WOW! Wish I knew you when I was trying to sell a pair of super nice 69 fenders and doors. Had them on craigslist for over four months and felt lucky to get $200 each. If that shop is putting that hood in final paint for 12-14 that’s good. If it is just for primer, that’s high.
I would expect the metal work to cost $15K - $20K parts and labor on this car owing to needing an entire floor pan, roof, hood, trunk and doors. And more that you have not thought about. After that a paint job would be $10K - $20K, not including any assembly or disassembly. It needs to be done by an experienced Cougar project manager / restorer. Giving this car to just any body shop would be disastrous. You could easily spend north of $100K on a restoration of this car, if you don’t work on the car yourself.
Phil Parcells said the last car he did cost him $40k with him doing much of the work so perhaps $50k today. The last GT-500 rotisserie I did cost me about $40k with me doing most of the work too and sourcing and rebuilding a 427 sideoiler with dual quads. If you parts hunt yourself you can save a good bit, plus I find that part of the fun.
So if you are an “open your check” book kind of guy, I can see it hitting the $100k mark total figuring in everybody else’s profit margins on labor and parts. Even if that is the case, if the car brings a conservative $150k, you are still above even if the car cost $50k and in the profit if the car sells for less than $25k. The fact that the current drivetrain will sell for $8k to$10k helps a bit.
Why a 427? Just curious.
It was a tribute and a 427 was the badest engine I could find. But I did use 428CJ heads. 
What you have there is a Mustang, not a Shelby. Restoring real stuff is a whole different ball game. Parts for a Mustang are 1/10 the price and 100 times easier to find than the same part for a Cougar (unless they are front suspension, which is the same). If you went to restore a real Shelby with real parts it would be cheaper than restoring a Cougar, yet more valuable when done. They made thousands of '68 Shelbys. They reproduce nearly every part that is unique to a '68 Shelby.
Then you have the issue of 1968 428CJ parts being 10 times more expensive than '69 428CJ parts. There were not many '68 428 CJ’s made. Try finding a real '68 428CJ 4 speed Mustang / Shelby / Cougar carburetor. Be ready to pay $3500 when you find one. Then try finding properly date coded heads, block, fuel pump, distributor, intake, exhaust… By the time the engine goes in the car you could be over $25K just for engine parts, restoration of those parts, and assembling them properly.
I hope someone who appreciates the car and will be able to fund a proper restoration gets it.
Too bad they didn’t just pull it into the garage.
I would advise any that is an interested party to contact Greg Taylor, who is also in Florida about traveling to inspect the car to quote an accurate restoration for the car. I would think his time and fuel costs would be money well spent.
Greg’s contact is located on the CCOA website and attached is his business card. (Nice design Phillip Payne)
LOL, wish you were selling them after my car was hit! It is final paint
This car and project is too big for my britches, that’s for sure. I kind of like the idea of KTL or Greg Taylor taking it on with an investment consortium form the Cougar Community. “Stock/Shares” if you will. 4-5 folks each pitching in $15-20K at first, with (likely, depending on how progress goes and hurdles are discovered) another 10k or so down the road a year or more, could get this done. But it’d take a lot of faith, goodwill and cooperation. I’d be more than willing, myself, and believe there are members who I would trust completely in a venture like this.
Otherwise, this is going to take someone with seriously deep pockets and the wherewithal and patience to manage quite a project, with money “out” for quite some time.
If money were pooled, I’d love to follow this project and then see to it that it ends up at Barrett Jackson or a good auction. I could store it at my shop after the work is all done till the time is right for sale 
But seriously…Just an idea I thought I’d throw out there…
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“In a issue of SS/DI there is a picture of Dyno Don racing a fairly stock 1968 428CJ Cougar. The car was also painted black”
Anyone have any info on this statement???
Yes - it is the August 1968 issue of Super Stock & Drag Illustrated magazine.
Here is the cover -
- Phillip
Is there a photo of Don racing a black 68?
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That (the one Don TRIED to enter in the '68 US Nationals) car is a factory GT / automatic / XR-7.
He painted it in his typical red paint scheme before entering it.
Here’s a picture from SS + DI magazine.
Wow, very cool. Still trying to chase down my car’s painted black racing days but that is certainly not it. Is this car still around?
We know the VIN but the car is probably long gone. Not seen since the 1960’s.