Congratulations to Kim Millhollin AKA DeadStang on the March 2017 Ride of the Month!
Baby Blue Cougar
On Sunday September 28th, 2008 a two alarm fire ripped through the remains of the old Lago Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Los Gatos California. Over the years the name on building had changed first to McHugh Lincoln Mercury and then to Swanson Ford. When the fire broke out the building was empty and the property slated for development. More than 30 firefighters responded, and in about thirty minutes the fire was extinguished. Since the building was already scheduled for destruction no attempt was made to even determine what its value might have been. Another chapter in Cougar history came to a close.
There were many better days at Lago Lincoln-Mercury. In the fall of 1968, the newly restyled Cougar was selling well and it was shaping up to be a good year in the car business. The election was finally over. It had been incredibly close. Nixon had won, earning 43.4% of the vote, barely 7/10ths of a percent more than Humphrey. California did its part with it’s 40 electoral college votes putting Nixon over the top. Thanksgiving came late in 1968. A week before the holiday, Lago Mercury submitted a new retail order for a sharp looking '69 Cougar XR-7 Hardtop. With a little luck it would arrive before Christmas.
Today less than 5% of new cars are built to order, but in 1968 it was the most common way to buy a new car, and consumers used it as a way to make their car unique. This Cougar would feature Light Aqua paint with white leather bucket seats and a white vinyl roof. A set of color keyed floor mats would protect the Aqua carpet. Under the hood would be the new 351 Windsor V8 topped off by a big 4 barrel carb. This was a drivers car. A three-speed manual transmission and heavy-duty suspension put the power to the ground. No power steering, and no power brakes would clutter the engine bay. A heavy duty battery would insure that the big 351 would crank over when asked and provide some extra power for the AM radio with optional rear seat speakers. Out of more than 100,000 1969 Cougars built, there wouldn’t be many XR-7 Cougar hardtops built like this one; only 97 with this paint and trim code and 139 with the 351 4V and three speed manual.
It was only 16 miles from the Lago Lincoln-Mercury dealership to the Ford Plant that was building Cougars in Milpitas California, yet this one would be assembled in the Dearborn Michigan plant. It actually took longer to ship the Cougar across the country than it did to get it scheduled and built. The new Cougar would roll out of the plant on December 2nd and off the dealership lot on December 16th.
Growing up, Kim Millhollin spent a lot of time in the back seat of her father’s '65 Mustang coupe. He had installed a special Pony seat belt in the back just for her. (Mostly so she would keep her feet of the seats!) The Mustang was the family’s only car and her father loved the car. Together they would wash the Poppy Red coupe and she learned to be careful not to scratch the car’s paint, only touching the surface with a wet rag. When her folks split up, five year old Kim would ride curled up on the passenger side front floor with warm air from the heat vent door keeping her warm.
Kim Millhollin always had a passion for Mustangs, but her first car was a '77 Honda Civic. Her dad did make sure that she knew how to change the oil, fix a flat, and keep track of the maintenance. It served her well. When she was 18 the Civic carried her plus all of her belongings, a cat, and $400 to the Midwest. It would be another 17 years, filled with other interests like dirt bikes and off road motorcycles, before she got back into the car hobby.
She started with a '65 Mustang, eventually graduated up to a '69 and then she discovered Cougars. Her first Cougar was a '67 390 4 speed that today resides in Michigan. Then came a '69 Convertible with a 428 4 speed, now prowling the roads in New York. That is a pretty good list of some amazing cars, so it would be hard to imagine what would come next.
Kim first saw the baby blue Cougar posted on ClassicCougarCommunity.Com. It was very similar to a car she had seen in Seattle, but this one had a better color combination, and less rust. She contacted the seller and they talked and talked but a deal was not to be made. The car stayed on Craigslist for months, ran through eBay a couple of times, and always the price was a bit higher than the market would bear. The Cobra Jet Convertible popped up and Kim bought it, taking her out of the market for a time. Even with a Cobra Jet convertible in the garage, she continued to obsess about the baby blue XR-7, and she made sure the seller knew she was still around. Finally, he decided to call his “relentless friend” and this time they were able to agree on a price and the baby blue Cougar would find a new home with Kim.
Kim explains her desire for the Cougar like this: “Crazy as it sounds—this M-Code ’69 is my hands-down favorite of the Cougars I’ve owned. No offense to those guys with Baby Blue Cougars and the guy with the super sweet one with the matching blue-painted wheels and caps, but I think it’s really a chick color! [wink!] This car was much more solid than the one in Seattle with the original paint, interior, the trunk mat, a space saver spare and even the inflator bottle in the trunk–with the lack of options (no PS, no PDBs, no A/C) that I deliberately seek out.”
When the new Cougar arrived it had a few details that needed attention. Kim tells us: “The stop light switch would stick on and kill the battery…turns out the clutch/brake pedal hanger was wallowed out into an oval and had to be replaced. I used the Steve’s Mustang clutch bearing conversion, which is great, to fix the hanger issue. I did farm that job out as I was reluctant to start on the steering column work involved, but that’s really all the car needed to be a great driver. Since, I just drive the car and keep it maintained and it’s been a reliable Cougar ever since.”
Kim loves to drive and that makes her Cougar the perfect choice. She describes the XR-7 this way: “My Cougar is a solid, maybe 10-footer? It has polished up well and looks good, but has plenty of patina that makes it interesting – to me, anyway. I like to joke that I’m not looking so great after 50-plus years of wear-and tear, so it’s acceptable for my car to be in the same shape as me! The originality and the virtual complete lack of rust, along with how well it runs and drives, are really what makes it a cool car to me. And having a few scratches and cracks and dings allows me to just drive it and live in it (eating French fries without freaking out and parking in a good spot at the grocery store) with my daughter, like me and my dad “lived” in the Mustang. That’s a big part of it being a fun car to have. I also don’t allow feet on my seats and kneeling on the interior is a big NO-NO, and we don’t touch paint unless we’re washing the car.”
Looking to future, Kim does have some plans for the baby blue Cat. "I do have a bit of a plan to upgrade it soon with a headlight door conversion kit and the 5-speed transmission that I got for my birthday last year. I always prefer a manual transmission, but the 3-speed takes a bit of getting used to (how many times can you grind reverse, thinking it’s 1st gear without anything bad happening? – the answer is MANY). "
In closing Kim says; “I think the most remarkable thing about this Cougar is that there really ISN’T a story… It’s not my first car or even my first vintage car, and it’s not a super cool hot rod—and I haven’t really done anything with it; it’s just an old, good driver.” I think Kim is selling her Cougar and her story very short. After writing about 50 of these I find that the Cougars that mean the most to their owners, that make them really happy, don’t have to have a long list of options, or a big engine under the hood, they just need to create a smile behind the wheel. I have no doubt that if we meet up with Kim, and she is driving her baby blue Cougar, that she will also be sporting a very big smile.
The husband has a 3.25 T/L in his 5-speed '69 Mustang… I was way down on him for doing that conversion (it also was a 3-speed manual) as that car is (was) very stock and a low-miler, but then I had to take his car somewhere for him and actually drove it – and was sold on it! That 5th gear is really an amazing addition. Currently, he’s getting ready to put a 3.50 in as the 3.25 is still too tall, so I’ll see what I think. I tend to like my cars to be a little lower geared, but maybe the 3.50 will be OK for mine as well. And a T/L, of course. I have a Hurst handle but I don’t really want to use it; I am on the look-out for a stock shifter handle in decent condition to modify as I want to save all my stock original stuff in the attic (I will just duplicate what the husband had done with a stock shifter handle). I believe they sell stock looking balls with the 5-speed pattern also.