The old "original" vs. Nice and clean debate rages on..

Cougar Community Classic Cougar Community Discussion
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What would you do here?


I’m tinkering with Blackie’s front end as I get set to (with help) install the newly restored front Grille assembly.

So I have taken off the bumper and brackets, only to remember/discover that they are in really nice shape. I thought I’d refinish and repaint them, but much to my suprise, I see the original yellow Ford Part numbers and FOMOCO label stuck on both of them! I think this is pretty dang cool. I have now thought I’ll just clean them up and give them a WD-40 shine and leave alone. Now the other bars are going to be left with their dings and missing paint too…if they’re gonna be original, they’re gonna be original. Is it silly to be doing this on a car that has been repainted? Does it matter? (my thought is that it is my car and not too many people get up under there and look anyway)

Fast forward to vacuum hoses. These and the electical harness wires are a bit dirty and gummy. They of course could be replaced by a new set with all the bright shiny colored paint strips on them, but I find them to have a “charm” about them, because they are the original ones. Am I weird for wanting to clean and refurbish these existing hoses when I could just drop in a whole new set? It would probably make the engine compartment look prettier, but the original-loving side of me wants to be proud of what I have here. And furthermore, they all WORK! Nicely…

And it’s not like I’m saving myself that much money and time by keeping the originals (although poking them through the firewall and cramming that grommet in there is good for a few skinned knuckes) …It takes a ton of cleaning and re conditioning with the magic oil…

I was just wondering what you guys would do. Am I thinking out of left field on these things?



Cheers,

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My take is that if you want to make it look nice, clean it. Apart from that, if it ain’t broke… don’t fix it.

Of course, my car isn’t a show stopper. The day i take it somewhere, it’ll be parked with the other folks going to see other people’s cars. If you really are into shows, trophies, etc, the guys judging these events will certainly point you in the right direction. The only time mine goes on a trailer, is because it’s not drivable.

Mind you, there is nothing wrong with doing the show circuit. To each his own, and i can surely respect the amount of time and money involved for that level of cougardom. Mire remains for my pleasure in driving it. (I don’t even clean under the hood).

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If the sheet metal parts have yellow part numbers and a label on the back, those are replacement parts.

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Brian,

Unless you’re gonna do it as a BJ car, I’d leave the patina. why mess with a good thing??

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I’m not turning into a show-circuit guy, frankly. The ones that I’ve taken Blackie to have been ones that I drive to, the only exception being the Prowl up in Seattle a couple years ago (which was a blast, btw)…My problem seems to be the way years and Summers go flying-bye faster every year, and the ways Families and activities always seem to take away the opportunities. My thought for the future (ie when the kids are out of the house and I’m semi-retired and bored) is that the car shows will be more attainable…

One lucky thing a guy has with a GT-E, frankly, is that people are pretty “forgiving” of blemishes and dirty undercarriages at car shows. They appreciate and really enjoy the car for what it is. The funnest shows are my local ones where people get to see a really rare car at a small show.

One of the best conversations and memorable pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten on this “concours” discussion was from Jim Pinkerton, who has been there and done that. He pointed out that it is my damned car and I can do what I want with it and that there are frankly so FEW real guidelines and real “point tally” shows available for Cougars (as compared to Mustang or Corvette classes) with real regimented and documented rules anyway…so enjoy the “peoples choice” stuff and worry about points and trophies if I really really want to, but that is a whole 'nuther log of cheese…

Meanwhile, it is our responsibility to keep and preserve our cars as best we can (especially true with the rare Cats) and not “ruin” what they represent. I guess that is part of what I’m asking here…what would I be ruining if changing and adding paint to parts or replacing 44 year old hoses that still work!?

So I have chosen (for now) to clean and preserve, clean and preserve…

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Hmm… Yeah, that makes sense. I’m talking about the actual Bumper Brackets though. They are painted on the “inside” portion of the channel-style steel area of the inner bumper bracket, seen on the outside of the frame where the outer brackets attach.

These aren’t replacement parts, are they?

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I think you made the right choice. My Cougar may not be a GT-E but they are rare around here in South Carolina. Most people would not notice the lack of stripe color on vacuum hoses. They just enjoy seeing a Cougar at local shows and that works for me. I cleaned and detailed my engine bay and only replace what is needed. I am going to replace the belts over the winter and use repros from Marti auto works.
Steven

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I was referring to fenders, hoods, valances, etc. I recall the early replacement parts (pre-1970) were painted red oxide with the part number stenciled on the back side in yellow paint. Later the service parts were black primered.

I really don’t know about bumper brackets. I have some NORS factory replacement Mustang bumper brackets that have the sticker.

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I personally think any Cougar with modern rims and low-profile tires on it looks totally anachronistic, to the point where for every other part, it would be irrelevant whether the part was original, concours repro, or total mod, since the car would never look like it was from the correct century in the first place.

I don’t care anything about original parts vs awesome parts, personally. This is due to two things, I believe. First and foremost is my innate sense of style-- whatever I like, I like, and I have no problem with doing things differently. Second is the fact that I don’t have the kind of money required to even consider going down the concours-correct road, be it
via original parts or repro.

So my sense of it is, unless you’ve got a ton of money and time, maybe a moderate to severe case of OCD, and that innate inclination to want every detail to be “just left the factory”, then you should just go with whatever makes you happy. I don’t hold it against people for putting 17", 18", etc rims on a car from 40 years ago, because that’s what makes them happy. I think that 8 or 9 times out of 10 it looks silly, and I think 14" and 15" look both more correct and also better, and that’s what makes me happy, so once I dig up the cash, in a year or two, I’ll bump my 14’s up to 15’s.

Do whatever makes you the most happy. At the end of the day, that’s what a hobby/passion like vintage car ownership is all about, isn’t it?

If you really wanna cover your bases, replace your vac hoses with new ones but keep the originals handy. If you look under the hood and don’t like the repros, take some time to clean up the originals either focusing on performance/durability while keeping them looking “broken in”, or go for maximum clean and shine, whatever you want… And then put em back in. What do you have to lose, aside from some skin on your knuckles?

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It’s only original once. I am a big fan of cleaning up the old but still serviceable parts, and putting them back on. You won’t win shows, but you also won’t feel bad about driving the car.

The next part is just my opinion, so feel free to disagree:

The letters N.O.S. are the kiss of death to a lot of cars. It means that the car will stop being driven. First choice is really good used stuff, and second choice is a good reproduction. For the functional stuff, the kind of stuff that can get you killed if it fails, I want new parts (suspension, brakes, fuel lines, etc).

My favorite part of a cruise in is listening toe the cars drive in, and then watching them drive out. Watching a car roll off the trailer is just not the same… FOR ME. (exceptions do exist: Cougar 1 for instance)

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[quote=“tmh”]unless you’ve got a ton of money and time, maybe a moderate to severe case of OCD, and that innate inclination to want every detail to be “just left the factory”, then you should just go with whatever makes you happy. I don’t hold it against people for putting 17", 18", etc rims on a car from 40 years ago, because that’s what makes them happy. I think that 8 or 9 times out of 10 it looks silly, and I think 14" and 15" look both more correct and also better, and that’s what makes me happy, so once I dig up the cash, in a year or two, I’ll bump my 14’s up to 15’s. [quote]


Being in the car industry , have you priced tires latley? more specific , 14 and 15 inch tires? they are going bye bye and fast. the most common sizes are now, 16,17,18 car or truck. if your investing in wheels why spend 300 ish each wheel to not be able to get tires to put on them in a few years? you got to look and the overall picture, and alot of these not orginal modifications , are made for driveablity and saftey. tires and wheels being one of them

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My car has TONS of cleaned up serviceable parts, I win shows and I drive the car. I might feel a tiny bit bad/be concerned about driving it, but don’t let it stop me. As of today’s trip to work and home, Isabel has 1528 miles showing on the odometer (was 0 around the end of May 2011).

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I get BFG 215/70 14 TA Radials from Discount Tire for $86 ea and they are usually in stock. I also have two Cougars with 16" and 17" wheels on them so I go both ways…

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Most of the time I’d rather have one of your cleaned up old parts than a new one! Honestly, I think it is great hat you are driving your car. I still think you ought to do an epic road trip… you know, Route 66 or something.

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Maybe we need to organize the Cougar version of the power tour? Start at Jim Pinkerton’s place (Cougar 1… beginning) and then end up some place on the East Coast.

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Count me in for 2013. If you head down I-5, I’ll join you around Sacramento.

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Bill, I know you’re talking to Brian here but I’m going to take you up on the option to disagree. I have a ton of NOS parts on my Cougar and have put 6000 miles on it over the last 17 months. I drive my car everywhere in rain and snow if that’s what it takes to get where I’m going. I also spend hours and hours detailing the car so it still presents well.
I did the same thing with my old 68 sunroof car and you saw what that did at Barrett Jackson in 2005 with 15K miles on the restoration.
We are restoring these cars to enjoy. If something gets damaged through that enjoyment, restore it again. Once it’s no longer original, which it isn’t if we’re talking about replacing things with NOS parts, it doesn’t matter how many times you have to restore it…well, it does if you don’t want to pay to do it over again. But you get my point. Restore it to a high level and drive it. If you don’t mind cleaning, you’ll still win trophies at the shows.

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The brand new Fiat 500, which is maybe more popular in Europe than the US (and is being advertised pretty heavily using Jennifer Lopez, on both continents!) is doing okay, from what I’ve heard. It’s designed with 15" tires. Honda still uses a 15" on the Civic, no? They did recently anyway. 15" tires aren’t going anywhere, I don’t think. I realize there may be a recent trend toward big rims and low profile wheels, but 10 years ago every car I saw with big rims and low profile tires on it also had those “Spreewell”-type spinners. If you based your tire spec decisions on a trend during those couple years… Lol.

Sure the options will be fewer than they would have 10 years ago when the low profile wheels were not popular for production cars, but they’re still gonna be out there, the 15’s. It’s all personal taste, but it’s a pretty rare thing when a 40 year old car looks right to me with such a modern wheel. It’s part of the look of the car, the overall total package, for it to have less metal and more meat in the wheel configuration.

It’s like putting an LED brake light in the rear window of your Cougar-- sure you can do it, and you can easily argue successfully that it’s better than not doing it, for safety reasons, but it won’t look right to me. Front wheel drive is better than rear wheel drive for safety reasons, too, isn’t it? Driving 55 mph is certainly better than ever driving faster than that, for safety reasons. At the end of the day, If it looks right to you, that’s all that matters, cause its your car, y’know?

Oh and if pervasive availability of parts is of paramount importance to you, then you’d have to be a fool to buy a 40 year old car, wouldn’t you? Only a buffoon would ever buy a GT-E, if that was the mindset. Weren’t the parts already uncommon to begin with? A 2000 Accord or Camry would make far more sense. There’s a zillion of those. Or an Escort! We’re in this for style and form and love of the design-- I know I am anyway-- not because of abundance of parts.

I think they had the wheels right 40 years ago, especially with this body, based purely on my own personal aesthetic considerations. YMMV. Trends come and go.

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I like the idea of driving my Cougar. Listening to its growl and purr at 60-65 mph is great. A Cougar power tour is a wonderful idea. I’m on the east coast so I would meet at or near the end.

I feel that certain cars should not be modified Cougar #1, XR7S are good examples. Do what makes you happy is my motto when it comes to this hobby.
Steven

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The great thing about America is that we all have lots of choices. Red wine with fish! Red wine with fish! bloody radicals…