I am the proud owner of a 1970 Cougar Convertible . Upon first inspection its in pretty good shape considering. No rust! It looks like most of the car is original has not been tampered with in recent history.
The car has a new exhaust, intake manifold and Holly carb. The interior is pretty rough though. I plan to replace the front and rear seats, new carpet and underlay, convertible top and most of the center console, instrument cluster and dash.
I picked this car up for 4000 USD and am willing to invest about that or maybe a little more. I would like to keep the total investment around 10K-15K.
Aside from some bodywork, paint and the previously mentioned repairs, what can i do to the vehicle in terms of restoration that would help the resale value down the line? Someone said i should put a 428 CJ under the hood or try to clone a Eliminator. That would be nice but that much power would need some performance handling upgrades and my budget will be blown to outer space… Anyone with parts please feel free to contact me.
I love this car and cant wait to get going on this project. I would appreciate any comments or suggestions on how i can bring this cat back to life and still maintain the integrity of the vehicle. Thanks in advance!
A 351 C 4v makes great power, mabye an updated cam and a few other tweeks to the engine. Is the cat a H code 351 C 2V or a M code 4V car (5th digit in the vin) even a 351 2v makes nice power with a few mods. To buy and install a 428CJ would use about all the money you want to spend on the car. Interiors are not cheap on the Cougars .
No need to replace the 351C. They are great engines. The Eliminator clone thing is overdone and will add zero value. I’d concentrate on the basics like making sure everything works as it should, replacing the trim and the top if necessary. That $6K you have budgeted is going to go quick unless you are doing everything yourself and are very resourseful. Good quality materials for paint and body will run over $2K as will the interior and complete top replacement will be close to $1K. Replacing exterior trim will run more than $1K and there goes your budget without even addressing mechanical issues or things like tires and wheels.
Thanks for the reply. I found out that it was a 351 2v H Code. I was mistaken. Seeing that its a standard model and apparently has been painted white over the original factory red, a strip and paint job may be cost prohibitive. I will focus my attention on the interior and basic interior functions. I’m beginning to see that this will be a labor of love and we should enjoy the ride.
Hmm… first thing you might consider is spending $15 to get a Marti Report. That will tell you exactly how your car was optioned when it left the factory, and give you an idea of what was removed / changed / added to the car. That info might affect how you move forward with your project.
Next, I would think about how close to / far from original you want to go with the car. Do you plan to resto-mod it? Are you going to restore it back to / close to factory specs?
If your car is a factory Red paint / white interior car, then it is a pretty desirable color combo - just look at how many are sold that way but were not delivered from the factory in that combo, LOL!
Given that you are on a limited budget, I would break it down by NEED vs WANT.
Does it NEED paint and body, or do you just WANT to do it? Could you get by with a good compound and polish on the existing paint? “Patina” is fairly popular now, but it probably won’t win you any awards.
Unless you can do the paint and body prep yourself, then consider a good buff by a pro for what, $200-$300? Or possibly a MAACO paint job could be had within budget?
Does it NEED new interior, or can you get by with some refurbishing work? Maybe pull it all out and do some serious cleaning - maybe repaint / re-dye the vinyl, panels and dash to freshen it up. Maybe pick up some replacements for trim or components that are broken or damaged, or simply worn out (like carpet). Thats cheaper than replacing it all. Carpet is something like $350-ish, convertible top another $350(?) + install for another $350 or so? If you need a Dash, that’s $350. Misc Trim bits… call it $200? Plus a weekend of time, a bucket, a brush, and some simple green.
Hmm… I’ve spent about $2k of your money already. This is fun! LOL!
Tires - don’t drive on old cracked rubber. So that will cost you another $400-$500 for new BFG’s like you have now. Wheels aren’t necessarily a NEED - the vintage turbine wheels look cool (to me)
Hood / nose trim bits will set you back another couple hundred bucks, but will improve appearances. And I’m sure there are other “minor” components that you may want to change / repair / replace as you go.
Just remember that you don’t have to do everything at once, and that you bought it for a reason - most likely so you could cruise and enjoy it
Oh, another bit of wisdom I learned: “cleaning doesn’t cost you anything” (right Jeff?)
Mike gave you a lot of good advice. He’s going through this process on his Eliminator right now and has become pretty good at making prudent choices on what to do while keeping his car in a driveable state. Pay attention to his advice as mine is more slanted toward doing a restoration rather than a refurbishment.
I would add a hood scoop at the time of your future paint and body work like in Jeff’s photo above and stay away from the eliminator clone on a convertible. Definitely order the Marti report and they email you a PDF copy which is fast and convenient.
Have you ever polished stainless and aluminum trim before? I would suggest tackling that phase yourself if you’re a detailed oriented personality. It’s a labour of love but with a 300-400 dollar investment into a buffer, wheels and compounds it can be applied to all the trim on your Cougar assuming the trim are restorable parts and can save coin on professionally restored trim. I did this with my 1970 Cougar (standard model like yours) and I learned it all on my own with great success. Check out my build thread for some ideas, there are a lot of tasks you can handle on your own that don’t cost a lot of money to restore but do require time and patience. https://cccforum.discoursehosting.net/t/1970-cougar-exterior-restoration-thread/1456/1
And congrats on the new Cougar and welcome to the forum. Keep us posted on your progress.
I would definitely take a stab at buffing out the paint. There are some good polish products out there like the System One x3 compound that will do wonders to a worn and weathered paint job. White is a good color to start with also.
Thanks for all the great comments… These are great ideas for buffing out the paint and restoring the chrome. The previous owner was quite organized and there’s a great deal of old goodies, emblems and spare parts in the trunk. I just ordered new carpet, underlay, white convertible top, and a full interior upholstery white repro kit. During this we will need to restore the instrument cluster and some interior electronics, service the convertible top motors and lots of cleaning!
I think that down the line the white interior and top will go great with the fire red or competition orange paint job. i guess the red and white would be more true to original. I’m getting excited now, seems like i will have some late nights in the shop!
