Summer of COVID got me thinking after almost 40 years I’d better get (re)started on putting my project back together…
January 28, 1969 my father traded in a 1960 Ford T-Bird for a 1968 Mercury Cougar XR7 at Bill Farrah Ford Lincoln Mercury Dealership in Mt. Clemens Michigan. (I have the sales paperwork.) This was still the era of one car households and the Cougar was the primary family car. I recall many a family vacations in the car, in the backseat as a kid, traveling for hours north into Canada, south to the Smokeys, or days to Colorado. Mom would pack a picnic lunch to eat at interstate rest stops when on the road. Driving, Dad always had a thermos of coffee and his arm out the open window. Navigation was done with AAA triptiks and hotel guides.
Somewhere around 1979 Dad was finished with the Cougar and I bought it from him to restore knowing it would become a special interest car. It wasn’t long and by 1980 that naive kid had the 302 2bbl engine with 100,000 miles out and dismantled for an eventual rebuild. I was still able to get some NOS parts from dealerships in the mid-80’s and even had a T-shirt made that read “I need 68’ Cougar’ parts” for wearing at various car swap meets. Vendors would yell “Hey, cougar shirt, cougar shirt, over here!”. While I did buy various parts this way, little did I realize I should have bought everything I could have gotten my hands on (hindsight).
With most everything disassembled, but still a roller, parts and boxes were stored in multiple locations wherever I could find someone willing to give up spare space or garage. Sometime in the mid 80’s I had someone reassemble and install the engine. The last time the shell of the car ran on its own power was approximately 1991 (last sticker on license plate) when I drove it across town to park in my home garage. Then, every so often I’d see a Cougar at a show, get a spark, request a parts list, and buy a part or two. Fast forward 21 years to 2012 and the car was flatbedded to my next home. Within the past 5 years-ish I’ve been retrieving back all the various parts and boxes, which leads me up to this year.
I came to the crossroad that I should either sell everything and call it a day or get it reassembled and drive it before I get too old and senile and the family takes my driving privileges away. I would like to thank EVERYONE that has contributed to this forum with questions, answers, or sharing their project. By reading your posts, it truly has provided me with the inspiration to rekindle this journey, a deeper insight of what I am really getting into, and I hope, the help to get it back together.
About the car… It’s a 1968 Cougar XR7 302-2V C4, no AC, power steering with manual drums brakes all around. The rear end is 8” and my guess would be a 28 spline. It was polar white, has a vinyl top, and still has an original beeeeeaauuutifal interior, saddle, with comfort weave vinyl seats, center console, and wood grain dash. The car had been rust proofed by Zeibart when new which helped, but bottom line it’s still a Michigan car (rust). The engine is original and my guess is the trans is too, but I’ll need to confirm that along the way. The car has 110,000 miles on it. The engine that was rebuilt (stock) in 1985-ish can’t have more than 100 miles on it.
The plan now is to reassemble the car and inventory better what I have and figure out what I need along the way. I’ll be staying true where possible but this is not concours. This forum has already taught me that I need to replace the fuel system before I even consider restarting the engine and I’ll replace the brake system, staying with drums for simplicity.
My timeline is still years, but you have to (re)start somewhere.
The 1960 T-Bird in 1965. It was traded-in for the 1968 Cougar XR7
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The Cougar in 1980 at Halmich Park Warren MI
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The Cougar as it sits in garage today 2020 (Ugh)
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