My father has given me his 67 Cougar GT to restore. He bought new in 67…
It had the 390 engine and transmission removed in the 70s because of leaded fuel issues…
The vehicle is all there to have numbers matching…
Does the cougar hold enough value to restore to numbers matching. I am looking for knowledge so when I talk to people to paint and rebuild the engine and trans.
I also have the original interior.
How would you deal with the leaded fuel issue or the restore of the body?
Thanks, Kevin
I’ll take a crack at addressing some of your concerns -
Everything depends on what shape your dad’s old Cougar is in to start with. You say he bought it new, so that makes me think it might be very untouched and original.
If so, then I would keep it as original as possible. Even if things are worn, the hobby has swung towards originality over everything restored and shiny.
This could also save you considerable money.
But, if the car has already been repainted or has serious damage due to rust or accidents, then you may have to repair/replace/repaint much of the car.
So, in general, Cougars are worth less than comparable Mustangs but are more expensive to restore, so in my experience if a Cougar needs a major restoration you are not going to come out ahead financially. Emotion plays a major role with our cars - so since this is your father’s car that makes it more valuable to you.
The leaded vs unleaded fuel is really not much of an issue, especially if you are going to have the engine “gone through” or even rebuilt. Build it to run on modern gas, drive it regularly and if it is going to sit for awhile use a fuel stabilizer like “Sea Foam”. The main thing is to drive it regularly.
Tell us more about the Cougar - could you share the VIN and door tag info? What color was it originally? What other factory options does it have?
And welcome to the forum!
A matching numbers '67 GT can be a valuable car properly restored but it will still be south of $40K all done for 99.9% of the examples. To get north of $30K, you’d probably have to spend that and more. From your pictures, the interior has already been changed from original so it would have to be changed back to the correct upholstery and the rest of the interior would have to be refreshed significantly (or so it appears).
The 390 can be rebuilt for today’s fuel, as Phillip suggested above. That’s not a big deal. It’s the cosmetics and rust repair that drive most of the restoration cost. The more you want the car to be worth, the more expensive the cosmetics become.
On our two XR-7 GT’s (1 '67 and 1 '68), everything was taken apart and redone, including rechroming dash bezels and replacing any trim piece that couldn’t be restored. I wasn’t going for concours but still for a high standard that would satisfy a critical eye. After that level of restoration and multiple competitive trophies attesting to the quality of the restoration, the '67 recently was sold to an international buyer for $27K. The '68 would likely bring more because the color combination is much more eye-catching, but neither one would bring what it cost to restore them to that level.
You’ll need to decide what your objective is for this car. Is it to turn it into cash? Is it to keep in the family as a memento? For the former, clean it up, refresh the motor, get it back in the car, and get it to a driveable condition. Do the safety items such as brakes and service the driveline. Then put it up for sale. If it’s the latter, start with the steps listed in the for-sale option and then continue on at a pace that works for you and don’t worry about the value of the car.
If the car is in really good shape and you do most of the work yourself it might cost $40K to restore to a decent, but not the highest, level.
The car restored like that is probably worth less than $40K. There’s no math that can make restoring one of these cars a profitable deal. Same goes for most Mustangs - there is a tremendous amount of parts and labor needed to do a respectable restoration. If you pay someone to do the job for you the cost could easily be $80K or more.
If you no longer have the original engine and transmission it will cost much more to restore and the end result won’t be as desirable.
Still it is your Dad’s car and that makes it super special for you. It might be a lot of fun and very rewarding to do. The restoration process, to me, is as much or more fun than the finished product.
I have the original engine, transmission and interior in storage. The current engine, trans, and interior is out of a maverick.
Decoding: 7F91S562174
Digit Usage VIN Decoded
1 Year 7 1967
2 Plant F Dearborn MI
3-4 Series 91 Mercury Cougar 2-door hardtop
5 Engine S V8 390-4v GT 320hp 10.5:1cr
6-11 Sequential Serial # 562174 562174
My dad told me the compression was 11.5 and the HP was 335 so not sure if above is correct.
The body only very good with only a rust spot on the front of the engine bonnet.
The last paint was taken to metal but will need again and was quoted 8500 for that job. I figured 5000 for a good engine and trans rebuild. Probably put 15 into it to make it a driver… maybe I am not in the ballpark…
I am looking for a driver car but dont want to do anything to hurt any value.
I would say start with the engine/driveline and suspension.
Interior I think you can clean up and re-install yourself.
I would try and buff out the paint and see what you get. You might be surprised at the result.
The 1967 390GT engine was rated at 10.5:1 compression ratio with 320 HP and 427 ft-lbs torque
