Up for sale is the most significant to me, GTE I have ever put my hands on. I owned it (technically brokered it) in the fall of 1992… Here’s the story. My Business “West Coast Cougar Supply” was just getting off the ground, I was rehabbing shabby 100 year old homes in NE Portland and pursuing a young lady at a nearby Bible College. Life was good and full of challenges! In those days us Cougar hunters were all after the same cars we are now, the GTE, XR7G, Eliminator, CJ Convertibles, etc. but the difference was they were far more rare back then. That’s right, no internet and the only contact with the outside Cougar world we had was the Cougar Club newsletters and Hemmings Motor News. Getting on a plane to check out a car and have it shipped was a rather rare occurrence considering the cars had little value and plane tickets were expensive. One day a young man showed up to my place at 6026 NE 21st av and wanted to sell me his 67 for $1000. I looked it over and thanked him for the opportunity but told him it was too nice to part out and not nice enough for me to want to buy it for myself and then I gave him some tips on selling it. Before he departed I gave him my card and told him to keep me in me mind as I paid finders fees for the “right cars”. He responded with “my brother has a GTB but I doubt he wants to sell it”. I said “You mean a GTE?” He said “Yeah that’s it…” I really doubted the lead was legit or would go anywhere to be honest… Fast forward a couple of months and I get a message on my machine from someone that needs to raise $5000 in 3 days for a property deal and would I be interested in a GTE? I race out there and could not believe what I saw! My very first GTE barn find in original paint, numbers matching down to the distributor, carb and 3L50 nodular case rear-end! To top things off it had a decent red interior, headrests, tilt-tilt away and an AM-8-Track. The only bummer (other than some significant but not terrible rust) was it was missing the RF GTE trim. The owner grins and pops the trunk to reveal an NOS piece purchased by the former owner (Wades Auto Wrecking & Classic cars in Vancouver). I asked him to accept my $500 and I would be right back with the cash within 48hrs. to pay it off. At the time I was knee deep in rehabbing a house and every extra dime was spent trying to get my fledgling parts business off the ground (anyone remember my first # 1-800-xr7-coug)? It cost me .40c a minute to field tech questions all day 7am-10pm 6 days a week. The first guy I thought of was Dave Brost (now the head guy at Steve’s Auto Restoration http://www.realsteel.com). I explained the deal to Dave and he said he was enthusiastically in at $8500! The deal was made and Dave was more than happy to pay the car off and hand me $3500. The young lady was very much on my mind and really out of my league so me being the impulsive guy I was, I decided to call a nearby jeweler who was a regular customer of mine and promptly put $3500 in his hand and ask him to get the best ring he could with it… When I proposed to Renee’ on her Birthday, not only did the earth shake (look up Spring Break Quake March 25th) but I had to do some explaining as she knew my current financial affairs and really was suspicious on where that amount of revenue may have come from… Both Dave and I soon had young families to support and 10 years later Dave asked me to market the car for him. I sold it on ebay to Greg Taylor who sold it to Robin Jacques. Robin is a well known, talented restorer of several Cougars (including a 1967 Convertible) over the years and did his very best to do a no expense spared rotisserie Concours restoration. He considers it a life achievement having done the metalwork, paint and most everything else himself. He and I have discussed in detail several times over the last 2 years how to best market this car and he could go either way, January BJ or Bring a Trailer run in tandem with another rather special 68 built 1 day apart from this one. This is a sneak peak offering at $185k. You will notice it needs a few minor details which are in fact being done as I type this. The smog needs to be put on, original wheels and bias ply repro tires put on, minor panel / bumper alignment and very little else. The price is pretty firm as if it gets any cheaper I will buy it! My accountant suggested a new super duty F350 but she also agreed this would in fact be a legitimate business expense. More pictures to come, I will ask Jim to give some input as he has an extensive file on it in the GTE Registry. 503-463-1130
I only just recently replaced that business card with a new one in my index , great history.
Great write up Don. The story really gives a look into all of the juggling work and effort it took to grow your family and business.
I hope this GTE finds a good home, it would be neat if it did turn out to be yours.
Thank you for all that you, your family and staff do for our hobby.
I am looking forward to seeing the photos as you share them.
This is the making for a great article for ATSOTC magazine and I hope the new owner, once that person is found would consider working with you on the next chapter and sending the story to editor@cougarClub.org email address.
The story of WCCC with images, trials and triumphs in an ATSOTC Magazine putting your story in print would be neat to have shared.
Gavin
www.CougarClub.org
Looks pretty good. One thing that sticks out, the engine ID sticker should be on the cylinder head on the passenger side. Also the reproduction stickers are not made correctly. It should have 359J with a D.
Here’s a photo showing the correct location. The engine ID sticker should be more or less parralel with the ground as seen with the engine installed in the car. It’s a little hard to see with the smog pump installed.
Maybe Renee will buy it for your birthday
Thank you Royce! He has a few little shake out items that need to be completed and not being a person that spends much time on the net, it can be slow going getting good information. BTW, the smog going on it is a SEMO Mustang kit that is a combo of restamped used and repro parts. At first glance it looks good but not spot on. Also, he did in fact spray another front valance for this car for those that do not like the G fog lights.
Have him let you put it on Bring A Trailer at no reserve, Don…I double-dog dare you 
It’d be interesting to see where one would sell these days at no-reserve. If anyone could do the right presentation, it’d be you!
Beautiful car…
Well… Since it is not my car (yet) that is not much of a dare. The problem with BAT is on cars they do not understand they scoff at a reserve. Just like Facebook market place, if it does not fit well within the boarders of what Kelly Blue Book calls out then they reject your high reserve. I doubt they would let you put a reserve past $75k on this one. BJ would be fun… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x3kMTLeukg&t=108s
Don, I have a saved copy of your eBay auction of this car from Feb 17, 2001.
This car has many desirable features, like Traction-Lok, headrests, XR7 option, and of course Cardinal Red with NO vinyl top.
And… It is about the same age as Kurt Corbain and they resided in the same neighborhood in the tiny town of Aberdeen Washington until the 80’s. Feel free to fill in some blanks with that ebay auction write up, I too have it somewhere. It was the first GTE ever sold on ebay.
Not much to add as you covered many of the main points in your first post here. It had 9 bids and sold at $8,785.85 (reserve met) to “private auction - bidders’ identities protected”.
You had original owner’s manual,train of registrations and document showing original purchase price for this GT-E of $5233.76 per . Car also has tinted glass.
I think anything that is not factory on the GT-E is not going to help sell it, and in fact may hurt. The G front valance and fog lamps would be removed and sold to a G owner if this was my car to sell.
Royce, please take a look at the Marti report and tell us what the original tires were? When I see Wide Oval, they must have been Firestone brand. White wall must mean those skinny whitewalls where the white rubber strip is out near the tire’s equator (or mid sidewall).
The Marti Report says FR70-14 Wide Oval tires - they were white wall radial tires. All of the originals that I have seen were BF Goodrich brand with the skinny whitewall. The closest thing in a repop is the Coker brand skinny whitewall radial. I like the way these look!
If it is a “Cougar Guy” he will instantly look at it as a $1000 bonus but I agree it does not add to the value. I told him to trade them out and sell his NOS Xr7g fog lights and repro G valance separate.
Royce, do you have any photos of those original
BF Goodrich tires that came on GT-E’S? Especially the sidewall. Thx
I used to have photos of an NOS set that sold on eBay a few years ago but those photos went with a laptop that died.
Here is a car with them mounted:
This is a absolutely stunning GTE.
Steven
Some pictures of a couple of original Firestone Wide Ovals from two 68 cars. Don’t let the hubcap distract you
and from the other car
69 F70 x 14 Good year
So what’s Mega-Millions at this week?
Just joined here, had to see the picts.
Don, great story.
Hope you and your family are doing OK with all the crazy forest fires happening at that part of the country.