Factory tie down brackets on rear of car

Cougar Community Classic Cougar Community Discussion
1

Folks,
Can someone tell me how the rear shipping brackets that were installed at the factory for shipping 69 or 70 Cougars were installed? I know they were to be removed by the dealer, but I have some that I took off cars years ago. Pics of them installed would be great. I’m just not sure if they were mounted on the inside or outside of the frame rail, and was the hook (loop) end to the front or rear of the car.
Thanks for the info.

2

Inside of frame rails, loop towards the rear. As seen on the decal that would have been on the rear license plate bracket:

3

thanks for the great information.

4

The image on that sticker is correct for Mustang. On Cougars, the tie down bracket is quite different, and the brackets mount opposite what that image might lead you to believe. Dealers were supposed to take the plates off before delivery, but few did.

Here is the way they are mounted on 1967 - 73 Cougar:

DSCN1959.jpg
DSCN1959.jpg800×600 82.6 KB

5

Marcus wrote a good article about this - see here:
http://anghelrestorations.com/uploads/3/1/7/6/3176630/tie_down_v1.0.pdf

6

As a technician at a couple dealerships throughout my career I have done tons and tons of PDI inspections which is when items like these would be pulled off and tossed. I sometimes wondered if those parts would be worth something 30,40,50 years from now. If only we could see into the future to know what parts to save and what to toss in the trash!

7

Thanks Royce for clarifying, I assumed the sticker was accurate!

8

Royce is the hardware specific to these brackets ?

9

I think it is only used in this location on the car if that is what you mean. If you look at the article from Markus he shows two types of hardware, one from San Jose and one from Dearborn.


10

Yes and as Royce mentioned it differs between plants and what exhaust system you had. Single or dual Not correct for Cougar :unamused:

11

I don’t think there is any single / dual difference on a Cougar Jeff.


12

So your reporting that they all 67-70 (for example) all used the single (for Mustang) exhaust style with only the two mounting bolts? Thanks for setting me right :slight_smile:

Guess I should have gone through the pictures before responding :wall:

13

I can not say what 67/68 got. But my 70 Convertible 351 4V has the same brackets as my 70 Hard top with a 351W 2V. I have not looked at the 70 CJ car recently but think they are also the same.

14

Follow up - Apparently due to the increased length of the car compared to those other Ford products there was not an issue with rubbing or touching of the brackets to the exhaust system. For many of the years not even a hole placed in a good location on the bottom of the frame rail it appears and of course because of this no preattached nut for the third bolt for the other version

67 Dearborn




69 Dearborn




69 San Jose




70 Dearborn

15

So if you are lucky enough, the brackets could still be there if you trailer the car.