For the first time in history the Super Bowl goes into overtime, and so does the Ride of the Month, with the closest victory ever, but a win is a win! Way to go Guitar74!
Sometimes the Silver Lining is Highland Green.
Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008. Merrill Lynch, AIG, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and a long list of others were all expected to follow. The US housing bubble had officially burst. What would follow would be a succession of devastating blows to the economy that would end up costing at least $7 trillion in the real estate industry. The stock market decline brought another $11 trillion in losses, and retirement accounts lost $3.4 trillion. All in, American households lost $19.2 trillion, more than the nations annual GDP. Almost every one was effected, and the less fortunate lost pretty much everything. Al Adams was one of the less fortunate. Things started to look up when he got called about a job in Georgia. It would mean moving his family but it was new beginning.
It was about the time of his move that a good friend and Ford fan, John Serd found a '68 Cougar project car back in Danville Illinois. It wasn’t long after that that John decided to stick with building the Fairlanes he loved and he offered the Cougar to Al’s Dad for just $4000. It looked like a good restoration candidate with a decent interior and a lot of potential, even if the exterior was going to need some attention. It looked like a great way for his Dad to relive some of his glory days.
It wasn’t his fathers first Cougar. Al had grown up riding in his Dad’s Lime Frost green '68. It was a standard equipped with a 302 and automatic and center console. It was riding in this Cougar where Al’s Cougar love affair began. And there was this bright yellow Eliminator that was driven around town by the proverbial little old lady. Exactly the kind of car that teen age Cougar enthusiasts dream about. But as luck would have it, a Cougar was not in his immediate future.
His Dad’s Cougar would get a rebuilt C4 transmission and a 2200RPM stall converter, and new radiator to keep things cool. Every time Al went to visit his Dad in Illinois, they would check out the Cougar project. The next stop was a local body shop that handled panel alignment, straightening out the valances and one rust spot in the lower door panel. In deference to Bullitt the Cougar was shot in Highland Green. All in all, the car was really straight and the underside was clean, particularly for a car that spent its life in Illinois.
Six months later on another visit the Cougar was done. His Dad tossed him the keys and the two of them took the car for a ride. Cobb webs, carbon, and anything else that needed to be blown out, were left far behind. Think of two teens in a stolen car with girls and a six pack… Glory days indeed!
It was about three months later that Al’s Dad called on a Wednesday and asked if Al would be off on Friday. Al told him he could take the day off if his Dad wanted to come visit. He does.
Al tells the story like this. “So two days later my phone rings and I pick up the phone to hear Dad tell me “Look out the window, son.” I do and I see Dad, and his best friend Danny leaning against his pickup truck just smiling like Cheshire cats. Dad motions to look to my right, and there it is on the trailer. That beautiful Highland Green ‘68 that I thought Dad had bought for himself.”
“I walk outside and try and give him a hug and in typical dad (Vietnam veteran) fashion says “Hug me later. You’ve got a car to unload.” He proceeds to throw me the keys and I start her up and pull her off. It took me about five minutes because when I got in that car, I looked in the passenger side and thought about the 100+mph joyride that we went on just three months ago, and had to wipe my eyes. I know we looked like the parking attendants of Ferris Bueller that day.”
"When I asked him why, he looked at me and got kind of choked and just said “I was so sad for you kids when you lost everything. I know how hard you worked to attain the things you had, and how hard you fought to keep them. I only wish that I could have done more to help you. And now that things are heading back in the right direction for you two, I thought I would give you something that I wish I could have given you for a High School graduation present.”
“My Dad drove with that car on a trailer all the way from Danville Il to Atlanta Georgia. No small feat for two 70 yr. old men. I think it says a lot as to how determined he was to surprise me.”
Like every project car the Highland Green Cougar needed a few more additions. Al has replaced the tail light trim ($42 steal on Ebay! WooHoo!) converted the front brakes to Willwood discs, and installed three different cams trying to find the right one. Al says, “It now has a comp 256 xe which it had when I got it. I tried the 275 DEh but it was just TOO soft out of the hole, and you can’t afford to make a 289 less torque).” A Performer low rise dual plane, Pertronix Flamethrower Distributor, and a Summit Dual Feed 600 CFM carb now reside under the hood. “I replaced the old electro mechanical turn signal sequencers with an electronic unit (had gotten the originals working, but they eventually gave up the ghost). I actually miss the wheezy sound the originals made. They let you know that they were on.” Aside from that, Al has stayed busy tuning the timing advance curve, and dialing in the secondaries on the four barrel. Asked what comes next, Al says, A larger front sway bar and plans for a new rear gear to even things up.
Al’s Cougar has been to a few shows and his experience is solidly satisfying. “The one thing that cracked me up is when a couple who was older than me walked up, and the wife said “I don’t even know what this is.” Almost every show I go to, I always have someone come up to me and tell me that they had one, or a friend had one, and how cool they always thought that the early Cougars were. Of course I always have to demonstrate the headlights and turn signals for them.”
When we asked what Al thought was his cars best attribute he put it this way, “I think the best attribute of this car from just being a really nice unique car, is the fact that it is quick enough to get of its own way, handles on par with a lot of later model cars, has a great compliant ride, and is dependable enough that I can get in it, turn the key and actually drive it. So I really don’t think its one specific thing. This is the car I always dreamed of owning, and now that I have one, I can honestly tell you that I am not disappointed in the least.”
In closing, Al had this to say, “I would like to thank everyone for the votes. I have seen some really nice ROTMs over the past year that easily eclipse my car in the desirability scale. I would also like to thank everyone who has patiently answered all of my “newbie” questions over the past year and a half of being a forum member. I would also like to publicly thank my wife Debbie for scaring the hell out of me like I did my Dad when SHE decided to take me for a ride.”
Hopefully, we will get to see more of Al’s Cougar and better yet, maybe get a ride!