WCCC '68 XR7-G Giveaway - Official Thread

As the winner of the 1967 GT Giveaway Essay Contest (the last time WCCC gave away a car), Don Rush suggested I chime in on the current contest. But first, an update on my progress. After totally disassembling the car and cataloging every assembly, part, nut and bolt, I sent the body off to be blasted and, not unusually, the car was in much worse shape than I had hoped. The next six months were spent sourcing the needed replacement parts that included hood, fender, aprons, toe boards, floor pans, quarters, battery tray and trunk floor and then getting everything welded up. After the body work was done, it was off to a highly recommended paint shop – where it stayed for two years. While I only recently received most of the car back, I am still waiting on several parts which unexplainably are not yet painted. The quality of work from the paint shop is top notch but their timing and service has been quite frustrating. In fact, today I have ordered a stone shield from WCCC because mine was misplaced somewhere in the paint shop - and this is not the first part I have had to replace because my original was lost. While the car was in paint shop, I spent my time restoring and acquiring as many parts as I could – including pretty much stripping another 1967 (it was destined for the scrapyard) that I found for sale about 250 miles away. Since I received my car back from the paint shop, I have installed new front and rear suspensions, front brakes (trying to decide on keeping drums on the back or upgrading to disc), most of the steering components are in (still struggling with getting the manual steering conversion to thread on to my center link) interior parts are restored or acquired new, trunk area is finished, side windows are in, a good bit of exterior trim and emblems are installed, all of the various wiring harnesses have either been refurbished or purchased new and the motor rebuild and sourcing of the missing drive train components has started. I have attached a few pictures of the progress and while there is still much to do, I think most of the hard work has been done and I believe the end is in sight.

As Don mentions in his Giveaway videos, a restoration project of the nature of my ’67 GT or this ’68 G, takes a lot of time and patience (or thick skin), financial resources and skill. It seems I consistently miss whatever target timeline I set for myself – and likely so will you. Many of these misses will not always be within your control. Your paint or body shop may delay you, the part you need to finish a particular area may not be locatable, you may fall out of your attic while installing a ceiling fan to cool off your shop (it is hot in North Texas during August) and have to be taken by ambulance to the hospital, and remember – you still have family and work responsibilities. There will be times when your frustration level is so high (see my center link comment above) that it is best just to set it down and walk away for a bit. There will be people that are disappointed because you did not get your project completed in whatever timeline they thought they could have finished it in. But do not worry. None of these things are important. What is important is to enjoy the work you are doing and that you keep moving forward and save a Cougar.

Like my time budgets, I also seem to consistently bust my financial budgets. The cost of my paint and body work alone was almost four times what I originally estimated it would be (although the original estimate may have been foolish on my part)! My GT is certainly nowhere as rare as a G – so the cost to locate some of the rare G parts may exceed what I have spent to locate my parts. But the good news is your restoration budget does not have to be spent all at once. I set a monthly budget for myself and, for the most part, have stuck to it (although this also slows down the process). Once a month I send an order off to WCCC and I hope by the end of my project I will have earned enough Cougar Bucks to make a serious dent in the cash cost of a set of Styled Steel Wheels! Don suggests acquiring a parts car – and I whole-heartedly agree. A parts car will no doubt help you with sourcing some of your missing parts and you will be able to sell some of your duplicate parts (as I did) to partially offset your overall cost.

Many years ago I owned another ’67 GT as well as a ’71 XR7 Convertible and prior to the ’67 Giveaway Contest I had recently completed a restoration of my ’69 XR7 Convertible. So I had a reasonable knowledge of Cougars and what it takes to restore one. But there is so much I did not know. Shop and assembly manuals are a necessity, but there are also so many other sources and people out there to help you – and that want to help you. Members of this forum are an excellent source. For me, it started when Deadstang GAVE me a 390 motor to go with the car that WCCC gave me. No matter what your question or issue is, it has probably been asked here in the forum before. Folks that, with the exception of one, I have never met before like Coach Jack, Rocketman, Royce, BossElim69, 1967 S Code, 1969XR7Vert, Deadstang, xr7g428 (and of course his outstanding Legendary Cougar Magazine), BAust and so many others. They have all helped me out – and they do not even know it. They helped me when they answered other members’ questions that were exactly what I needed to know (or would eventually need to know). All of us appreciate their contributions to the hobby. Of course, the support WCCC gives to all of us is amazing. WCCC’s catalog alone is an excellent reference tool but their helpful videos are absolutely essential. If that was not enough, Don and his staff have always gone the extra mile to help me with whatever pesky issue (mostly electrical) I was dealing with at the time.

The winner of this contest will have a cool story to tell. I mean, how many people can say – “Yep – I won that car - by writing an essay”? I have enjoyed every minute of my journey (well – most every minute) and for me, it has truly been a labor of love. While I can hardly wait until I am driving my completed ’67 GT, I will truly miss going out to the shop and turning old corroded parts into jewels! So if you have the time, patience, resources and skill set – this project is for you. I look forward to seeing your entries and best of luck to all.


https://classiccougarcommunity.com/forum/download/file.php?mode=view&id=6441

https://classiccougarcommunity.com/forum/download/file.php?mode=view&id=6440

https://classiccougarcommunity.com/forum/download/file.php?mode=view&id=6439



Bert your Cougar is looking great. Thanks for adding to this giveaway thread. It gives real insight on what it takes to restore a Classic Cougar. I’m sure this giveaway XR7G will be no different when it comes to the restoration hurdles. We truly have something special going on with the Classic Cougar Community. All the members play an important role in making it second to none in the Classic car hobby.
Steven

Great input from a winner. I think your story is likely to help a lot of us in this hobby as it shows the reality of a restoration vs. what we all wish for when taking on a project. For me, with a few exceptions, I have just gotten to where I double my estimated time and leave myself a 20% contingency on everything I do. That way I sort of fool myself into believing I came in under time and under budget.

What a great opportunity!!! I will be short about why I should win. A little about myself, I have more passion about muscle cars then I do talent in restoration. This is how and why I am self taught. I believe that I am like Rocky Balboa but of building muscle cars. Meaning I have some talent but my heart is what always pushes me to win the build. I saw this and I thought HARD PASS…The more I thought about the more I have fallen in love with this project. I will be up front on what I would love to do to this cougar. First she needs a name. Her name is UR MOM. Clever right because it’s a cougar. Now that she has life blood pumping into her I have two ways I will go with the resto. Both of which will piss off most on this feed :laughing: First I will love to run this car as a modern day rat rod. I will keep the body the same but build the guts. Keeping in mind the tim e sensitive of the era of the car big meats out back and gold in all the right places, building it tell UR MOM will pull the front tires. Option 2: ls swap bahahaha :laughing: :laughing: NO not really but once again keeping the exterior as raw as possible but turning this into an autocross king.Modern day 5.0 fuel injection. Wide tires all four corners. If this has not got me kicked off the forum then I look forward to seeing UR MOM :pray: :laughing:

I do believe you would see this car to the finish line and we would all benefit from the meticulous documentation of the process! Thanks for chiming in!

I have always been impressed with folks that out of shear determination and pride tackle the items that are usually farmed out themselves.

The skills and determination you learned side by side with your father will carry you far in life, very cool you are ready to do it again! Always impressed that folks would spend their valuable vacation time to travel to another country to hang out for a couple of days at their favorite auto parts store!

I love hearing stories of how folks got “bitten”.

Thanks for joining this forum! Regardless of which Cougar you choose (or chooses you) you are in the best space possible to fulfill that promise…

A couple of decades ago I sold a GTE to Royce Peterson. He knew he would not tackle the project for some time and we both agreed how fun it would be to temporarily put a 6 cylinder drive train in it and take it too a few shows. Enjoying the car in any form as one acquires the $, parts and skills to do it right is not a bad idea. As long as you are not blowing holes in the car and throwing away rare parts anything one does can be reversed. Thanks for throwing your hat in the ring!

Could not have said it better myself… Thank you for the honest recap of your journey, you will inspire many and we hope to see the car at an upcoming open house!

Hello my name is Riley Robertson, I am very interested in Cougars. I work at Instrument Services Inc. It is a family owned business that restores clocks and gauges for all antique cars. We have a car collection as a family between my mom, dad, grandpa and grandma and this rare XR7-G would be amazing to be able to own myself and restore it. We have a large warehouse perfect for a full on nut and bolt restoration. As being in the car community we have great relations with many resources to get and track down everything we would need. If I was able to restore it I would want to restore it like it came off the factory floor. I have great experiences when it comes to restoring cars and have learned from my grandpa and dad. I have been a car nut since the day I was born. My dream is to open up another business and restore complete cars. It would be an amazing piece to be able to show at car shows and would be such an honor to restore it.

Welcome! Sounds like you have a dearth of skills surrounding you and I assume you could also draw upon your customers for resources as well. One suggestion to not only you but everyone submitting, add a picture or two of yourself, restoration area, cars in collection. There will be many other entries and adding some pictures helps you stand out. Thank you for sharing!

The two words that always make me wince are EASY RESTORATION. When I hear that I also expect to see a live unicorn in the trunk that poops hundred dollar bills.

At least with this car you won’t start out believing that it will be easy…

Also think the word restoration is over used. When I think of restoration I think complete nut and bolt, headlight to taillight, rocker to roof as good or better then when it rolled off the assembly line. Of course there are many levels in between but not all qualify as restoration IMO. Something such as this giveaway car deserves a full nut and bolt restoration based on its rarity and hopefully the winner is willing to take on that kind of project.

Easy Restoration =

I am a bit conflicted about writing this paper. You see, that car you are giving away has a bit of a history with me. Now, I do realise that it is not the exact same car, but the memories are just as strong. The memories of my graduation year, and the summer of 1987…

In the fall of 1986, I was 16 years old and totally car crazy. Living on that farm five miles from anywhere, without transportation nobody was getting anywhere. A car was the symbol of freedom. I had just started my senior year and my departure into the world was marked on the calendar. A visitor to the farm asked if I would be interested in removing an old car from her back yard. I went over and was introduced to a 1967 Cougar that was buried in mud up past the wheel wells. It was a true Saskatchewan Junker, and it was love at first sight.

It took me several days to haul that car out of the mud and drag it back to the farm. Access to tools wasn’t a problem, but most of the nuts and bolts were not going to cooperate with wrenches and ratchets. I had to evict some critters, but within a few weeks the car was clean enough to look at. I wish I had a photo. Cameras were not a thing like they are now so I’ll just have to describe it for you. This was a dark maroon ’67 Cougar with a black interior. The fenders tags said GT-R because somebody had added the –R part. From the VIN, door tag, and some research, I learned it was supposed to have a 390 with a 3 speed standard. Those were gone and had been replaced with a 289 and an automatic. Most of the front floor was missing, and the arse end was dragging on the ground as a result of broken leaf springs. Surprisingly, the rest of the car was intact and wasn’t all that bad.

Now, I suppose in hindsight my priorities and decisions could have been a bit misguided, but I figured the first step was to get the engine running and make this a car move. This was such a different time that it is hard to explain to young kids these days. The parts required for the engine and transmission cost me about 20 bucks, and getting the car running was just a long weekend with some friends. The first snow hadn’t fallen yet, but the car was running and rolling around the yard. I didn’t have those leaf springs, so I used two 4x4 on each side to hold up the rear. I didn’t have anything but plywood between me and the ground under me feet in the front, nor any sort of registration yet, but that didn’t seem to stop me from wandering down the road a few times. It was the open prairie without another car in sight. It was rough, dusty, dangerous, and fantastic.

Over the winter I was able to make progress on the car by trading labor for service. I painted a house and, in return, a local farmer cut up an old bunkbed and some traffic signs and welded in some sort of floor in the car. My Dad made me a deal and started trading school grades for car parts. Before long the car was somewhat drivable. I even had leaf springs.

We didn’t have vehicle inspections back then. It was amazing to see some of the junk that was on the road. It cost $25 for my driver’s licence, and I was saving up the $95 for plates and registration. In Saskatchewan back then, insurance was included with the registration, so for only $120 I would be legally on the road for a year. The car was ready just in time. Graduation came so my Dad paid for the plates and registration, filled the car up with gas, and waved goodbye. It was time to leave the nest.

I wasn’t totally without a plan; I had gone into a recruiting center and joined the Army Reserves. The drive from the farm was a straight trip into boot camp. I showed up with everything I owned sitting in the front seat of that ’67 Cougar. The car was more than my ride back then. It was who I was. That car was my freedom, my ticket to adventure. Sometimes it felt like the car was the only friend I had. It was me against the world, but for that fantastic summer of 1987 I was winning because I had that car. I even got a Cougar tattooed on my right shoulder blade in honor of that car. Yes, I loved it.

Thirty years have passed since that summer. I’m still in uniform and that adventure has taken me far from home. I left the Army Reserve and eventually ended up in the Navy, completing an Engineering Degree at RMC in Kingston and travelling all over the world. The ’67 Cougar was left at my parent’s farm outside Saskatoon and, when they sold the farm and moved into the city, the car itself was lost, but I brought the memories with me. I think a lot about how this all started. I think about that car and that summer and all that has happened since.

In about five years it will be time for me to take off the uniform. It won’t be the end of my adventures, but certainly the start of a new one. To be honest, I’m a little apprehensive about it. I don’t know what is going to happen or where I’ll end up, but I’d like to start that next adventure the same way that I started this one, with a Mercury Cougar. I have five years to get it ready.

Now, you folks will want to know if I have what it takes to pull this off. I’ll be honest and tell you I don’t know. I’ve been involved with military auto clubs for my whole career, but mostly as an organizer. I’ve built several cars in the clubs, but as an engineer I tend to manage the project and be the assistant while I let experts do the work that needs specialized skills. This usually costs me more, but my cars tend to come out better. My latest project was a '69 Mach I that has come from less than a bare shell to Hagerty’s definition of Excellent. I’ve avoided getting another Cougar because of my history with that particular car. But I think maybe it is time to come home, if you will have me take on the role of caretaker of this particular project.

Yours, AYE!
Greg Walker
Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Great story Greg!

I could not help but notice the resemblance between the giveaway car, and the one in the hall of shame…

That is one neat Cougar, My name is Brian & I have been restoring/building classic cars & muscle cars since I was 14…about 45 years. like my dad, I have always been a Ford & Mercury man, I have owned everything from a 65 Mustang to most recently a numbers matching 1970 Cyclone GT that took 35 years to find and 7 years to restore. I have a Ford drivetrain & suspension in my 47 International panel truck, and have my own restoration shop, where I am finishing the restoration of a 1973 Cougar “Q” code convertible.
I am a firm believer of 2 things…First that every car can be saved, and this Cougar is a lot better and more complete than some of the cars I have restored, and the second is that anyone can butcher a classic, and there seems to be too much of that happening anymore, but a real enthusiast and car lover knows when a classic needs to be saved, as is the case with this 1968 Mercury Cougar XR7-G.
I applaud West Coast Classic Cougar for saving this great classic from an uncertain fate, and hope whoever receives this Cougar gives it the love it deserves, I know I will if I were to win. This Cougar screams to be restored to showroom condition.

Hello,
David Flinn and family here, and we are highly interested in taking on this 1968 Cougar project car. I have experience in restoring and fixing up cars and cougars in particular I have had a special spot in my heart for 1968 Cougars. We have turn the restoration of cars into a family event over time.

This all started back when I was a teen going on my morning runs before school. I would run by my neighbor’s house who had two cougars one was a 1968 cougar (blue with a vinyl top) and 1970 cougar with a 390 4spd just sitting in their backyard. Spent many of a weekends working with them mowing there lawn to come up with the good will and the money to get the car. I when I first got the title signed to my name then pushing the car from there yard the ½ mile to my house. There I spent my nights and weekends working on it as a 15 year old kid. Fast forward a 2 months and I got it started for the first time and it became the car I took my Driver test and became my daily driver. It was the car I took picked up my then Girlfriend (now Wife) from home to go to school in. After High school, I decided to go into the military. With my move into the military, I got based over in Germany and had no way to store or ship over the car so I ended up having to sell it.

Flash Forward 14 years and I got a 1964 Chevelle Malibu SS project car from a junkyard in Kent Washington, after months of hand sanding collecting parts I finally got it running and ready for paint. I ended up selling it off for another when person who offered me more then what I had in it.

After the Chevelle Malibu SS, my next project was a 1959 Chevrolet 3100 ½ ton truck. To say that this truck was rough when I started would be mild it was a road services truck in Washington for most of its life. We took this truck completely apart and started with the rust repaired included inner\outer Cab corners and floors. We tackled the 235 engine rebuild next

This not to say I did it all myself I had help from both friends and family. One of my friend who has worked over twenty years as an auto body tech, showed me techniques to sanding down and fixing all of the dents in order to fix it up for paint. He also came over when I painted the truck myself in a makeshift painting tent made of some two by fours and plastic sheets with window fans to vent to give pointers and show me what I was doing wrong. This is when my eldest daughter started helping out throughout the journey to fixing cars in this project she assisted in replace the wooden bed among with learning about what tool is what.

A year later, I saw a 1968 cougar for sale in near Seattle. The car look beautiful in pictures and they only wanted 4k. I grabbed a friend and head up to take a look. One look and I was not impressed they had spent a ton of money in putting a black paint job on a car that was nothing but waves and they had not fixed the floors. On the way home I found my current driver a 1969 Cougar. It was a mess inside and motor ran, but was not correct. While the car was needing work it, was well worth the money they were asking. I ended up taking this one home instead.

The cougar needed some work on its interior, engine, and electrical as well as a leaking rear window. While ordering parts I was delighted to find out that they came fast and that west coast classic cougars were just a few miles away. This has brought on a lot of fun times out at WCCC for both me and the staff at our favored place to shop as seen below.




My children helped out being the extra part of hands that all mechanics need/want throughout the majority of changes done. The suspension had to be replaced to prevent the car from bottoming out, the rear window was pulled to find out where the leak was coming from and then put back in. The electrical issue caused the tail lights to go out and not signal light it should. All that took was one wiring main harness and few hours taking my dash apart, then my turn signal problems went away. I was asked over the winter if I wanted the head light conversion done. I was happy to allow WCCC crew do their magic. While not ending up in the video on for the head light conversion the kit was and is amazing. Moving forward about a year and my eventually the transmission started to give out, so I decided to do a T5 upgrade and rear end gear change to the 3.70 posi rear end. That required all hands on deck (My wife and daughter) to be able to position it into place and get it situated.

A year later and the 1969 cougar is going strong.

This year my eldest daughter came to me about wanting to get her first car and how she wanted it to be a classic, so she would (or at least I would) know how to work on it. After a few months of looking with nothing catching our eye until we found a 1967 XR7 Cougar. I made her a deal I would do that work to put it back on the road if she would pay for it. However, once she was out of school and getting ready to be on her own. She leaves but the car will not until she has a place of her own and a stable income. She will get her first car back I will only be storing it for her. With all said the car we went to look at I thought would have been a total wreck. It had turned out the car was a shell but came with most of the parts and it was rough as the previous owner had sanded it down and put it in primer.

Fenders are just sitting on the car at this point

So as you can see we took it all the way to bare metal to see what was done what issues needed to be fixed. There was some rust spots in that rear window channel that have been now been fixed thank you WCCC for the Window Channel - Lower panel it has a great fit. Car is going in to paint the 1st of July and the family will be putting it back together over the next couple weekends after that.

As for my resources and shop space. I have just over 900 square feet shop at my house and access to a full machine shop out at my dads place.
resources wise we picked this 1967 Cougar up in February of this year as a complete basket case and soon it will be my eldest daily driver.

Thank you for the chance to win then car. We have stopped by to see the car, yes it will need a ton of work, but I see a chance to bring it out of the rust and make a diamond.

Update color is now on the car :sunglasses:
Finished color coat and clear just need to cut and buff and we can re assemble the car
Link to my Facebook Вход на Facebook | Facebook

As I said I would do here is an update. If you never done a vinyl top or a headliner please do what I did that is have someone come over and help. I thought about doing it myself after looking at and watching the videos off WCCC YouTube site Vinyl Top Installation - '68 Cougar - YouTube. I changed My mind it did delayed the process a bit as I had to wait for a vendors time it did come out great. My eldest will be proud to drive this saved classic as her daily driver.

Enos upholstery (503) 990-2197. Came out to my house to assist and will be back to help with the headliner.

Once that is completed the car is ready for the road again.
here is a quick peek at the seats. they did for me as well.

you can see more of the process if you go to my Facebook page.

Thank you
David and Family



Don suggested that we add a couple of photos to the post. So here are some before and after shots of the Eliminator that Jenny and I started with and how it looks today …



So here is where Jenny and I are today … we’d like the chance to do the same with the '68 XR7 G … again, wish us luck

Just an update here … we showed the Eliminator at our very first car show together on July 8th & 9th. It was at the Yellow Rose of Texas all Ford Nationals near the Ranger’s Ballpark in Arlington, TX. Her car was in class “I” and there were about 25 cougars represented thru the Lone Star Cougar Club (we are members) and part of that class. During the awards ceremony, we watched and cheered for our favorites in classes “A” thru “H”, and when it came to our class we watched about 5 people collect an award. However, we still had our fingers crossed. Then in came time for the winner of the class … and Jenny & I were called out as the winners. “SUCCESS!!!” … that is more than I had hoped for. Judges rated her car and awarded her that recognition. No Bias! Having never won anything before, Dad was popping buttons in pride. Then we watched the rest of the awards and we were basking in our achievement. But hold on … they had two more awards to pass out; Peoples Choices and Participant Choice. Again, Jenny got called out as the winner of the participant choice award and won a crystal trophy cup. We were flabbergasted.

I think some of the reasons she won are centered around:

  • We think she was the only car in the show that was a “Girl” restored project
  • That it was a 6 year journey to get to a show together and it was a true father-daughter project from start to finish
  • We visited with the club members and the people coming to the show for the full two days
  • and we had fun doing it all together

When we got to the point of breaking the show down … Jenny emphatically said, “I am driving it home!” Here’s your next generation car enthusiast. Wish us luck on hopefully our next project!



It’s time to introduce the 5 judges! Here they are, in no particular order:


Gavin Schlesinger
Arguably one of the most active human beings in the classic Cougar community, Gavin has owned Cougars since 1986, worked on them extensively, and owns an XR7-G. He understands the challenges involved in restoration and hunting for rare parts. Oh, and he’s the chairperson / president of the Cougar Club Of America.


Brian Carpenter
President of the CATS club and owner of 8 Cougars, Brian has completed a stunning concours restoration on his XR7-G, doing all the work himself except for the paint and vinyl top / headliner. He’s also been known to reproduce some parts here and there. As Cougar experts go, Brian’s up there. For a living, he does engine research & development.


Brian Aust
We figured we needed a second Brian to help judge! Brian lives just down the road from WCCC and owns a '68 427 GT-E and a '67 GT. He has also completed a full restoration on another GT-E and is very familiar with the challenges involved.

(5 judges continued)


Scott Ferguson
Scott is the president of the Fordnutz Cougar Club, Communications Director for the Cascade Cougar Club, and owns one of the most recognized XR7-G’s on the planet. He also hinted that he may be willing to accept bribes.


Bert Downing
Winner of our previous '67 GT giveaway, Bert has a unique perspective. He now knows what it takes to fully restore a Cougar that was previously left for dead, and what the winner of this contest can expect to deal with. His post earlier in this thread was very enlightening, and the progress pics of his car are encouraging.


Thanks to all 5 for agreeing to participate! We look forward to seeing how things develop. It’s been fun to see the entries roll in, and there’s still plenty of time left to go!