In 1995 I was 19 years old and about to go back to school after a year of manual labor. I decided it would be wise to use all my money in the world to buy a Cougar. My best froend had owned an Augusta green 68 XR7 GT with a C6 for a few years and he spotted what would become my car in the classified ads.
I bought the car from a guy in Los Gatos, CA. He hadn’t owned it for long and after looking it over and a quick test drive I forked over $4300 and drove it home. These are the pictures I took as soon as I pulled it up in front of the house:
It was my daily driver (when it ran) for the next 4 years and then got a cheap paint job in British racing green before getting mostly parked for the next 20 years.
Three kids later, it’s running again and I finally have some time and some money to put into it. Now it’s making weekend ice cream runs and giving me lots of enjoyable afternoon projects.
Eventually it’s going back to Augusta green but in the meantime I’m working on getting the engine compartment and interior redone back to a nice stock look. Not going for concours but I like it to look like it should.
I meant to put in the first post that I recently got the Marti Report. I had no idea radial tires were available at that time so I thought that option was pretty cool.
Here’s my favorite recent pickup, a whole aircleaner and heat riser assembly. Got the heat shield on ebay, s tube from WCCC, snorkel from Mansfield, and cleaner base and lid from a friend down the street who had them tucked away.
Very nice! I think it may be the first Augusta Green 390/4-speed car I’ve ever actually heard of or seen pictures of, and I’ve been casually looking for over 30 years. Thanks for including a picture of the Marti report. I always thought there were quite a few more Augusta Green cars than what there are. What you have is one of two combinations I’d give up my car for - either a 390/4-speed or 428/4-speed with the Augusta Green paint.
The vacuum door on the side of the air cleaner was all seized up when I got it. Just got it back from the guys at Perogie http://www.perogie.com and it is working and looking great. I had heard somewhere that a rebuild needs two broken motors to make one working unit but they were able to fix mine up on its own for $90. (edit: fixed link)
before:
Pulled the heater box, replaced the core and all the seals, swapped out my cheesy 80s repro plenum for a nice new one, and replaced the defroster ducts.
While I had the heater box out I figured I should replace the kick panel speakers, repair the speaker pods, and replace the aftermarket antenna with a Scott Drake repro. The speaker pods had broken off at the screw holes securing them to the sheet metal. I used sheet ABS to reinforce them, drill, new mounting holes, and on they went. I also replaced the cheesy boombox speaker wire that was in there with a correct used stereo harness and speaker pigtails from WCCC.
While my carb is out getting rebuilt by Joe Bunetic, I figured I should go through the fuel system so everything will be clean and fresh when the carb goes back on.
The tank looks like it could be original, still has the rectangle of particle board stuck to it:
But the inside looks like the bottom of a pond and it has a big dent in the bottom left:
I drained it and pulled the fuel sender and it was immediately apparent why my gas gauge has never worked:
The filler neck looks good, no rust to speak of, and I was able to get the particle board piece off the tank without breaking it. I have the replacement tank, fuel lines, and fuel pump all ready to go. I’m rebuilding the sender right now and hopefully everything will go back together this weekend and I’ll just be waiting for the carb to come back.
Got the new gas tank, rebuilt sender, new lines, and fuel pump in. The WCCC fuel system overhaul video saved me when it came time to fit the long fuel line from the tank to the torque box. The tricky part of fitting the line in is at 23:48 in the WCCC video. You have to rotate and maneuver it from the side, in past the shock.
I was pleased with how the tank turned out with the particle board section epoxied back on.
This car was better when it had a hole in the muffler.
Also, you should tell them all about the time I beat you in a drag race in a stock 5spd Manual 1993 Toyota Camry LE. That’s my favorite part about this car. (That you could smoke the tires through all 4 gears without going more than 10ft).
