1 per minute so not much out of the ordinary could occur. There were 4,617 XR-7 DGS and 15,166 standard DGS that came out of the Dearborn plant in 1967. Exactly how many were built up at dealerships is unknown. Considering that there were 27,209 XR-7s built, there were less than 2 out of 10 that got the DGS treatment. That is not a lot, but things like the AM 8 track or even AM FM radio were more scarce.
). From everything I’ve read it states that the sticker was placed on the passenger side rear quarter window. So which is correct? Drivers side or passenger side?
that last question is really just a joke. 
) Oh I forgot to mention my sticker appears to be original.
