Well, got the new old girl out for a sunday afternoon drive. She’s a J-code NON AC. (yay!) Bought it a month ago. Snapped a pic out in the driveway. Spent two years looking for the right car that needs the right amount of tlc. Paint is in great shape. Interior is mostly original and damn near immaculate. Engine compartment needs some attention. I’ve already rebuilt the charging sytem with a new alt, alt harness, batt and batt cables. The undercarriage is solid with no rust. The trunk has some rust around drain holes but thats the only cancer I can find. Pretty much just needs a light resto so I can work on it and drive it at the same time.
The first thing I want to get is new wheels and tires. The magnums are pitting. I’ve been looking around for something different. Has anyone seen any good chrome or aluminum wheels that look sharp with whitewalls? The centerline superspokes might look pretty good with thin whitewalls. Any suggestions?
The stock Cougar styled steel wheels look good with either whitewalls or raised white letters. The Summit wheel is nice but I’m not sure it complements the style of the Cougar as well as classic 5-spoke designs. You may also want to consider a black wheel with a silver lip. That combo looks really good on white & black combinations.
I agree the Center Line wheel looks like a nice rim but the 5 spoke design look best on early Cougars, at least to me. Check out WCCC’s repro styled steel wheels or some Cragar SS wheels. They both use the 5 spoke design. It looks like you have a nice XR7.
Steven
Your car looks just like my first after I painted it except I had a 69 shaker set up. I am more than a little biased but I think it looks great. Congrats and more pictures please, interior,engine, etc.
My suggestion is for a set of period style performance wheels. I think the factory wheels are tasteful, but boring to look at for any period of time.
If it were mine, I’d do these on the front with some gnarly and appropriately sized blackwalls. The rear would be these at about a 15" dia. with plenty of sidewall showing on the tires.
Mix and match gasser type wheels dress up a white car without having to resort to shiny chrome to make it pop. They give it a track-ish appearance too, and a white car tends to favor that as it reminds car guys of the days when a body in white was sinister, rather than a fleet optioned sedan or a rental.
But, I tend to not like bling and think less is moar.
Hey, you axed.
It appears I have some photography to do…this is pretty fuzzy. I bought these wheels online. A lot of options out there at a very reasonable cost for the old torque-thrust look…
Thanks everyone for the compliments. The magnums, cougar repros and 5 spokes wheels all look good on cougars. That’s why I see those styles alot. I was hoping to think outside the box just a little bit but it appears that I am pretty limited. Staying with 15" means looking in the “vintage” wheel section of different manufacturers. Of course that section is full of different variations of the 5-spoke design, a magnum and a couple of cheap steel wheels. Booo.
I did find a few possibilities though. Wheels that I have not seen on a cougar yet.
I do love these polished AR wheels. They look really good. They offer a grey painted version. The thought crossed my mind to have them black powder coated to compliment the vinyl top.
Brian, the first shot is such a much better photo its hard to compare. The car looks great though. More and more I think my 69 is going white on the repaint. Even considering the original off grey (senility kicking in) anyhow it looks white.
Its hard to beat the look your car has in that first shot.
Definitely stay with option 2 or 4, if you want my vote. I think a Cat looks too blinged out with the first and third selections…just too fancy-pants in this Old Man’s opinion. The torque thrust with gray center is just a classic Muscle look. Luckily there are bazillions of options of manufacturers and deals on those.
Having said that, the beauty ring-less option of 15s from WCCC (the ones with the chromed outer and Styled steel) are terriffic. I have people ask me about them all the time. Currently on Blackie
I am partial to the original styled steel wheels over others. If you are thinking outside the box I would look at the 69-70 Shelby wheels. Dont see them much on cougars and I like them quite a bit.
One year later. Whew. Where to start? OK. Here goes.
320hp 302 courtesy of an Edelbrock top end kit. Edelbrock Thunder series 650 carb.
Pertronix distributor. 3g 130 amp alternator. Aluminum radiator with Edelbrock water pump.
Ported 351W exhaust mainfolds. Magnaflow 2 1/4 exhaust.
Transmision rebuilt and beefed up (Kevlar bands and other goodies)
Original dash pad, steering wheel and door panels. New seat covers, carpet and headliner. On the hunt for a NOS drivers armrest. Have Shelby armrests installed for now.
Custom Autosound stereo head unit. Alpine 6 3/4 and 6x9 Type R speakers with a 150watt amplifier hidden behind the rear seat.
Dynamat used on the floor and on the doors.
Surface rust around trunk drain holes was removed and holes were filled in. Spatter paint looks pretty sharp.
15 year old paint job still looks great. (Yes I know it’s white) Been all over this car and happy to verify it is all original sheetmetal.
New US Mag wheels and Cooper tires.
Next year she will get new brakes and suspension. Also plan on the electric headlight conversion, new 3-wire tach and voltage gage from Rocketman.
Been a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone for the helpful advice over the years on this one and my last cougar.
