The Cougar was never an in your face kind of car: no Cuda bill boards, or massive racing stripes. Even the Eliminator was reserved in style compared to the likes of the Mach One Mustang and Z 28 Camaro. Seeing, really appreciating, the Cougar requires a little deeper consideration. Jeff B’s 1970 Sunroof car is a perfect example. The closer you look, the better it gets.
The '70 Cougar got a lot of things right: the vertical grill returned after a one year try at going sideways and the now standard high back buckets seat brought a new level of comfort to every Cougar. And to make those buckets even more comfortable a new cloth insert was available in a hounds tooth check pattern. The 4V 351 Cleveland introduced a whole new level of high RPM performance not easily obtainable with the now decade old Windsor.
I wonder how many buyers in 1970 knew that that the era of high performance would soon be a memory. We will never know, but for the lucky ones that bought a 'new Cougar in 1970, they made the right choice.
Jeff’s car started out with all of the right stuff and then got even better with the addition of a few well thought out modifications that make it better than ever. For those of you that don’t know Jeff, he is one of the most passionate Cougar guys out there with a eye for detail that is in a league if its own.
Here are a few pictures to kick things off, Jeff has a bunch of newer shots that we will be adding and some restoration pictures that I think a lot of you will enjoy. So be sure to come back and check this one out as more content is added.
Congrats Jeff~! Beautiful Cat.
I know I said it in the voting thread. But WOW!! That is a Cougar that is well deserving of ROTM. The color really pops and a sunroof to boot, who could ask for more. 
Steven
This car single handedly won me over for having green (that’s not Brit Racing Green) on a Cougar.
Just a beautiful beautiful car.
“She’s a real beauty! But she also has quite a bite!” (RIP Steve…)
Thanks for the compliments. I’ll post some pictures over the coming days starting with the ebay photos from WCCC. The car was a lifelong northern California car so there was no rust other than the typical lower doors, under the vinyl top around the rear window and the inner apron under the battery tray. The original green had been painted over with first a kelly green and then the white that was on it when I purchased it. However, being in San Francisco, every body panel had been hit at some point in its life. Under those multiple layers of paint resided about 3 gallons of Bondo.
I was looking for another sunroof car after having sold my 68 XR7 sunroof Cougar in 2005. I was also looking for a 70 because the slightly larger car was more comfortable for a man of my size. This car showed up and was loaded with options, including sunroof, a/c, 351C 4v, pw, pdb, console, space saver tire, tilt, left hand racing mirror, etc. There were a total of 19 factory options adding $1954 to the base price of $3115 for a total out-the-door price of $5239. That’s a pretty expensive car for 1970.
Here are photos from the original eBay advertisement.
Here are interior, underneath and engine compartment shots from February 2007 when I bought the Cougar.
Here are some bodywork photos of the engine compartment and passenger compartment.
I’m going to pass over the 2 years my car spent in body/paint jail and fast forward to August 2009 when I finally got the car back. The only good thing about the delay is that I was able to spend that time acquiring the parts I needed and refinishing those that I was going to reuse. The car was sprayed with rust bullet in all the interior and trunk spaces to prevent future rust issues. The engine compartment was treated to PPG DP90LF. The remainder of the car was sealed with PPG DP40LF before doing the bodywork and priming with PPG K36 primer surfacer. Once all the bodywork was completed, the car was sprayed with PPG DP70LF just prior to the 4 coats of PPG color then followed by 4 coats of clear.
I took a total of 8 weeks vacation in two increments in Sept 2009 and April 2010 to put the car together. I spent every day, weekend and holiday in between those vacation times working on the car in order to have it ready for the show season in 2010. During this 7 month period, I installed all the NOS and restored trim, the rebuilt 351C 4V, all new suspension, brakes & brake lines, new fuel tank and lines, the 3.25:1 traction lock differential, early 90’s Mustang AOD, newly shortened and balanced driveshaft, etc. I detailed the entire undercarriage with rust red paint, rather than the original slop grey because I prefer the contrast of the various finishes against the rust red. The springs were replaced along with adding a new 2.25" aluminized exhaust system with Dynomax mufflers and tailpipes installed in the original style. Every mechanical component was restored or new. Every trim piece was restored or NOS.
Here are the engine and transmission ready to go in from February 2010.
The final stages of installation included adding power locks, a power trunk lock and an alarm, all of which are controlled through a key fob. The trunk also has a button release hidden in the interior. I also relocated the original sunroof switch from the toggle located on the roof to the power convertible top switch from a 69 convertible which is mounted in the same place as all 69’s and 70 Standards. I also added an NOS rear defogger and switch. The switch is located right next to the power top switch. I added cruise control which was an NOS unit from the late 70’s. The controller is in the center console and can be moved to hang just under the lid where it is readily available for use but can’t really be seen. I installed a custom autosound secret audio system which allows me to connect a flash drive, IPOD or CD Changer to the unit and control it all through an RF remote. The display is hidden under the ash tray lid where it can’t be seen. The original 8 track is functional through a dual cone dash speaker while the modern stereo goes through a pair of door speakers and a pair of rear package tray speakers.
The houndstoot seats were done by my upholsterer using NOS Houndstooth fabric and a picture of an original interior. I had him add extra foam to make them comfortable and a special grooved foam glued to the fabric to make the pleats more prominent than they originally were. All the interior components were re-dyed so they all had the same shade of black. I modified the sliding sunroof panel so I can manually open it without having to disconnect anything. This gives me more headroom when the roof is closed and makes it easier to access the adjustment points.
I lined the entire interior including the roof, floors, firewall, inside the doors and inside the quarters with FATMAT to keep it quiet and help the A/C function better. Speaking of A/C, I replaced all the engine compartment components with modern R134A versions. I left the original evaporator in place and the system cools the car wonderfully.
I installed all NOS gauges except I replaced the clock with an 8K tach from Rocketman. Here are some interior shots.
Tell us about the sunroof modification!
What sunroof modification? The only thing I did with that was remove the vinyl top and relocate the switch as I detailed up above. Oh, I also changed the sliding upholstered panel so that it is no longer connected to the panel and I can slide it open independently to give myself more headroom or access the adjustment points.
Here are some pictures I took a month or so ago of the finished product. Since “finished” in 2010, I’ve put 8K miles on the car so the undercarriage isn’t as pretty as it was and there are a few chips here and there but that’s what happens when you drive them.
Here are a couple of the interior and engine compartment.
Congrats Jeff, I knew that you would get your car up there in the corner sooner or later.
I guess that it will be in the upper corner on Monday? LOL
Yep on the picture. I will check with Jay in the morning.
