West Coast Classic Cougar show the repro Eliminator Prop rod kit as discontinued. Does anyone know of another place that has the correct one or does anyone have an original they would sell?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Scott-Drake-Trunk-Lid-Prop-Rod-1969-1970-Mustang-Cougar-with-Spoiler/372619388061?epid=251041730&hash=item56c1d8a49d:g:q0AAAOSwNIpcftQ6
Looks like mine but cant tell from that picture.
I believe that is a Mustang prop rod. Cougars did not share the prop rod with a Mustang. John’s Classic Cougars had someone who produced them for him but I don’t see it listed on the web site any longer. I purchased one from him last spring.
I want what’s correct for my Eliminator. I had always assumed the Mustang one was probably a different length. Does anyone know for sure?
Mike B or any other Eliminator owners, that can measure and comment on the Mustang prop rod?
my prop rod is 25 inches.
WCCC got them from John’s Cougars. John’s Cougar supplier is no longer making them from what I understand. I bought one last year, and I think it was the last one they had in stock. There is nothing fancy about them - someone here could easily make them. And yes they are not the same as Mustang ones, which are much shorter.
428cougarguy, that’s for the input. I hope someone will continue making them. Otherwise, I’ll just keep on looking.
Actually we got the from the folks that sold us the rear spoilers. When the owner died and the company was sold the tooling was lost.
Here some dims if you want to make your own.
Years ago, I worked for a wire manufacturer that supplied OEM seat and roof bow wire to Ford and Chrysler. Forming the wire & stamping the stake ears would not be too difficult. Bulk wire purchased from steel mill service suppliers normally comes on a spool… which then must me pulled through a series of tensioned straightener wheels prior to any forming operation. The easiest way to make the prop rod on a short-run basis would be to use cold drawn round steel rod stock that would be supplied in 12’ random lengths from the mill. The clips would be another part of the puzzle.
I have a couple of WCCC’s repro prop rod kits. Being a machinist / toolmaker, I could use one of the rods as a pattern for making a few…
But, realistically it would not be a good trade off for the time required to do so.
Don, and/or John B. & Don, will likely find someone to manufacture a 100 to 500 pc batch that can be offered at the $35 - $40 sale price range.
katnip302, would you be willing to sell me one of those repro prop rod kits???
Still looking for an Eliminator prop rod…anybody got one or can give me EXACT details on making one just like the original???
Any leads from anyone?
A HUGE thank you to Darrell at WCCC for helping me find a repo trunk prop rod for my Eliminator. For anyone else looking, I’d like to help also…
https://restorationpartssource.com/store/trunk-lid-1969-70-cougar-prop-rod-scott-drake-details.html
I’m pretty sure that is for a Mustang Fastback despite the description. The part number is for a fastback and is produced by Scott Drake. It will be too short for an Eliminator.
drcougar, I’ll let everyone know if it is the short one for a Mustang.
Scott, The Eliminator prop rod length is 24" between the upper & lower bends: bend where the swivel sleeve attaches to the deck lid, and bend where the rod is placed in the quarter extension while in use. If the Drake rod does end up being to short, and you would like to modify that repro piece… I can send some photographs your direction. Email is the best way to contact me. I don’t regularly get on the site through the week…usually weekend to weekend. Saw the Conrad thread and was checking back to see what had been added there.
Katnip302, I’ll let you know and thanks for the offer. I may be contacting you.
Ok everyone I finally got around to trying the repro prop rod I ordered. Even though it’s sold as a COUGAR prop rod, just as many of you guessed, it’s a Mustang prop rod. Very close but it’s shorter in length.
I haven’t had my Eliminator long so I’m still finding all the nooks and crannies on it. I do know that 70 Eliminators had the rear spoiler and prop rod in the trunk and the dealers would be the one’s to install them and some just didn’t make it on the car.
As I start looking to see where to mount the prop rod, I saw this…
Yep here’s the one that was in there versus the new one…
Yep, there was a prop rod in there previously but someone took it out!!!
…and down on the trunk extension was a faint tale tale sign of a possible previous hole…
and I even had the tale tale signs of the clip!!!
Well I took the new prop rod, installed the new plastic piece and saw that it would work and just not hold the trunk open quite as wide.
So I moved on to the spot I thought might be the hole bonded over. I took my 1/4 drill and pressed toward the center and pop it pushed through!
No drilling, just filler and now I gotta hit some spots with the touch up paint.
The clip that holds the rod comes about 2 inches short of where the factory one installs so I’m not going to drill anymore holes and I’ll wait till I can find a factory rod or until someone reproduces the correct one (Looking at you WCCC !!!) For now the clip is held on with a Command Strip!!!
But it’s a step in the right direct and for $30 something dollars it was worth it…
Could you cut the rod and weld or braze in a two inch section?
Mike
Or buy some similar rod material and make the appropriate bends, but add some length to it.
Great investigation and pics, by the way! I’m guessing when they repainted the car they pulled the prop rod off and broke the retaining clip. They patched over the hole in the end cap too, and the rod just never got put back in. One more original part lost 