Picked this car up last month to turn into my daily driver. It's a 1970 Cougar base model. It currently has a 351C 2V, C6 automatic, but I am planning a manual transmission swap soon enough. Going to try and keep the 351 in it, but it has to get over 20MPG. I am hoping with a 5 speed, an electric fan, and the stock 3.08 gears that I can squeeze out 20MPG.

So far, I have fixed the brakes, welded in new floor pans, got new carpet, fixed some rust around the trunk, and repaired all of the rust on the top. Brakes needed a good flush and new wheel cylinders. The pans were gone, so I had to get some reproductions to weld in. Carpet is a two piece reproduction.

As for the top, I had a large hole in the center and a bunch of holes around back window channel. I had to cut out the center area and weld a patch panel in, then use Marine Tex to seal it and bondo to fill the gap. In the pictures, the bondo work is bad, but I sanded it off and redid it much smoother. For the back window, I had to replace 3/4 of it, bending a 10 inch section at a time. Once everything was fixed, I primed it and shot it with a base coat/clear coat paint.

I am currently in the process of installing the new vinyl top. I got the seams lined up and the middle glued down tonight, so the hard part is over.

It's been one hell of a job so far, but I love the car, so it's worth it. I am a mechanic, but this is pretty much my first attempt at any kind of body work. I even managed to take it out to the local 1/4 mile track. Pulled a whopping 16.5@83.





























http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMhKF...layer_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iofeE...layer_embedded
70 Cougar Exhaust. - YouTube

 

Looks great!
I love those cars!
Didn't you weld the frame rails to the front floor pans??? It doesn't look like it unless that was a in progress pic.


Lynn

 

Thanks. And yes, I did, it just wasn't done yet in those pics.

 

Those early Cougars are great looking cars!
It looks like you did a nice job on it.

 

Did you just use the '65-68 floor pans in it?
Lynn

 

Yeah. The drivers side didn't fit for crap, but the passenger side dropped right in.

 

Beautiful. Girlfriend wants one just like that, hopefully I can find one some day!

 

Hard to find them in good shape though.
Mine was fine as far as rust but the trim was bad or missing.
And the 1970 is the best looking one by far IMO.

 

Thanks. I had been looking and saw this one slowly drop in price until I could afford it. Like I said before, the 70 is hard as hell to find.

All of them look great, but I too like the 70 the best.

 

Had a 69 years ago. Love the Cougar. I had a three speed manual in mine, made it lots of fun. Only flaw was the headlight covers would flip up at about 100 mph. Mine was lime with a white top and lime interior. Had Cragar SSs on it. Lots of fun.