Idaho GTE

On face book mercury cougar somebody picked up what appears to be a 428

Yes, red GTE XR7 428 car

Rare and desirable car in a great color combination is the good part. The bad part is the overall condition and the missing engine. It has a substitute engine, non - CJ. If the price is right (I don’t know what it was) then it could still be a great deal for the resourceful guy.

Royce, are you saying this GT-E does not have a CJ in it? Or just not the original one? I have pictures of this car with what looks like a 68 CJ. I have not gotten to see this Cougar but will be soon.

What is special purpose vehicle?

Not a CJ. Not the original.


When I go look at it I’ll look at the numbers that I can and report back what I do find. But an incorrect powertrain does kill value.

Was this one already in the registry?

Jim Pinkerton has seen it, so I would say yes it is.

Just wondering, the photos show headrests on the front seats but there is no mention of them on the Marti report. Should the headrests be listed on the report? A mistake on the part of Kevin? Swapped out seats? Or?? Again just wondering.

Randy Goodling
CCOA #95

Double checked the production information and the factory says this car did not have headrests. So … we can speculate…dealer installed? previous buyer installed?..or factory records mistake?

:paw_prints:
Previous owners, brother had an XR7G that was wrecked and parted. I would add to Jim’s speculation that the seats could have been swapped for the seats in the wrecked XR7G.

Hard to say with 50+ years and a few owners.

Love the chase and the fact this car found someone that will drive and enjoy it.

www.CougarClub.org
:paw_prints:

The defogger is also missing from the Marti.

I laid eyes on this car today. It has a CJ top end on the engine. We looked for the VIN on the back of the block. But with the car on the ground we were not able to see one.
Casting number on the intake is C8OE-C. Correct for a CJ or a Police Interceptor.

I’m thinkiong the casting date on the intake, March 10 1968, should be good for a May built car.

I could see the -N on the heads, but not get a picture of them.

None of that proves this is the born with CJ. Or even a CJ bottom end. But does help with value over having a 390 in it.

They are working on getting her fired up and have the incorrect Holley off for freshening up.

Detain to note on the hood scoop,

As you can see it has headers on it, it does not have correct exhaust tips. Somebody added the rear window defogger and head rest seats. Also removed the Power Steering. I may be more a 1970 Cougar guy; but I would love to own this Cougar. It’s going to need some rust repair, but looks better than many.
Also, the body buck tag is missing and the core support looks to have been cleaned up(extra holes filled) So it this was a Brass tag car it is long gone. I could see the top of the L/H apron VIN. Of what I could see it looks correct.

Thay will have it up on there lift in a few days. When we were looking at the back of the block/head we think we saw a “R” But that may not be part of the VIN. e were using a Cell phone key hole camera, from above it is hard to get a good angle in it. I did not get under the car to look at the date code of the block. I should have.

The VIN should be on the rear of the driver side cylinder head if it is there. The VIN will only have the plant code and the sequential number. It looks like this (my car):

The block casting date should be a month or two prior to the car being built if it is typical. Looking up from underneath the car you can see it. Right next to the oil filter adapter. Again an example from my car:

The block is also stamped with an assembly date. Again an example from my car, it is 8E3:
block assembly date.jpg

The previous owner (Darin Felton) installed them in the 90’s. This car has some rust and has been changed around a bit. The asking price is $60k

Yours is 569384 and this is 569383. I’m sure they were not built one after the other though. How do the build dates compare?

I plan to go back and look at it when they have it up on there lift. I will check the engine casting date and see if I can find the build date As well las hopefully verify the VIN on the head/block.

Mine was built May 15.