It’s been awhile since I bought another Cougar so when this one popped up I had to jump on it.
Since I already have more than a few Cougars, let me explain my thinking…
I always thought that the 4 speed was really the way the XR-7 should have been built. The XR-7 was supposed to lean more towards sports car and less towards American luxury. Never the less, only a paltry few were built that way. A real sports car should also be able to go around corners and, as much as like big whomping FE power, sticking that much weight in the nose of a fairly light car doesn’t exactly bode well for the handling. The J code 302 4V is a great motor, but the design of the heads and the resulting compression ratio are not quite compatible with today’s weak excuse for gasoline. That leaves the bullet proof F code 302 2V. As it turns out, only 530 of those found their way in front of a four speed top-loader in an XR-7. For frame of reference, there were 619 XR7-Gs built.
But wait there is more! The ideal XR-7 4 speed would need a few other options. Good brakes are at the top of the list, so power discs are a must. And then when you are using one hand to shift gears, power steering sure comes in handy. And if you live in the part of Arizona that even reptiles consider to be a tad too warm, you have to have air-conditioning; WhisperAire comes to the rescue. Because I am picky, old, and grumpy, rust can not be tolerated, so a slick top with no vinyl is preferred and no body rot accepted.
All unicorns are white so… white is a good color. And a black interior is the easiest to restore so… black on the inside. Yeah, that 's the ticket.
So while I was searching for Cougar parts, and came across this one I couldn’t help myself.
And a good color for AZ. Are you just a little tempted but put a stroked 351 crate motor in it? Good news, getting a correct deluxe steering wheel just got a lot easier!
This Cougar has been waiting for a very long time to get back on the road. The previous owner had acquired the Cougar almost 10 years ago and even then it was a garage find. He had disassembled the Cougar and as time allowed started sending off the big chunks to be rebuilt in hopes of one day getting the car running again. But poor health got in the way and the Cougar languished in his shop. So this Cougar came in many, many boxes. It took several hours to dig through the shop locating Cougar parts and pieces; some assembly required.
Every shop/garage/ barn find has a story of why it ended up being parked in the first place. The most optimistic story is the legendary 'ran when parked"… It was alive before it was dead. Usually the truth is that the car had some sort of problem that was too difficult or expensive to fix, that rendered the car nearly worthless at the time. Determining that root problem can tell you a lot about what you can anticipate going forward.
If you look at the stats for this site, you will see that the thread with the most views is the turn signal trouble shooting saga. This is no surprise to those experienced in the Cougar arts. Likewise, it was no great show of expertise that told me to look to turn signals as a possible Achilles heal. Of course the numerous burnt wires running through the engine compartment and trunk, roughly spliced into the signal and taillight harness was also a pretty good clue. A look under the dash showed the turn signal switch connector completely disassembled and all 12 wires swinging in the breeze.
So turn signal issues then. Got it. Those of you that have traveled to Arizona know that very few drivers are even aware that vehicles are equipped with such a thing. So how could that have caged the Cougar? The Way Back machine can answer that question. Many years ago, before the powers that be discovered the boundless revenue that could be had testing emissions, there was such a thing as a vehicle safety inspection. The general idea was that vehicles should be at least no inherently unsafe to the occupants or others on the road. While they did not actually check for things like working brakes, they did verify that turn signals and wipers could work even if they were largely unused in the desert. So our kitty failed to blink on command, and then produced copious amounts of smoke when wired by persons probably better suited to plumbing. I am sure it was a sight to behold and yet some how the car wasn’t burnt to the ground.
Then there is the good stuff. The engine has been freshly rebuilt and I was able to locate all of the paperwork on the rebuild. All stock, except for a mild bump up in cam shaft. The top loader was also completely rebuilt. The drive shaft has new universal joints and new paint. The shocks are new all the way around and the only corrosion, the area under the battery tray, has already been fixed. It has the straightest front valance I have every seen. It looks like the rear axle bearings and the front wheel bearings have been replaced (i found what i believe that the originals).
I did find some damage inside the left wheel well and evidence of a very old repair to the left rear corner. The original color appears to be Saxony yellow but the color change was very complete.
As Don hinted above… what to do with it now… I think I will get it running and then decide what comes next. The paint is completely shot. It is going to take a lot of hours to reassemble but that is part of the fun. Since I have the numbers matching original engine and transmission it seems a waste not to use them… Too many toys.
The Cougar that started my love affair with the make was a white no-vinyl top '69.
I think the lighter colors really show off the lines, and the least amount of interruptions like a vinyl top the better to show off those beautiful lines.
Should have Thermactor smog for Arizona / California if it was sold there originally. Neat car, I would put a 347 Ford Motorsport short block in it with a Holley 500 CFM 2 barrel if it were mine. Get the intake ported by Joe Craine, have the exhaust manifolds Extrude Honed.
It shows an Export DSO so no smog equipment seems normal. Since the engine has been rebuilt, and never fired, and is numbers matching, I think I will stick with it. I have more or less given up on Cougars being “fast”. They are still plenty fun to drive, at least for me, with stock power. As much as anything I just like to hear the engine winding through the gears, even with an automatic. I do like the simplicity of a two barrel, maybe the Holley would be fun.
Nice find and I probably wouldn’t be able to pass that one up either! Similar story of how I acquired mine and I seem to have found mine to be a success story or “it ran when parked 20 years ago” as well. I got mine fired up without much trouble so hoping you have the same luck! Will see how long that lasts before ditching it for something else. Thinking a 347 would be lots of fun!
Im envious of that 4 speed! I really need to track one down to swap out my 3 speed. I go back and forth with a 4 speed or t5 swap but keep ending up back on the toploader side.
My first Cougar was a '67 standard with zero options except an AM radio. One of the first things I did to it was add a four speed. Next was a set of Cyclone headers ($69 from Summit Racing in 1973) and a Holley 500 CFM 2 barrel carburetor on the otherwise stock 289 engine. It was a glorious car to drive in any weather. Highly recommended!
I always wondered why that engine/transmission combo was so unloved when new. Only guess is had to do with sales commission rather than selling a good driver’s car.
Back around 2006 or so, I picked up a (F-code?, C-Code?) '67 standard with a 3-speed. Not long after, I decided to leave the corporate world and buy my own business so I sold it to Chris Gauch, who still has it. He’s done some nice upgrades to it without fundamentally changing it. Maybe he’ll chime in and give you some ideas.
I was thinking that myself. I have a theory in this case. Since it was an export DSO and in Arizona I wonder if it wasn’t supposed to go to Mexico or some where else south of the border? Premium fuel was not easy to find south of the border. In 1968 there was an engine code 6 that we almost never hear about; 6 302 2V low compression for export. There were only a handful of cars built with this engine, 31 in total, 2 XR-7 3 speeds and 20 XR-7 automatics, 2 standard 3 speed and 7 automatics. The J code wasn’t terribly expensive at $57.61 considering that it also came with dual exhausts worth $31.52 if added to the 302 2V. Since this car came with AC and headrests it looks like they were not pinching pennies…
Considering the number of airforce resources located in Arizona I would guess it was a returning or just ordered while overseas, by a service member who brought it with them into the state. Allot of the export cars in or states were commonly found near military bases and owned by those members since the military would ship the cars for free for them
Choice of options could be a result of where they were stationed. There were even low compression and other fairly odd engines that were listed, though I’ve never seen a car with one, that would run on just about any fuel for some parts of the world.
