Hi all. I have a '76 cougar and the weather stripping is pretty much toast on all the windows. Does anyone have a recommendation for where to get new rubber weather stripping for a mid 70’s cougar? And how much of an undertaking is replacing it for a novice classic car owner?
Any advice appreciated
Dan
It isn’t impossible, if you take care when removing the door panels-
https://www.steelerubber.com/search?year=1976&make=mercury&model=cougar-xr-7&style=2-door-hardtop
I’m going to guess the car is a southwest car. Soft parts are probably baked and dried out?
As I recall that year is similar to the Thunderbird. I would get the parts catalogs for both Ford and Lincoln/Mercury for those years as you’re going to be doing a lot of cross referencing. Those catalogs cover 73 to 79. You can figure out what Ford model parts should work.
There are Ford reproduction part suppliers who avoid the super competitive Mustang market in favor of the other models. If you search for reproduction Ford parts you should be able to find them. Woodsnake identified Steele Rubber as a likely source.
If you can’t find reproduced or NOS weatherstripping you may need to find good used parts. WCCC or John’s Classic Cougars may have some in their yards. Or you may need to find some yards with donor cars up north where the bodies rust away but the engines, trans, and soft parts didn’t get cooked like they did down south.