Gratulerer med ride of the month Jan Ove. Det var vel fortjent 
Tusen takk Gry
Thanks all 
now to the story…
It started around 1980/81 when one of my brothers came home one day with a 68 std Cougar, i instantly liked that car, and decided that i have to get a car like that when i grow up, so when it got time for my license i started looking for a cat, of course i found that they where rare and expensive for a kid, so it got put on hold waiting for the account to grow, the search and wait vent on and off for about 10 years trough Norway and Sweden, with not much luck finding the one i wanted, so in 1998 in a conversation with my oldest brother in Seattle, i said he could start searching for a Cougar over there, as they where far between over here.
A few days later he calls me back, found one at a shop, looks awsome, but it´s expensive tho, priced at $10.000.
Well i told him to check it toroughly to see if it´s as great as it looks, and that it all works on the car, if so just buy it, as the time and bank account was agreeing with me
So he bought the car, drove it back to his home in Seattle, and since it was in the end of summer, we decided to store it in Seattle over the winther, and shipped it out to Norway in the spring 1999.
It´s a Texas car, sold from Marstaller Motors to a young and upcoming Doctor, how long he had it, and the path of it´s life is at that early stage unknown to me, my knowledge starts when it showed up in Wa with John Benoit, with his wife as the owner, then in around the late 80´s or beginning of 90´s John gave it a restoration in his shop, Cascade Classics, a perfect and his known top quality work was done, then in 1998 i bought it at a shop where a later owner had traded it in, only change i did to the car when i got it, was to put on some American Racing TT II wheels,
I drove it and enjoyed the car like that for 99 and 2000, then in fall 2000 i started playing with the idea of a repaint due to the new House of Kolor´s Kameleon paints that had hit the marked, and since i´m painting cars for a living, it´s easier and less costly for me to play like this, and also to show off my skills 
So new paint it got, with air brushings inside the hood, done by me also
Drove it and enjoyed life like this for a couple of years, then decided to add a scoop, so i got a 2.nd hood to mock up, put on the scoop, air brushed the inside of the hood and also the scoop, also painted on ghost flames in a slightly different shade to the sides of the raised centre section on the hood
Then the seat covers started to show it´s age, so i changed out the covers front and back seat
And also added a rear wing to it,
Then it was basicly just driving it, and changing out small bit n pieces as they needed attention, like weather stripping, also took apart the rear axle and installed a Detroit True Trac locker in it, for the fun part 
Then in 2009 i took out the engine, tore it down to go trough it, and boost some hp, that process took 2 years with work, as there where minor stuff that needed different solutions when bolting on new parts on a old block 
and ended up with a blown engine due to faulty work form a engine shop, got a bit mad at that insident, but was tired of wrenching, so i just bought a new crate engine and put in
Also had some snag with a faulty marked TCI converter, that caused to broken oil pump axles in the transmission, also in the same time i changed out all brakelines, and booster and all that, installed a set of disk brakes in the front,
Also change out all the suspension in front and rear, got a set from Laurel Mountain Mustangs, looks fairly ok, front end parts works very good so far, rear leafs was not to my likings, too soft and low, and also centre bolt trough the leafs where offset on one leaf, so the axle was not straigt on in the rear, opted for a proper set of new leafs from ESPO, and perfectly happy with those, also the 1" lower front springs from LMM where too low and soft for my likings, just as low and soft as my old worn original springs, so i got a set of 620 1" lowered springs from Don at WCCC that is going in during this winter
Last summer i took the car for a 1500 miles trip, just to get the engine broken in
was a fun trip and no problems,
The sky that was making the special effect on the pic over here, these where taken at night without flash
Also the engine is upgraded with Duraspark electronic ignition, have put in head light relay kit from TheRktmn, plug and play system, takes only minutes to install, and makes big improvement on the lights, also there is electronic system for the rear turn signals
The paint is, as you see, shiny, this is a reflection of a 58 Buick taken in my rear quarter, the paint has not been cut and buffed, this is how smooth it is directly from my paintgun have only applied polish by hand so far on the car, and it´s now 11 years since it got painted
Also the front grille and tail light bars got painted gloss black, with the edges still chrome
Engine as it appeared earlier, and right after the new engine was installed.
Below is how it appears today, after some tidying up, and getting a walking cat oval air cleaner, i also made a bracing to go under the export brace, so i can zip tie and fasten wires, hoses etc on, without anything showing, and the export brace remains clean
The trunk appears just as it was when i bought the car, only thing i have added to it that is visible, is the disc changer for the stereo
And as you all see, i also have a set of 18" wheels on it, got a set cheap a while ago, they are a bit too big according to my taste, but they do get used on occasions
When it gets to big wheels, i like more the 17" size, and the hunt for a set of hot wheels in that size is continuing, and preferably in chrome, as i think that chrome suits my color better
The car has also been published in several local papers when i´ve been around attending carshows, and also in US papers, latest was last year in Houston Chronicle, a story written by the lovely and talented Heidi Van Horne.
Also since my brother is in Seattle, and that´s where i bought the car, my local Cougar club is the Cascade Cougar Club, where it also have been featured in their newsletter some years ago.
I also collect Cougar memorabilia, and have gotten a pretty good collection of toys, promo stuff, ad´s and a lot of other neat Cougar stuff
So that´s my story, and i´m sticking to it
There is more customizing and fun stuff on my plans for it in the future, but i´ll get back with that when it happens 
NO cut n buff?? NONE?? JAN!!! TEACH ME THAT TRICK!!! LOL
Looks fantastic, beautiful car!
Jan, maybe we should set up a trip to America for you. You could travel state to state painting our cars as you go! What a beautiful car.
Maybe you could take a few minutes and tell us more about where you live. Great job on the write up too!
Yeah that´s true T3, no cut n buff hehe that´s a secret well gotta have some tricks up my sleeve
Well i´m located on the north west coast of Norway, i live in the country side, Skodje, witch is a suburb to the city Aalesund, witch is famous for fish, furnitures, lots of big furniture factories where in the area here, Ekornes (they make the Stressless chairs) is one, also many big fishing companies is based and offspringed around here, and also some of those found in USA, like American Seafood, Birthing etc.
The city is also known for its beauty, and so are the fjords around here, most known place will be Geiranger, witch hosts tousands of tourists from all the world, including many from USA, we have roughly 2000 cruise ships visiting this place every year.
The summer season usually starts in late april, and goes to september, sometimes it´s extended from early april and all to late november, depending on how great the weather is, the roads are narrow, going up and down, in and out trough the fjords, kinda similar to route 101 up the west coast, we also have quite some nice bridges over the gaps, and a few under sea tunnels too, think the 2 sub sea tunnels we have close to me was the 2 deepest one for quite some years.
We can have cold rainy summers, and also hot dry summers, a bit the same weather as in Wa, only some degrees colder, the winter is usually mild, average temp is around 0 deg Celsius, with occasions of very cold, but that usually don´t last long, how much snow we get varies quite some too, luckily it has been low on snow for the last winthers
Up north in mid summer, we have daylight 24 hours, called midnight sun, and mid winter it´s dark 23 hours a day, we are also know for the northern lights, Aurora Borealis,
Here is a pic of Aalesund, seen from Fjellstua, witch is a cafe, viewpoint on a top in the city,
Absolutely beautiful pictures, Jan. You’ve just added visiting Norway to my bucket list.
When visiting Norway you should first of all pay me a visit as I live just 15 minutes drive from the International Airport
Now that qualifies as an offer I can’t refuse! Hopefully, we’ll all still be acquaintances here when I can finally slow down enough to come visit!
Sweet ride, incredible paint and artistry, and superb locations for the pictures.
Congratulations!
what a deserving ride. Artistry in the mix!
thanks for the story
Jean
Beautiful Janski, just beautiful. Jan, you should feel free to give up ALL your painting tips and tricks my friend. Bunch O’ hacks like us? They’re safe!