A lot of neat mercury’s up for sale next weekend, I like the comet wagon, cool way to haul cargo.
1967 comet wagon
https://www.mecum.com/lots/AZ0319-373914/1967-mercury-comet-wagon/
1969 XR7
https://www.mecum.com/lots/AZ0319-372070/1969-mercury-cougar-xr-7/
1946 pickup
https://www.mecum.com/lots/AZ0319-366649/1946-mercury-12-ton-pickup/
69 eliminators
https://www.mecum.com/lots/AZ0319-366247/1969-mercury-cougar-eliminator/
https://www.mecum.com/lots/AZ0319-366237/1969-mercury-cougar-eliminator/
It looks like all these 69 Cougar’s are missing the OEM smog systems. I am not very familiar with the 69 Eliminators. Did they only make 260 S code Eliminators in 1969? (referring to the orange one listed above as Lot F104) That production figure seems rather rare.
The “Brothers Car Collection” here locally is thinning the herd as they have upgraded many cars in their collection over the years. These two are ones I sold them.
https://www.mecum.com/lots/AZ0319-372070/1969-mercury-cougar-xr-7/
https://www.mecum.com/lots/AZ0319-366252/1969-mercury-cougar-xr-7-convertible/
In all they sent about 40 cars to this auction. Here is a handful of my cars they ended up with, could not find them all on their site.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eASUoyFHDZg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAKAvQ8iLIU
Do you think that the reason they are selling off so many cars is that the Muscle car market is in decline now?
The collector car market in general seems soft but that is not a factor in the running of these cars at auction. As Don Rush stated they have upgraded in many areas. Many of the cars that are going will make great additions to other collections.
They actually have more than doubled their collection in the last 10 years. They are less interested in the under $100k cars they purchased from me in the past and would rather focus on fewer but more high caliber cars. “The brothers” are heirs of the HRC multi-billion dollar empire so 600 cars in a couple of tip-ups is less of a financial drain on them than if WCCC owned and housed 600 semi collectible Hotwheels. These cars could halve in value and it really would not get them excited.
Yes, only 260 S-code Eliminators built. 36 in Competition Orange / Black Interior with 390 / C6 Automatic, like the auction car (9F91S580693).
Of those 36 built, only about 5 are currently accounted for (I say “about” because I know of a few more but don’t have VIN’s on them yet).
I don’t see anything missing on the 390 Eliminator.
As noted the other day, I am not very familiar with the 69 Eliminators. Did the 1969 GT 390 not have a smog pump from the factory? If not, did they change the carburetor or compression ratio to eliminate the need for a smog pump. Just asking because I really don’t know the answer.
From what I have seen in prior posts the main difference between the '69 “390 IP” and the '67-'68 “390 GT” was the switch from a Holley 4150 to an Autolite carburetor that no longer required a smog system.
That makes total sense. The 1968 GT 390 had a 600 cfm Holley carburetor and the 428 CI motors in 1969 had a Holley carburetor. That helps explain the why those 2 motors had smog pumps. It doesn’t hurt to learn something new every day!
The 1969 390-4V engines have a milder cam and the 470 CFM Autolote carburetor. They never had a smog lump when they were new.
Mike, I actually have different production numbers on the 1969 390 S code Eliminators than you, and I will share the numbers I have here which I have compiled from several different Elite Marti reports. I have one of these 390 with Auto Eliminators, so I wanted to know the numbers for sure. Sorry I don’t have the 4 speed color breakdowns.
– 100085 1969 Cougars made
– 66351 Standard Hardtops
– 931 with the S code 390-4V engine
– 676 with C6 auto trans
– 182 Eliminators
– Of which 61 were Yellow, 27 were White, 40 were orange, and 54 were Blue.
We just got back from the Mecum auction and I will let you know my general impressions. Overall, Mecum did a good job with the auction cost ($30 to get in), set up, display of cars, bidding areas, lighting, staff, etc. However, overall in general this auction was much smaller than the Barrett-Jackson auction, both in number of cars, attendance, and number of bidders (amount of money in the room). I would guess it only had about ~1/3 the draw of Barrett. Although there were many nice cars there, the overall quality of cars was definitely a notch below Barrett. Most of the cars auctioned were stock or close to it, with a much smaller number of modified ones or customs. Prices were definitely bargains compared to some of the other recent auctions.
There were many Cougars at the auction which I wanted to see in person. Although they looked great in the photos, to be honest I was quite disappointed at the quality of the restorations (old paint, pitted chrome, poorly cleaned and restored engine compartments, etc). There were certainly no number #1 cars present (like you would see at a Cougar nationals show), and I would say that outside the white 1969 428CJ convertible, there were probably no number #2 cars either. All of the Cougars were essentially nice driver quality. All of them (including the 428CJ convertilble) could have used some better quality restoration work. So in that light, these Cougars selling for mid $30K-$40Ks is quite understandable. The 428CJ convertible went for $67K, which was a bit low for a 428CJ convertible, but I think the color combo hurt the value, as it was quite plain to the eye.
Good deals were to be had for sure. A 1970 Mach 1 Mustang 351C Yellow Shaker car sold for $33K. At that price - you could come NOT close to restoring one for the same money. And there were several others that were similar.
Scott, our numbers match. To clarify…
For the 1969 Eliminator:
260 S-codes includes Auto and Manual transmissions (C6, 3-speed, and both wide + close-ratio 4-speeds).
182 had the C6 automatic
40 of those were Competition Orange, of which 36 had the Black Interior.
So, 36 Eliminators were built with the basic combination of: 390-4V / C6 / Comp Orange / Black Interior.
1 of which sold today for $41k 
BTW - I don’t have official numbers for the manual trans color breakdowns either :-/
This one looks like a heck of a deal https://www.mecum.com/lots/AZ0319-372070/1969-mercury-cougar-xr-7/
I just pulled my file on the 69 cj vert. I bought it from a member on MC.net for $41k and listed it on ebay at no reserve and it brought $75k a few weeks later. The buyer sold it to a dealer a year later and the “The Brothers” paid about $70k. It is an amateur older restoration (more like a freshen up) on a very clean low mile car, nowhere near a number 2 car but a solid #3. $67k was the money on this one IMHO. Keep in mind the irrational exuberance displayed on ebay in 2005-2008. Everybody and their dog were getting “fill in the amount” blank home refinance checks in the mail and folks were in a panic to get a cool muscle car before they hit stratosphere prices. And then this happened…
https://youtu.be/xbiDrzTd8fE?t=291
Great movie BTW if you have not already seen it. The book is even better.
Don, was that Tim B’s CJ vert? He gave me first right of refusal at $40k and I just couldn’t come up with the $$$. I sure wanted that car!! I was so appreciative of him offering it up to me first because I knew the car was worth it.
The white CJ convertible was by far the best of the bunch there. The 1969 XR7 Blue 428CJ Cougar looked great in the photos, but was nothing close in reality, with faded, cracked and chipping paint, worn interior, and under hood was 100% driver quality. This car would have made a good candidate for a full restoration, since it was a solid car. If you wanted a real 428 CJ car to drive and enjoy as is, this would have been a good one.
If that’s the case that blue XR-7 was maybe a bit over retail.