well, now that i have it, i can finally tell the story (didn't want to jinx it).....
well, when we lived in south carolina last year, they built a walmart by our house.... i went there one day after they opened and to my surprise, there was a 2-tone cougar parked there... so i parked next to it and spyed it.... it was an 84 gs with power options.... cool.... so, for the next month or so, every time we went to the walmart, it was there and we parked next to it (my youngest loved parking near it most), i figured it belonged to someone who worked there for the opening...(it had indiana plates)..... sooooooo, one night, the wife and i went there, and for fun parked in front of it, and when we walked out to our van after shopping, we saw the car's owner was there! well, we started to talk to him and found out that he had transfered there and worked in the tire and lube.... cool.... we told him about our "twin" car and he told us he wanted to turn his into a tiffany (we can all dream).... so my wife gave him her card with her email address (she wrote the coolcats web addy on the back), wished him luck, and told him that if he was ever interested in selling it, give us a ring......
that was almost a year ago
last week, my wife got an email from him telling her that he had to move, so the cougar was for sale.... well, we live in florida now, so with gas as it is, and the fact that he needed it sold by july 31, i told my wife to politely reply that while we wished we could get it, we could only offer $200 for it at this time............... he replied --- that's what the junkyard said, and he'd rather a collector to have it, so if i could get it this weekend, he'd take 200 for it!!! needless to say, i drove up there yesterday and it is now sitting safely in my parents backyard waiting to be transported to florida!!!!:burnout:
the body is in pretty good shape, paint is rough, surface rust under the car (indiana car) and the passenger door electrics don't work.... also, it has a huge power drain that kills the battery overnight and doesn't like to be jumpstarted......
the interior needs a headliner, dashpad, visors, and a center console, but the seats and door panels are super clean...... i think we did good :)
after i finally got it started, it drove 25 miles to my parents house without a hiccup, i'd say that's a good sign :)
kinda funny how life can find you something good..... must have had some kharma coming my way
we just think it's awesome that other than the red pinstripe, it has the same paint as our 83:bowdown:
pics
more pics with a side by (over) side pic....
one day they will be together....
now the wife says i have my own cougar....... maybe i'll take both:evilgrin:
Nice find! That's awesome. If I could find a deal like that, I'd have myself a DD!
Congrats :cheers: mywifeskitty now you will have (2 cats) to go out for a night prowl with !!! ;)
well, maybe i can turn the 84 into a dd one day :)... i just noticed on the side by side that the 84 (top) has the 2-tone going past the tail light and the 83(bottom) has the 2-tone meeting the tail light... weird
sweet bro you need to get them over here so we can hit a cruise in or 2 you only live like 30 miles from me..and we can roll 4 cougars and a turbo smurf deep
is the 84 a 3.8 car? also one of them was probably repainted at one point and the shop used the tail light as a reference point for the two-tone.
yeah, the 84 is a 3.8
Nice find...!
I like the story too, reminds me to keep up the spy work on an 86 over in one of the malls.... :hick:
Nice :D $200=sweet deal:D
know i'm resurecting an older thread, but it beats making a new one :)
the twins are home!!!
i went to south carolina on sunday with my parents (they happened to be visiting) to get the 84..... well, i was going to replace the starter solenoid (it had a power drain and wouldn't start reliably, that's why i got it for $200.... anyway, i was going to fix it and drive back sunday night, but i broke the stud off (it was cold), so i had to get another solenoid monday morning form the autoparts store.... that done and installed, i found out the battery was DEAD, even though i disconnected it, so, since it was bought at walmart by the previous guy, i took it there and 1 1/2 hours later, they charged it and i hooked it up...... for fear that it would die again, i drove straight through from columbia to st aug without stopping (about 360 miles or so)....... and it did well...... rides rough, took a bit for the tires to even out, but the engine was pretty smoothe...... i'm a believer now that the 3.8 isn't a bad engine at all :)... the only real problem i had was the master cylinder is SHOT and i had to pump it to stop:toilet: , but it got here safe:burnout:
so got it home and looked under and found out that the right front swaybar link is missing... not broken, but missing..... this is one weird car :)
ANYWAY, i talk too much, but the interior is quite nice, just needs a headliner and dash pad... the outside is another matter, besides the swaybar links and master cylinder, the body is beat to hell from hail, the paint is faded awkwardly and the tail lights are broken, but that's why we fix em:bowdown:
she's from indiana, so there's a bit of rust, but not too bad for a DD...... even though she went through 3 owners, they were family members, so i was able to find the original bill of laiding (it sold for 13,300 new), owner manual, warranty card and pocket vin tag..... i have a feeling this is going to be a LONG rebuild, but i'm glad to have my twins :)
p.s. if you made it this far reading, thanks for caring... i know i get long winded and stupid:mullet:
Might have been repainted. Looking at the front, amber turn lenses, no stand up ornament. Could just be a late build too i guess. Would make sense with what you pointed out about the paint though.
Great find. Glad it didnt go to the yard
don't know when they changed to amber lenses, but the 84 didn't have a hood ornament (just the cougar oval on the header panel), only the 83 came with the stand up one (but we're going to change that:evilgrin: )
looks like they just didn't keep care of it (splochy, like an egg hit it, and such, the hail didn't help either :))... i did wonder before about the paint..... i haven't sent out for the build from ford yet on the 84, but the sheet ford sent me on the 83 only states it as a black car, not 2-tone..... i think they are both factory 2-tones, but it's strange that the 83 and 84's paint ends differently on the back (as seen in the 2nd pic)..... i'd love to see a pic of another 2-tone from 83 and 84 to compare
Glad you got it home.What plans are in store for the V-6 beast?
hey im glad u got home ok if you want to come get the master and the endlink off this tbird come get them ...there urs
Cool, I'm glad you got it home under its own power. Btw, I love the basketweaves on the 83 it looks great. They need to start making those again. :hick:
nice car.
The gray and stripe on the side end in a diff. spot at the tail light
Looks better ending where the tail light starts.
Sweet find... i love having matching cougars.. one 88 xr7 5.0 for me and one 88 ls 3.8 for my girl, both dd for now!!!!!!!!!!
sweet :D is it at the shop, will you be there on wednesday?
well, i have to get it dd ready in the next 2 weeks, so just mechanical stuff for now...... i have a turbocoupe hood from 347Thunder that the wife won't let me put on hers, so i think i'll put that on.... i have newer taillights and mirrors from BEARMAX that'll come in handy now...... i have to remove the headliner, so i may practice my dent removal skills too:flame:
i don't think there are too many engine mods... maybe get rid of that noisy smog pump :)
btw, haven't tried yet, but it has those pimpin' cougar spoked hubcaps on it...... how the hell do i get them off without a key?
hey on the 84 and possibly 83 if you are looking for the build sheet pull the passenger side seat in frount and look under it you should find it there. i know i did on my old 84. Great find!! Makes me miss my 84.
i'll have to look when i remove the seats... thanks :)
how do you convert an 84 to an 83???? start with this.............. (i was suprised that the emblem bolted on, i thought it was a sticky one.... the only problem was the holes weren't quite straight, so i just widened them:hick: )
Wow, Hail storm?
i'd say, it's EVERYWHERE!!!
Looks like you'll be using that TC hood for sure.
I am SOOOOOOOOOOO glad we don't get hail around here!!! The biggest I've ever seen was pea-sized (and even still I worried about my 'Bird)...
Oh, and I think I had used a pair of vise grips on one of my locking covers. (Rust)
I got a tool, but don't know if they were all the same or not
thanks for the tip, but someone beat me to it :).... once i figured out that you can take off the cat center caps, i saw that someone had already cut slits in the bolts to fit a flathead screwdriver..... so i didn't have to worry about it after all.... sweet;)
Say I Love my Cougar....... with Krylon Gloss Black!
couldn't leave it torch red and bondo :)...... might paint the scoops a different color, but i'm not sure..... i'm suprised it matched so close, but it looks much worse in in person.... the camera makes it almost look right
also, new(er) tail lights from bear...................
Fix them dents and get it painted.
some pics of the cancer and the road paint that's ALL down the passenger side...... this car was not loved, i'm shocked that the interior wasn't abused more
finished swapping the outside (for now).....wish i had the time and resources that i see on others cars, but alas, you do with what you can with what you have :toilet:
i like the 83 hood ornament with the turbo coupe hood....... i might even keep the spokey hubcaps..... i'll get to the dents, one day...... i did swap out the driver knee panel, glove box, and center console lid with the wifes car... they are in really good condition and look a lot better than the black painted stuff i had in her car (had to match different colored parts).... i guess the $200 i paid has made up for itself in parts for the wifes car too :)
now, if i can find a good dash pad in charcoal, i'll put it in the wifes 83 and put the black one from her car in the 84...... then, the interior might be done too....... i was also able to install a cd changer inder the passenger seat using the hole in the center console radio bezel from the changer that was taken out:D
now, for those mechanical issues :mullet:
p.s. the wifes car is the one on the bottom with the hula girl
i think i had a mouse or 2 in here.........
i wish i had taken pics of the dirty rubbermade bowl and the "half-eaten" bar of soap with mouse under it under the passenger seat, but when i took down the headliner i found this....... the last pic is in the driver door jam wheel well area..... i hope they moved out when i brought it home :)
p.s. the underside of the seat was unmolested... weird
make that one 2x as nice as the wifes cat :D
5.8 and 5 speed :D
The stuff about the headliner is just like that. Atleast it was in my car.
wish that were my case..... mouse on the heasliner sealed the fact that they were up there.... maybe they didn't totally kill it, but they helped ;)