The Madras Blue GT-E moved under its own power today for the first time in 29 years. I broke in the cam, checked for leaks, and drove back in the garage!
Congratulations! I thought it was just gas, but now that I know I am feeling so much better! Welcome!
Royce,
I agree, Congatulations! However, this thread would be much better with a couple pics or a short video clip.
What is the short version backgound story on this GT-E?
Best Regards,
AL
Nice one Royce. BTW - when did you pick up the Moostang?
Did you play with the engine on the GT-E or is it stock specs?
Way to go Royce ! Bill Basore told me about this GT-E Registry forum today and so I thought I’d drop in to see what it was all about. Glad to hear your car is coming along.
Oh by the by, Cougar 1 is my “handle”. I think most of you know I’m Jim Pinkerton the Cougar GT-E
Registrar. For those curious folks we have now accounted for 266 of the 394 GT-Es produced – not bad at 68%.
Jim
This car has been in Dallas for the past 25 years that I know of. I first saw it in 1987 or thereabouts. It was for sale for something like $3500. I thought it was too much. It was missing the engine and the interior but had no significant rust or accident damage.
Then the car was for sale around 1990 for %6500. I didn’t have the money.
It was bought by a friend of mine and he accumulated many of the important the missing parts including a NOS 427 side oiler C8AZ block, smog, and suspension rebuild pieces. He owned the car for about 18 years and never threatened it with tools.
I bought the car about a year ago and then found a little old lady in Canada with a low mileage rust bucket 68 that had a near perfect exact interior needed for the GT-E.
Over the past 6 months I have rebuilt the brakes, suspension, steering, recored the radiator, rebuilt the rear axle, replaced the fuel system, rebuilt the heater, and replaced a small part of the passenger floor where the leaking heater core had caused rust. I also had to reweld the shock absorber upper crossmember in the rear because nearly all the spot welds were broke loose due to air shocks.
Plan is to work out all the mechanical bugs then tear it down for cosmetics.
Thanks for the update. Looks great.
Yes, welcome, and Thanks for the view
Picture taken today:
Welcome aboard, Royce! That’s looking nice, but for one thing…where, oh where, is your most-important sticker for the shroud???
(and your yellow plug wires??)
Looks great…man those are big motors…
some people put them on the snorkle…
Great to hear Royce and glad to see you made the migration over to here.
Good to hear you got her running Royce. I was wondering about the progress. 
John
Thanks for the pictures. It must have been really fun to put that in gear and feel it move!
Royce never fails to amaze me when he puts motors in… especially BIG ONES… with the hood still on. 
Lookin’ good Royce! As others have said, thanks for joining forces over here…
Are those Harland-Sharp Rockers? What kind of Cam did you use? Stroked? More details please
B
Any new progress posts/pictures in the past year??
Lots of tinkering to make it reliable. I need to take more pictures next weekend.
Cool!. My dad (83) and I (57) are just starting a rebuild/restore of his 68 GT-E. It’s been in his garage here in Oklahoma for the last 25 years and tarped for 5-7 years before that, now awaiting some attention from his wayward son who decided to live in Alaska for 17 or so years and too far to commute for the previous 15. Picking up the engine from the builder today. Sorry, don’t have the VIN handy, but it’s a dark blue 68 7.0 Litre GT-E. The engine is, I believe, correct with the exception it’s a C5AE-A casting (which allegedly cam from a 64 Galaxy). It’s a side-oiler with cross-bolt mains.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to rebuilding/restoring the car and hope to post some pics along the way and probably get some help for where to find any missing tidbits (amazing how a car can start 100% complete and after 30 years of being tarped/garaged have parts go missing)
The history of the car is that my dad picked it up as an insurance repossession sometime around 1978 or so. It had had the original 427 engine and c6 tranny stolen. The insurance co paid someone to put a 351 and C4 into it so they could sell it and recoup some of their loss. Not too long after that, 1980’ish my dad and I took a stab at trying to find a replacement 427. they were rare back then. we ended up putting a 429 in it (no easy task). Had to custom make hybrid motor mounts and have the drive-shaft shortened, and a 355 rear-end but is ran like a scalded dog. Not sure what the top-end was because the front-end would start to porpoise’ing at about 130mph and I chose discretion over valor.
The car sat idle, tarped for the next several years until my dad decided to find a bone-fide 427 for it, which he did some 20+ years ago. But then the engine sat wrapped in corner of the garage where the Cougar also sat, awaiting renewed interest and a partner in crime (me).
So, we’re at a new beginning of a journey started and stopped a few times of the last several decades. But the car will be my dad’s legacy to me and I’m excited to get started and to do it right.
Regards,
AKFORDMAN (aka Joe)