The January 2019 Ride of the Month is Steve Alan’s '70 Eliminator
Hopefully I will hear from Steve soon, in the mean time we have some great pictures to check out.
Congrats Steve! Sharp looking car!
Very tough looking E Cat, well-deserved!
Sweeeeeet!!!
Congratulations Steve! It’s beautiful.
Absolutely beautiful!!!
Love the color! It is a real Elim?
Beautiful Cougar! Congratulations on ROTM.
428 cougarguy
I was hoping it was a real Eliminator but after talking to Bill (the administrator) I don’t think it is.
When I bought the car I was told it was not, but the guy I bought it from wasn’t a Cougar guy who didn’t know to much about the Eliminator.
I started finding things that only a Eliminator came with but Bill pointed out some things that say it isn’t.
So I guess its a Tribute car. It does have the Posi traction locker rear-end and it is a Cleveland motor with the FMX transmission. I guess I have to get the Marti report to find out the true history.
If it isn’t, It is as pretty close as you will get. Either way I love the car and it gets a lot of attention where ever it goes.
Thanks for the compliments everyone.
Steve Alan.
It is a fantastic looking car no matter what your results are with the Marti report .
And as they say, THE REST OF THE STORY!
Better than New!
Like many of us, Steve Cyrankowski got the Cougar bug at an early age. He grew up in western New York, where he still lives. Back in the early 70’s his friends were all into muscle cars. There were lots of great rides, the typical Chevelles and Mustangs and Mopars, but his best friend had a '70 Cougar Eliminator. It was blue with white interior and under the hood it had a Boss 302. It was slightly modified and, very quick. They spent many hours in the car showing it off and generally having a good time.
Life moves on its own schedule and Steve worked building his career as an Electrical Estimator charged with keeping 100 union electricians working. But we all know the car bug can lie dormant for years until the right circumstances set it free. For Steve that started with the introduction of the 2005 Mustang. It had the classic good looks of the kinds of cars he had grown up caring so much about. He wasn’t the only one interested in the new Stang, had to travel to Pennsylvania to find a GT. He lowered it and did a lot of other mods and it won a lot of awards. It was followed by a C5 Corvette, also featuring a lot of custom work. After selling the Vette he spent a couple of years trying to decide what should come next.
Steve tells us what happened next: “I started looking again and came across this Cougar locally on Craigslist. It was a work in progress. The Cougar was from Texas originally from Texas, rust free, and the clock showed 35,000 miles. The owner had started a frame-on restoration. He completed the body work, prep, and put the paint on it; a base-coat clear-coat in Competition Orange.” But the good news ended precisely there.
Steve put it this way: The car needed a lot of work to get up to where it is now.
Fortunately Steve has a heated garage to work in, and for the next two years he would put his hands on virtually every part of the Cougar. If the goal of most restorations is to make the car like it was when it rolled out of the factory, Steve took things a good deal further. The story odf his experience follows.
"For starters, I put the Cougar on car stands about 2 ½ feet off the floor and completely wire brushed the underneath side. I used a variable speed drill equipped with circular wire brushes. After cleaning I completely painted everything underneath with POR 15 Black rust preventive coating including the springs, rear end, and drive shaft.
I put on new rotors and drums, replaced the rear drum hardware with all new parts. Then I cleaned and painted the calipers. I then installed new brake pads in front, and new brake shoes in back. I bled the brakes, in the process putting in all new fluid.
I recoated and sealed the inside of the gas tank. The previous owner had installed aftermarket 3” exhaust pipes from the headers back. I removed those and ran new 2-1/2’ exhaust with Flow Master 50 series mufflers and tail pipes out the rear like the stock exhaust.
I completely removed the front clip including lights light brackets etc, radiator, fan, crank pulley, water pump, power steering pump, alternator, power brake assist booster, master brake reservoir, hoses etc. The strut supports, hood, battery bracket, oil pan, carburetor and intake manifold were all removed. The wiring, window washer hoses and bottle were all removed. Everything was sanded, cleaned and repainted. All the parts that make up the hide away lights were sanded cleaned and refinished with new coatings. Where it was possible Everything was replaced with new parts.
The interior was completely removed down to the steel floor pans. The floors were wire brushed, sanded, cleaned and painted with POR 15. I then put 2 layers of sound proofing/insulation down and topped it off with the better-quality replacement carpets with the heavy backing.
The door panels were removed, the window guides were replaced, everything was cleaned, greased and oiled. The windows and the doors work beautifully. All the rubber seals and beltline seals were replaced. Everything was painted and cleaned.
I replaced everything under the hood except the internal parts of the 351 Cleveland. The engine has Harland rockers, upgraded cam and pistons. I painted everything under the hood and front clip, replaced all the hoses, lights etc. Everything is new. The distributor was replaced with a Pertronix unit. The 750 Holley carburetor was rebuilt, The High-rise intake manifold was cleaned up. New plugs, wires were put in.
The seats were stripped down to the metal frames and were wire brushed cleaned and painted. They all got new premium foam and new covers. The radio and speakers were replaced with Classic Custom Radios original look radio. The dash was repainted, and the wood grain material was replaced. I rebuilt the console. Replaced all the bushings in the automatic transmission floor shifter. Replaced the visors and polished the glass with glass polishing compound. It took a lot of fine scratches out and made the glass look pretty good but took a lot of time. The trunk was restored to original condition.
I put the new wheels and tires on last September. I personally put around 400 to 500 hours of personnel labor into this with the help of friends. There is lots of things that don’t get mentioned but were all important to getting it to what it is today.
I owe a lot of thanks to West Coast Cougar because mostly everything was gotten through them. They were very helpful. The FMX 3 speed transmission was pulled out and completely rebuilt, painted and re-installed by Eastern Transparts out of Hamburg New York. They have some old timers working there that really know the old muscle cars from the 70’s.and they did a great job. The car shifts beautifully."
When it rolled out of the factory Steve’s Cougar wasn’t wearing the Eliminator trim and stripes. But was painted in Competition Orange Paint, and it did have the same M code 351 4V that you would find under the hood of most '70 Eliminators. The guy that sold Steve the Cougar didn’t think it was an Eliminator, even though it sure had a lot of the right stuff.
The Cougar was originally ordered for stock at Fred Jones Lincoln Mercury in Tulsa Oklahoma. With the Comp Orange paint and a black vinyl top, Fred Jones probably though it would appeal to an Oklahoma State University fan as the Orange and Black would have been the perfect combination on campus. Unfortunately for Fred Jones, OSU Cowboy athletics had a pretty terrible season and the Cougar would spend 6 months on the lot. Exactly how it made its way to Texas and acquired the Eliminator look and it’s Detroit Locker rear end, is unknown, and to Steve pretty much unimportant. What makes this Cougar special is the incredible amount of work that he has put into the car to make it his own.
We asked Steve for a few closing thoughts and he told us: “I feel very lucky to have found this car. It’s a rare find and it takes me back to my late teens. The Cougar really is a classic. The Competition Orange color and finish on the paint really makes it stand out. This color is, in my opinion, one of the nicest oranges there is. It presents itself well! And I get a lot of positive comments on it. It draws a crowd wherever it goes.”
One thing that we know for sure is that the beauty of Steve’s Cougar is far more than skin deep. The pride of ownership shows everywhere you look. So if you are in western New York keep an eye out for an orange streak, this Cougar might be hard to catch.
Congrats Steve.
Great story.
Great write-up Bill.