Righty strip, Lefty ooops
??
Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey?
Oh, let me write that down, I can use that trick where I work.
O-K, I think I got it: Righty-Cougar, Lefty-Mustang…does that sound right?
Fashionably late to the party, but got in at #297
Whoa Nellie! Great response, so happy this is happening!
My order was #72, had no idea we’d blasted through 200 so fast. Awesome 
(Edit) does this mean that the calendar even if not bought through the WCCC site? (I assume so)
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I’ve had a tough time driving over to get a calendar, it’s just so far to Don’s from my office 
I’m glad to see the numbers are still growing!
I was Order: #70
We just passed order number 320, (approximately 275 subscribers…) and still growing. More subscribers is a big help. For example, it is allowing us to fly Rich out for a big photo shoot that will be featured in issue one. Thanks to every one for the continuing support.
The real test for you will be when it comes time to renew. Getting people to sign up for something new is easy.
I’m finishing up an article on Ed Meyer’s Boss 429 Cougar that will be in the Carlisle Ford Show program - Ed’s car will be featured at the fast approaching show.
I’ve been working on the story with Ed for the last several weeks and in fact spent last night on the phone with Randy Payne. Randy raced the Cougar for “Dyno” Don and he is a hoot and we discovered we may even be related. Randy is gathering photos and documentation on the B9 Cougar that he will supply to Ed and me - my intention is to greatly expand the article for inclusion in a future issue of LCM
Phillip
Way to go Phillip!
Al, you may be right. We have to do a good job, and we are going to give it our best shot.
I had along conversation with a guy who has owned his Cougar longer than any one else. He bought it new the day it rolled off the truck in October 1966, and has put over 500,000 miles on it. Wow!
You must be referring to Rich Klepach. He is quite a character. He drove his car out to the CCOA West Nationals in 1997 from his home in Mass. I’ve talked with him multiple times over the years and he is still passionate to this day about his purchase nearly 50 years ago.
I think its the same guy who has chewed my ear a few times regarding the ATSOTC original owner series, although that name doesn’t ring a bell. He told me the engine has never been overhauled in those 500k miles. I never could get him to write it all down, although once he told me that he had done it but then misplaced it. Hope his story gets preserved in some fashion. I could be mistaking him with someone else, tho, as I thought he told me his car was an XR7 which wouldn’t have come out until later in the model year.
This is one and the same. The car is pretty unusual. It is a '67 289 2v manual drum brakes (still running the original drums!) no power steering… 4 SPEED! How cool is that? He is very passionate, I think we were on the phone for two hours. This is definitely the type of story we want to run. It won’t be in issue one, but if he is willing we will have to run it. And yes he did drive it to Washington State from Massachusetts.
Now if you can keep coming up with content like that you’ll never lose a subscriber! I can’t wait to read that story.
Bill, just a word of caution here. I have known Rich since the early 1990s. If all you had with him was a 2 hour phone call you got off with a short chat. I have had phone conversations with him that tested the battery strength of my phone past its breaking point. I would be willing to bet that he kept on talking even after the line went dead. I have been at quite a few shows with Rich and his car. It has been through its fair share of changes over the years. Some might consider his car to be a survivor, at best I would call it a rough survivor. While his story could be an interesting article as he could talk about the early days of ownership do not expect current photos of the car to be up to even daily driver quality. If you want other details on this subject please PM me.
Randy Goodling
CCOA #95
I met him at the nationals in Holland in the 80’s with his high mileage Cougar (Polar white 67 if I remember correctly). He had a large banner on the windshield with the milage. I think it was at 320,000 then. He was a windy character and can’t say I believe everything he said about his car. The Cougar was pretty rough back then. It broke down in the parking lot at the show and wouldn’t start. Was having starter electrical issues and had it half torn apart in the middle of the show. He did drive it from MA to MI for the nationals. Back then it was just a worn out Cougar that needed lots of attention. Today it would make for a good story. I might even have a picture of it. I’ll take a look.
Randy, he was clear that the car was well past its glory days and had not been driven in a decade at least. He has the engine disassembled right now and I believe it has been for a long time. I suspect that he is probably past the time where he could go out in the garage and fix’er up.
I know there is a lot of focus on what is correct and lots of claims about having seen this or that back in the day. This is not how we would write this story.
Rich’s story would start like this. Rich already had a very nice car for a young man in 1966: a new Mustang. However in the fall, at least in the late 60’s, a young man’s fancy turns to the new car showrooms to see what was up. Rich says he didn’t set out to go to the Mercury dealership, rather he was just driving by when he saw the transporter unloading two brand new Cougars. This was something he had to stop and see.
But it really wasn’t the first time for Rich to see a Cougar. He had been peering through the gate at the Ford proving ground and had seen a possibly prototype Cougar there. Trying to be discreet, he manged to shoot a single picture of the car, his camera still held at his waist to avoid attention. That picture captured only the side and rear view of the new cat.
At the dealership, the two new Cougars were stunning. Rich would return a few days later, and following a test drive the Mustang would stay behind, and he would be the proud owner of a brand new '67 Cougar that he would eventually drive for over 500,000 miles and still owns today.
We would tell his story, focusing on what the Cougar meant to him how it changed his life, that sort of thing. Where he has documentation and pictures we can run that, I really want to see what a '67 Massachusetts title looked like, that is if they even used them back then. We will have to sort some wheat from the chaff, but that is what writers are supposed to do.
That’s fine Bill. I agree that the story is in the history, not the current condition of the car. Just be aware that Rich can spin a good fisherman’s tale. The proving ground story is a new one to me, and I have logged a LOT of conversation hours with him. It would be interesting to see the photo he took that day.
Randy Goodling
CCOA #95
Bill,
How many subscriptions are you up to? What is the deadline for people to subscribe to still receive the 1st issue?
Will Rich be looking for feature cars at the CCOA Western Regional Show in June… http://www.cougarclub.org and http://www.classiccougar.com have event details.
I can’t wait to see the 1st issue, there can only be one first, and I’m sure everyone is looking forward to the 1st of many issues.
With luck, we will know a lot more in a few weeks. I talked with Rich by phone on Sunday and will be going out to meet with him soon. I will look at whatever he has and pass the information to Bill for the article. So as not to steal thunder from the article, I have sworn myself to secrecy otherwise. For those who can’t wait for the article, I can be bought but it will probably take a GT-E to get the job done!
He mentioned the prototype photo to me when we talked, so I will see if he can show it to me. I don’t think he’s willing to share it, though.
See you at Carlisle, Randy!