1949-1950 Ford Body Kit for Thunderbirds and Cougars

Here’s something for people who like the look of older cars but want options and amenities that are a bit more recent.  This is a late 90’s model Ford Thunderbird that’s been fitted with a body kit to make it resemble a 1950 Ford.  Pretty slick, don’t you think? 

From the side view, that rear glass is unmistakably 90’s Thunderbird, and I think the profile is the least appealing view of this vehicle as a result. To me, it’s just that the front and back of the car both feature that kind of rounded, inflated sheet metal work of the older Ford, but the sides have the more svelte, slicked back look of a 90’s model vehicle.  Still, I like the look of this body kit better than I like the look of a late 90’s Thunderbird or Cougar. 

These kits could be had and used on Ford Thunderbirds and Mercury Cougars built between 1989-1997.  The basic body kit costs between $2750-$3,500 from what I’ve found online, with options for things like a frenched rear license plate (recessed into the trunk lid) -which this one I saw at the car show had, by the way, for $275 extra.  Also available are custom grille mouth inserts to fit the front fascia with a Mercury or even a Corvette style grille ($950), and fiberglass bumpers with molded in splash pans for $275.  Some places offer to install the kits for anywhere from $1,000 to $3,500, and that doesn’t include any painting or chrome work. 

So, let’s build ourselves a hypothetical T-bird with a ‘49-50 Ford body kit.  First, we need a suitable donor car.  Because we spent much of last week on Cougars, let’s leave them out of the picture for this project and focus instead on Ford Thunderbirds.  For starters, we should probably decide what we want in our donor car.  After all, it will serve as the platform on which all this will be built. 

For the sake of simplification, we’re going to shoot for a 1995 model.  It’s not a bad choice as it has the benefit of having had its interior upgraded the year prior to feature an instrumentation layout in a wrap-around design.  Keep in mind too, that these cars, though not terribly exciting to behold, were technical darlings that featured four wheel independent suspension, disc brakes all around, rear wheel drive, and decent safety features (by 1995 standards, anyway). 

In ’95, you had some choices for engine options.  First, there was the base 3.8L V6 that made around 140-150HP.  We’re not even going to consider that.  If we’re going through the hypothetical hassle of building a car like our hypothetical 1949 body kit Tbird, we’re not going to settle for that wimpy stuff.  No, like the Jeffersons, we’re “movin’ on up”..to that same 3.8L V6 with an Eaton roots style supercharger and intercooler that boosts output to 230HP and 330 lb ft of torque and has a 5 speed manual transmission.  This set up was available on a Thunderbird called the Super Coupe, or Thunderbird SC for short.  In fact, on MY hypothetical Tbird with body kit, my hypothetical donor car is a Thunderbird SC.  Of course, there’s another option, and that’s what our featured real life Easy Rod T-bird features: the 4.6L V8 that’s good for 205HP and 256 lb ft of torque.  Well, that’s his choice.. I still say the SC is the way to go. 

Here’s a picture or two of a pair of ‘95 Thunderbirds I spotted in a used car lot just the other day.  The red one is a V8, and the light silvery blue one is a V6 if I recall correctly, so forget that one.. I could be wrong, but just to be on the safe side, let's assume I'm not.  It’s easy to tell that neither is the Super Coupe because the tail lights have that black paint along the bottom of them, and on a Super Coupe, there’s none of that. 

Who care’s what the silver/blue one costs?  I don’t.  The red one didn’t have a price listed, but some shopping around on the internet reveals that you should be able to buy a decently preserved 1995 example of either a Super Coupe or a V8 Thunderbird for between $3,000-$4,500.  Let’s peg it right at $3,500 and then add on the $3,500 for the body kit. 

I’m quite the fan of working with fiberglass myself, but it’s seldom that I run into others who are, so you might have to tack on a hypothetical $1,000-$3,500 for install.   As a little side note here, the elderly gentleman who ran a boat repair shop on 2nd Avenue in Des Moines, IA and taught me how to really work with fiberglass the summer after I finished grad school died just about a week and a half ago -saw his obituary in the paper, so now there’s one less person in the world who can do fiberglass work.  Anyway, depending on your level of skill with installation of those body panels, we’re between $7,000-10,500 now for our kit car T-bird. 

Now we have to worry about paint.  This can vary greatly depending on where you go and who you know if you’re having somebody else do the paint work for you.. However, if you have a friend who has a paint booth, or you’ve got a garage, a decent air compressor, and a nice spray gun, you could try doing it yourself.  So, let’s just say another $1,000-$3,000 for the paint job if you have somebody else do the work for you.  If you do it yourself, you’re probably looking at spending about $500 at the auto supply store for primer and paint  (assuming you’re going with a two stage paint which is clear coat over the body color).  Throw in another $600 for chrome plating on the grille and bumpers -and that‘s if you chose to chrome them - I would.  That‘s just an estimate based on some chrome work I had done some years ago at a small plating shop, so that‘s not a totally accurate figure, just a guess.. 

Optional now would be getting retro style wheels and tires.  A simple set of chrome-finished smoothie rims will run around $100 per rim, and as long as we’re doing that, we might as well pop for some white wall tires to complete the look for around $200 per tire, so in total, another $1,200 for tires and rims.  Of course, if you’re feeling like a risk taker, there’s a you tube video showing how to use a right angle grinder and an orbital sander to grind off the 1/64 of an inch layer of black rubber on the side of a regular set of tires with raised narrow white wall or raised white letters to make your own white wall tires.  ***Disclaimer: I cannot vouch for the safety of an activity like this, so if you try it and it ends in disaster, don’t blame me.

What does that leave us with?  For the Do It Yourselfers, a ‘49 Ford kit car Thunderbird will cost around $9,300.  If you leave off the chrome plating, the smoothie wheels and the white wall tires that figure changes to $7,500.  A compromise in which the DIYer keeps the chrome and smoothies but makes their own white walls from the tires already on the car brings the cost to $8,500.

But what if you don’t want to do it yourself, and you don’t trust the notion of skimming a layer of rubber off the sidewall of your tires?  Well, the high end of our non-DIY kit car is around $15,300.  Minus the chrome, smoothie rims and the tires, it’s down to $13,500.  Low end estimates (these assume you find somebody to do the installation and paint for cheap) drops the cost to $10,800, or minus the goodies like chrome, smoothies and white walls, an even $9,000. 

I had seen these T-bird kits, but hadn’t seen a completed example in person before last weekend.  I think it would be a lot of fun to build one.  Ranging between a basic $7,500 on up to a bit more than double that, the pricing doesn’t seem all that bad considering what you get, which is an out of the ordinary street rod that has fairly modern (or anyway, a lot more modern than 1950) safety features, independent rear suspension, decent power that still delivers decent fuel economy, and a heck of a conversation piece.  I like this body kit, though I’m partial to the Mercury style grille insert myself. 

A Meeting of the Vals: The 1964 Plymouth Valiant

This past Sunday I went to the Back to the 50’s car show at the state fair grounds.  I had been planning to go on Saturday and spend the day there, but when I returned from my travels on Friday night, I discovered there had been some storm damage to my big maple tree in the backyard.  As a result of that, Saturday was spent with chainsaws, loppers, and tree branches.  Sunday, I slept in a bit and only got up in time to have a few hours to spend at the car show.  That may sound like plenty of time, but when it’s a show as expansive as this one, it’s not. 

There were hundreds  -actually, thousands of fascinating and beautiful automobiles to see at the show.  There was one car though that literally had my name on it. 

Behold, “Val” the 1964 Plymouth Valiant.  As most probably know, Plymouth is no longer with us, having been dissolved several years ago, taking with it the Plymouth Prowler -a retro rod that would have been in its element at a car show like this despite its young age.  It practically broke my dad’s heart when Plymouth was put out to pasture.  He’s always been a Mopar guy, and throughout his younger days, and into his older years, has preferred Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth products.  If only he had held on to the gaggle of Barracudas, Challengers and Chargers he owned back in the 60's and 70's.  My dad never did own a Valiant, but I’m sure he wouldn’t have been opposed to the idea.
 

The Valiant was Plymouth’s attempt at making a compact car.  It was a good attempt… and not a bad car.  They were available for purchase from 1960-1976 in the US.   The most interesting thing about the Valiant is something you can’t see here because the hood isn’t popped.  These cars had an engine called a “slant-6” that we haven’t talked about yet on this blog.  A slant-6 has its cylinders in a straight line in the engine block, but rather than sitting straight upright in the engine bay, the block has a 30 degree tilt to one side, so it sits at a diagonal in the engine bay.  This meant that it took up less vertical space, and the hood could be designed lower.  Ask just about anybody who knows engines, and they’ll tell you that the slant 6 is considered a good, solid design.
 

Because I know this aspect is important to what makes “Val” here so special, I did take the time to hunt down an exposed slant 6 at the show.  It was actually harder than I expected it to be.  Seems some folks aren't particularly proud of them, but they ought to be.  Not everybody needs a rip-snorting V8, after all.  There's something to be said for a happy medium that provides a balance between economy and fun.  I did manage to find one though, bolted into a 1964 Dodge Dart wagon, so I’ve included those pictures here.  In 1964, it was optional to get a 4.5L V8 in a Valiant, but since this one is the base V100, I’m pretty sure that it’s a slant-6 hiding under the hood. 

The slant-6 in this Valiant is a 2.8L with 101HP.  It’s an engine that’s not too hard to work on (just look at all the room you have to move and reach around under the hood!), and not too expensive to fix, and that’s only if or when something needs fixing, because they’re just not all that finicky to begin with.

 A 2nd generation Valiant like this isn’t a bad idea as a starter car for somebody looking to get into a classic and do the wrenching themselves.  The ’64 Valiant is a solid, staunch little American car that’s trustworthy on the road and has got enough power to size ratio to provide a good time. I’d recommend one like this for a fun, mostly headache-free start into classic car ownership -avoid anything British until later, and definitely after you‘ve learned how to work on a car‘s electrical system (a lesson I learned the hard way).
From one Val to another, I give this one a thumbs up!

The Porsche 911 Carrera S and the Golden Mean vs. Crown Vic Taxicab

Recently, I was given the opportunity… no, rather, the PRIVILEGE to get behind the wheel of a brand spankin’ new Porsche 911 Carrera S in bright yellow.  It was a special treat for members of Jean Jenning’s G7 of Jean Knows Cars at the end of a weekend spent testing and evaluating other vehicles in Michigan. 

Jean talked with us about the Porsche, and how it is often considered a “man’s” car, as the majority of its buyers tend to be men.  This was bristling for some of us because the car clearly has feminine lines.  In fact, I believe I compared its form to an odalisque, as for me, it brought to mind the supine figure of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres’ “La Grande Odalesque".  Given that an odalisque is a term for a harem girl/concubine, I suppose it’s not suprising that men would be the ones splashing out big bucks to get inside one… Er, uh.. a Porsche 911, that is.

Seriously though, google up an image of Ingres’ La Grande Odalesque, and really take a close look at the lines, forms, proportion and layout of the image.  The Golden Mean is all over in that painting.

-Side note:  The golden mean is a proportional geometric relationship, the awareness of which dates back centuries in art and mathematics.  It speaks of a sense of aesthetics and some might argue, is the mathematic embodiment of what is pleasing to the human eye in terms of layout and proportion -a very happy medium between what is too much and what is too little in terms of visual satisfaction.  It is represented by the Greek letter, phi, and is found throughout nature, from the form of intricate little flowers, to the nautilus arc of a seashell, to ancient architectural structures, to human form.  It can be quantified mathematically as  1.6180339887499.…  If you’re familiar with the Fibonacci sequence of numbers that can be graphed to form a spiral, then you’re probably already familiar with the golden mean. -

-Back to our Odalisque… The proprtion of the golden mean is throughout the painting, as a whole and divided into parts.  The spiraling arc of the Fibonacci sequence/golden mean can be seen throughout as well.  For example, look at the curve from the small of the Odalique’s back to the nape of her neck, the negative space from the viewer’s right side of her face, arcing down her arm and back up where the curtain in the background meets at where her leg is positioned.  The very folds in the curtain even! 

These same arcing lines that are very near if not exactly conforming to the arc of a Fibonacci spiral can be seen in the Porsche’s form as well.  The curve of the car’s body as it arcs up from the rear bumper to the front of the roof line, the sweeping form of the front bumper rising to give shape to the headlight enclosure and front fender, the rounded curve of those fenders as they wrap from the hood plane of the car down around the sides.  These are all distinctly feminine curves, and this car is unmistakably female.  But people who buy it don’t have to be men… or lesbians.  Everybody can appreciate the impeccable splendor of a form so natural and so deeply engrained in humankind’s sense of shape and contour as well as the very composition of the cosmos.

…But try explaining all that to a 3 year old.  -Enter my little nephew, Lucian.  We’re “Motorcycle Buddies” -meaning that every year, I take him with me to the motorcycle show because the kid is a demon for 2 wheeled transportation… though cars, trains, and construction equipment are all pretty high up on his list of things that are completely fascinating, too. 

Lucian likes to hand me one of his Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars and ask me to tell him about what kind of car it is and any interesting stuff I know about the make and model of it. So far, his favorite is the Saleen S7 (I used to sell Saleens, though I never sold an S7 Supercar).  Anyway, I was telling him about driving the Porsche and showed him a picture of it on my phone.  He gasped and his eyes lit up like he had just seen the coolest car since the Saleen S7.  He turned to me and said “Aunt Val, they let you drive a taxi?!!!”  I was dumbfounded for a second.  It had never occurred to me that a car like the Porsche 911 could ever be equated with a taxicab, but apparently,  that bright yellow paint screamed something quite distinct to my little nephew.  I suppose it’s not surprising to hear something like that from the same kid who was riding in the car, saw the Minneapolis bike cops pedaling along, got all concerned, and said “Oh no!  Did somebody steal their police car?”  This kid cracks me up. What else could I really say but “Yep, your auntie Val did get to drive that taxi, and it was fun!”

So, for my nephew’s edification, here’s a quick comparison of the Porsche 911 Carerra S to a typical metro area taxi -though to even things up, we‘re going to pull specs from a the most recently available Crown Vic interceptor:

The Porsche 911 Carrera S is a rear engine, rear wheel drive car.  The retired/repurposed police interceptor Ford Crown Victoria taxicab is a front engine, rear wheel drive car.  So they’ve got at least one thing in common.

The Porsche features a 3.8L 6 cylinder (boxer layout -horizontally opposed) that makes 400 HP.  It has a top speed of 188 MPH and can go from 0-60 MPH in 4.3 seconds.  The Crown Victoria, in contrast, has a 4.6L V8 under its hood and could put out 250 HP and was designed to safely handle at 150 MPH, though most had a programmed speed limitation of 120 MPH.  The Crown Vic can go from 0-60 MPH in 8.75 seconds. 

In terms of the cost, a Crown Vic interceptor would have rung up around $25,000 brand new, but it wasn’t sold directly to the public.  The public could get one 2nd hand  when municipalities were done with them, and those prices could vary depending on the condition and mileage of the vehicle.  One kind of cost saving measure was that the 2009-2011 Crown Vics were flex fuel vehicles, meaning they could run on E85 (ethanol) fuel… though in the long run, that fuel could end up costing the car owner lots of money given how corrosive it can be, even to systems that have been designed to use it.   
The Porsche 911 Carrera S has a price point of just under $100,000... Um, ouch!  The good news is that you don’t have to be a government agency in order to be allowed to buy a brand new one, so there‘s that. 

Aside from price, there is one area where the Crown Vic has the Porsche beat, and that’s cargo capacity.  The Porsche has a trunk volume listed of between 4.7-5.1 cubic feet on Porsche’s web site -and keep in mind, that trunk is in the front of the car because the engine is in the rear.. Not that you can see much of that, either when the cover is up.  The Crown Vic more than quadruples the Porsche in this category, offering 20.6 cubic feet of cargo capacity.  Overall interior space for the Crown Vic is 128 cubic feet.. I can’t find anywhere what the Porsche’s specs are on this, but rest assured, it’s less than 128 cu ft. 

Yes, the Porsche is one fine taxi  -provided you don’t have much luggage to haul around -or more than one passenger.  It is a 2+2 layout, but that “+2” has about the same amount of usefulness as the “+2” that my MG has, which is to say, you can fit a duffle bag or two in the back seat.. Or a person or two if they happen to be the same shape and size of a small to medium duffle bag.  Well, whatever.  As things are in the status quo, I have zero interest in driving a taxi for a living… However, if a cab company that featured only Porsche 911’s as their fleet cars opened for business tomorrow, I’d certainly apply to be one of their drivers.  So, take that for what it’s worth. 

Dodge Dakota Sport Convertible Truck

Today’s vehicle comes to us from the saddest car show I’ve ever been to.  The weekend before last, I traveled down to Iowa to visit my parents.  While there, the town my parents moved to was having a festival, and part of that celebration was a car show that was to take place along the main drag.  Unfortunately, nasty weather conditions were looming on the horizon, and so, many of the show’s participants chose to back out and keep their cars tucked safely away in their garages.  The result of this was a car show consisting of 7 cars -later, an 8th showed up, but when I was there taking photos, there were only 7.  The usual suspects were there at the show, including a highly modified classic car, some beautifully preserved oldies, a polished restoration, and a couple of mostly in tact and complete examples of old but not particularly interesting automobiles.  Then there was today’s car, which I actually spotted and photographed while shopping around town prior to the car show.  When I first spotted it earlier in the day, I had an inking it would show up at the show given how rarely I see one of these things.

Today’s car is a Dodge Dakota Sport convertible pickup truck.  Years before Chevy tried to make a go of the notion of convertible trucks with their expensive toy, the SSR retractable hard top truck, Dodge provided some fun in the somewhat practical sun with an inexpensive and not particularly well executed convertible version of their little Dakota truck.  These little buggers hit the market in 1989 and only stuck around for one year after that.  Not many were made because not many were sold.  In its last year of production, I believe there were just barely over 1,000 sold. 

This truck is one of those things, the existence of which is chalked up to the notion of “it seemed like a good idea at the time”.  Dodge had noticed that a lot of people who bought pickup trucks were using them for leisure activities rather than hard work like hauling and towing.  Seeing an opportunity to capitalize on the leisurely truck buyer, they devised a plan to bring a convertible Dakota to market.  After all, what could be more leisurely than a convertible?  Well, a golf cart, maybe, but in terms of an actual street legal automobile, convertible is the answer we’re looking for here. 

The Dakota Sport convertible came to market with a price point of around $13,500 for a 4x2 , and $15,500 for a 4x4 version.  Those prices could swell by a couple thousand dollars depending on options that were included in the deal.  There were a couple of engine options offered during production: a 3.9L V6 that stirred up a measly (by today’s standards, but I think by 1990 standards as well) 125 HP and 195 lb ft of torque, and a 2.5L 4 cylinder with 117 HP and 139 lb ft of torque and could be had with a 5 speed manual transmission.  You could have one in your choice of 3 colors: red, white, or black, all decked out with tape graphics like you see on the one pictured here.  The truck came with a built in roll bar and the drop top was manually operated.  The 15” rims are nothing too special, but tires ought not to be too expensive when it comes time to buy new ones. 

The truck shown here bears decals that indicate it’s a 4x4 with a V6 under its hood.  If I were to search out one of these trucks though, I’d  set my sights on the 4 cylinder 4x2 with manual transmission.  It’s a convertible truck, and I’d probably only use it in summertime, so the 4x4 wouldn’t mean much to me, but the fuel economy would.  Both engines are pretty anemic, but at least the 4 cylinder has the excuse of being a little four-banger.    

These trucks were rare to begin with, and over the course of the past 13 years, one has to imagine that at least a few have been totaled, so who knows how many remain.  Some were used for both leisure and function and may not be very well preserved -in fact, this one wasn’t in anything near showroom condition.  Finding one of these trucks that has been kept and maintained in near new condition would be a rare thing. 

It’s not a particularly good truck, nor is it a particularly good convertible.  The only thing the Dakota Sport convertible really has going for it is the fact that it was a flash in the pan back in 1989-1990, and it has always been and always will be an uncommon sight.  It’s one of those rare birds that went the way of the dodo for good and practical reasons.  But even dodos can be interesting.  If one found a nice specimen for a low price, it would make an interesting addition to a car collection.

Cougars On The Prowl Part III: The 1995 Mercury Cougar XR-7 Bostonian

We started off the Cougar countdown with the first generation, 1967 Cougar, and followed it up with a 2nd generation 1973 model.  Now we’re going to skip ahead to the 7th generation Cougar (1989-97) and take a look at a 1995 Mercury Cougar that I spotted lounging about in the fresh trade row of a local car dealership.  Before we meet bachelorette #3, lets take some time to explore what was happening in Cougar land between the early 70’s and the mid 90’s. 

We know that the first and second generation Cougars were fraternal (albeit more refined) twins of the Ford Mustang.  The 3rd generation Cougar severed that relationship and used the Ford Torino/Mercury Montego platform as its basis.  I know it doesn’t quite match up with our timeline here, because the 3rd generation Cougar started with 1974, but to give you a visual, here are some pictures that I just happen to have from owning the car of a Mercury Montego from 1972 . 

...So there's my big ol' Montego next to my Mustang for ya.

Jump ahead to the 4th generation Cougar, and we find that yet another rift has taken place in the family.. The 1977-79  Cougar shed some of the girth it gained from its Torino/Montego days and shared its platform with the Ford Thunderbird. 

Fifth Generation Cougars (1980-82) represented another passing of the Cougar to a new platform.  This time, the Cougar was based on the Ford Fairmont/Mercury Zephyr platform (confusing a bit here because Zephyr is also a Lincoln that has since been renamed the “MKZ”, but is essentially an upfitted and fancy-pants Ford Fusion.. This renaming to alphabetical designations lunacy was done in a fit of wannabeism on Lincoln’s part while the company was trying to mimic the naming practices of import luxury cars -oh, but I’ll spare you the Lincoln rant once again).  But it’s not like the Thunderbird tie was totally severed.. The Fox platform was one shared by all four cars.

The Sixth generation Cougar maintained its common bond with big sis, the Thunderbird, and Mercury did away with some of the craziness that had been happening in the previously mentioned generations -like offering the Cougar as a bloody station wagon!  Cougars are not grocery-getters.  Back to being more like the 67, offered only in coupe form, these Cougars had some unique styling that included odd, triangular shaped rear quarter windows that cut upward at a diagonal toward the roofline from the lower rear corner where it met with the door glass, and a pretty severe notchback roofline.  I have a distinct childhood memory from the early 1980’s of seeing one of these Cougars in red parked in the Pamida parking lot with a lady sitting in it with the window rolled down.  She was smoking a cigarette and ashing it against the side view mirror mount as she dangled her arm out the window.  I recall she had really big hair and was wearing big sunglasses to match.  In retrospect, I realize now that what I was seeing was the quintessential 1980’s Cougar… both the car and its driver.  At the time, I was most struck and fascinated by the odd design of that rear quarter glass, though.  I wish I had spied one of these cars to show you, but alas, I do not have the photo.

This brings us at last to the 7th generation Cougar (1989-1997).  Still twins with the Thunderbird… and here she is.

Okay, for being considerably younger than her cougar sisters that were featured previously, this one is looking rather battered.  Looks like she’s packed some rough living into her time.  Even though age-wise, she’s only 18, those years have not been kind, and she’s definitely looking worse for wear.  But before we dismiss this Cougar as one whose been ridden hard and put away wet a few too many times, let’s take some time to explore what she’s got to offer. 

All cougars (up to and including this generation, anyway) are rear wheel drive cars, but what none of them had before this generation is an independent rear suspension -something even a brand new Mustang doesn’t have to this day!  This Cougar could be had with a 4.6L V8 that whipped up 210 HP, which wasn‘t too shabby for ‘95..   Also kind of a big deal at the time was the inclusion of anti-lock brakes and an adjustable sport tuned suspension.  In terms of function, this was perhaps the best equipped Cougar of all, though not the most powerful or prettiest. 

You may have noticed the Landau top on this Cougar.  Well, keep in mind that after the 2nd generation, Cougars became less about being somewhat refined pony cars and started to define the name as a “personal luxury car”.  To some, a vinyl top epitomizes the notion of a elegance… to others, it just looks cheesy and sleazy…  to each their own, I guess. 

This is a Mercury Cougar XR-7, but it’s also wearing another badge.  That emblem tells us this is a “Bostonian” edition Cougar.  All that means is that Mercury cooked up a marketing ploy to sell their cars with special, geographically named packages in the hope that people who perhaps liked Boston, but felt ambivalent about Cougars would find it in their hearts to buy a Cougar anyway.  Usually, Cougars with these special geographic appearance packages were offered for sale in relative close proximity to the areas their badges denote, so there's probably a story somewhere in this car's history of how it came to Minnesota from the Boston area.  

When I was in high school, my family had a next door neighbor from Boston; a guy named Norbert -or, as he pronounced it, "Noahhhbut".. or sometimes, just "NoaahB".  He used to pal around with my dad a lot, and would come to the door saying "I'm he-ahhh ta twolk ta tha Boahhss", and by "boss", I think he meant my dad, though around our house, my mom was the one in charge.  So when I asked "you mean, my mom?" he gave me this really confused look and said "You know who I mean."  ...But I digress.  If this Bostonian Cougar could talk, she'd probably tell us that she "pahtied to haahd back in tha day".  I've always been fascinated by the notion of inanimate objects absorbing memory or some type of signature of the times and events they were part of or present for, and I think cars would probably have the most fascinating stories to tell if inanimate witnesses and participants could only speak.  I bet this Cougar would have a thing or two to say about how it washed up in the fresh trade row looking like this. 

In addition to the Bostonian, there was also a Coloradan, a San Antonian, a Houstonian, and a Pittsburgh -they didn’t even try to stick an “ian” on the end of that one.  Not really a whole lotta love for the central states, is there?  Note the distinct lack of an “Iowanian”, an “Omahaian”, a “St Paulian” or a “Sheboyganian” appearance package.  Costal elitism rears its ugly head once again, it seems.  Boston gets a Landau top, special badges, pin striping and faux-chrome appliqués,  and the Midwest can’t even get a hood ornament or a decorative door sill insert  to show for our existence?  …Mope and pout! 

But enough feeling sorry for ourselves in the Midwest.  If this is what a Bostonian package looks like, do we really want to see what a “Des Moinesian” package would feature?  Lets not get hung up on the principal of this thing, because perhaps the automotive snub is actually for the best.  As Cougars go, this one -even if it were in showroom condition, is not what I consider a beautiful car, particularly when compared to her older sisters we met in the past couple days. In the 95’s defense, it had some great mechanical features for its time.  Sadly, this young Cougar is probably already cycling through the auto auction limbo with a good chance she’ll end up at the crusher.  If, however, one could lay hands on a similar year Cougar XR-7 that’s not dressed up in a vinyl top and silly looking chrome strips, one would be in possession of a great starting point for building a street sleeper that nobody would see coming.  An engine swap and some upgrades would result in a creature car that, like a real Cougar, could sneak up on and take down its prey before they even sense the threat.       

Cougars On The Prowl Part II: The 1973 Mercury Cougar

Yesterday, we met the 1967 Mercury Cougar.  Today, we’re going to get acquainted with her younger sister: the 1973 Mercury Cougar XR-7 convertible.  This particular one is sitting in the showroom at Ellingson Classic Cars as I write this (I just love that place, and if you’re ever in Rogers, MN, you should stop by and give them a look). 

This old gal is not so old as cougars go, but her model year does put her right at the 40 year mark, so she’s prime Cougar material.  She’s not quite as demure as her older sis, the 1967 2 door hard top.  This one has exposed headlamps, and likes sunbathe topless, and is in fact an example of the last year that Mercury offered the Cougar as a convertible.  She’s one of just over 3,000 XR-7 convertibles built that year, and one of God only knows how many surviving examples, so this lady is pretty unique.  Back in 1973, she was a fairly inexpensive date, too, with prices on a Cougar ranging anywhere from around $3,700 on up to just over $4,000 depending on options. 

This Cougar has a 351 cu in (5.7L) Cleveland 2 barrel V8 that scratches up 163 HP, an automatic transmission, black vinyl interior, Candy Apple Red paint, and only 47,300 miles clocked on her odometer.  She’s lived a pampered life, it would seem, and she deserves to. 

The following model year, things changed drastically for the Cougar family, and the Cougar could no longer count the Ford Mustang as her twin.  This one maintains that bond, though, and I would venture to offer my opinion here that even though two years prior to this marks the end of the high performance Cougar available via the “Eliminator” package (sometimes called the GT-E, it could be had with a 428 cu in Cobra Jet engine that roared out 410 HP!) , 1973 was the last year that Cougars were really cool.  It was after 1973 that Mercury started to try to shift away from the balance the of Pony car and Euro-styled Luxury that the Cougar had represented to a kind of sleazy, underpowered semi luxury car.  Between this one and the ’67 from yesterday, I’d prefer the 67, myself, but to take either one out on the road would be a blast.   

Cougars On The Prowl!

For the next couple days, we are going to be having a coffee klatch, or perhaps meeting up for cocktails with a trio of old gals who may or may not be past their prime, but they’re still pretty cool.  I present to you, the Mercury Cougar. 

Cougar is a name plate that probably won’t be revived anytime soon.  First, because Mercury is no longer, having gone the way of Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Saturn just recently.  Mercury is a nameplate that used to be in the Ford family.  My mother was a fan of the brand and owned several Mercs throughout the years.  My dad used to always say “A Mercury is a Ford with the bolts tightened”.  I don’t know about the bolt thing, but in recent decades anyway, a Mercury was a Ford with slightly different styling.  Perhaps what killed off the brand was that very thing.  It had become superfluous to have a lineup of cars that were just rebadged versions of vehicles that already existed.  It’s kind of what Ford is doing now with Lincoln, only the distinction there is that Lincolns have some functional and comfort upgrades that Fords don’t, and they’re offered with larger and more powerful engine options than their Ford counterparts.  I have a whole rant/“this is what would happen if I was in charge” spiel about the Lincoln brand name, but that’s for another post, I suppose. 

Mercury though…  A few years ago when rumors of dissolving Mercury were swirling about, I had kind of hoped that Ford would shift the brand name to a new function as their Hybrid/alternative fuel and technologies division/nameplate.  That didn’t happen.  You know who did do that very thing though?  Toyota -they totally stole my idea!  Prius is no longer just a model designation under the Toyota brand.  It’s an entire lineup of hybrids, like its own brand now.  Granted, Prius was not about to go under, and the shift was made from a position of power rather than desperation, but I think that strategy may have worked out for Mercury.  And anyway, it’s always sad to say goodbye to cars with names that are actual, real words, and not some made up crap that some marketing firm had to pull out of thin air because everything else was already licensed and trademarked.  Well, I’m just a peon who likes cars but isn’t actually part of the industry any longer.  Nobody is going to ask my opinion on the matter, so it is what it is.. Which is to say that it’s not -Mercury is gone.

But even if Mercury was still around, I don’t think we’d be seeing a car called the Cougar these days.  Cougar, which actually used to be what would spring to mind when Mercury was mentioned (in fact, ads for these cars used to feature beautiful models walking around with pumas on leashes -one has to wonder if anybody was mauled while promoting this car) has taken on a meaning that is different from a fierce and nimble mountain lion. 

Nowadays, “cougar” is a term that one uses to signify an older woman on the prowl for younger men.  Here’s what the Urban Dictionary has to say about it:  “A cougar… will not play the usual games that women in their early 20’s participate in.  End state, she will be going for the kill… associated with MILFS”  and “The cougar can frequently be seen in a padded bra, cleavage exposed, propped up against a swanky bar, waiting, watching, calculating, gearing up to sink her claws into an innocent, young, and strapping buck.”  So, a cougar is a sexually experienced older woman who unapologetically takes what she wants for herself.  Doesn’t sound too bad to be a cougar if you ask me.  Still, the connotations would limit the car’s appeal, so for the time being, the cougar badge is kaput.  That said, lets meet one of the ladies.

First up, we have one of the first generation Cougars.  This one has a white vinyl hard top, and it used to be at Ellingson Classic Cars, but it’s not there any longer, so she must have found her young buck and run off with him.  The outward appearance of this Cougar tells us that it dates back to somewhere between 1967-70, so she’s between 43-46 years old… Actually, this is most likely a 1967 judging from the front fascia, so 46 is more accurate.  This is a higher end Cougar than just the base model.  This old gal is an XR-7. 

This generation didn’t believe a lady ought to drop her top for just anybody, so she and her sisters were only available as 2 door hard tops (this is essentially a coupe, but the hardtop designation tells you that there’s no B pillar running from the floor of the car to the roof behind the front passengers).  Also, there’s a pretty steep slope from the top rear of the roof line to the trunk line, so this style of roofline is called a “Notchback”, though there are certainly more severe examples of notchbacks to be seen in the automotive world, and even in the Cougar as it aged.

This Cougar had a twin brother called the Ford Mustang, and she borrowed some of her outfits (styling cues) from their older sibling, the Ford Thunderbird.  Thus, the Cougar represented an elegant interpretation of the Pony car craze.  There was an effort to give the Cougar some European flare, as well as some stylish appeal.  So, in an XR-7 model, you’re going to see things like wood appliqué incorporated in the dash, gauges in the place of dummy lights, and toggle switches like what you would have seen in a Jaguar of the day.   Throw in those cool sequential tail lights (a trick she learned from big sis, the T-bird), and concealed headlamps (she may be a Cougar, but she’s modest), and the look is complete.  Brand new back in 1967, I’d guess one could be had for right around $3,500.

If this car were to flash her goodies at us, we’d see one of three things under her hood: a  4.7L  (289 cu in) V8 with a 2 barrel carburetor that whips out 200 HP, the same engine with the addition of a 4 barrel carburetor and dual exhaust system changed the game to 225 HP and was called a “Super 289”, or a 4 barrel big block 6.4L (390 cu in) V8 with 320 HP available as part of a GT performance package.  This engine was used in other Merc products and was called the Maurader 390 GT (if you’ve been keeping up on your reading, you may remember mention of a Mercury Marauder in the post about the Lincoln LS deal, BTW). 

Since this one is a XR-7, we know that it has at least the Super 289 under its skirt, so this kitty likes to scratch.  My photos are rather crappy, so it’s hard to see the badges on the car, but that little metallic thing that you can see on the C pillar of the white vinyl top is going to be an XR-7 badge.  I don’t see anything that looks like a GT badge -which would be on the fenders right behind the wheel wells, so I think this gal is packin’ a Super 289 rather than the big guns.  Still, back in her day, and heck, even today, she’s got plenty of power to give her driver some thrills, and unlike her more uncouth brother, the ‘67 Mustang, this Cougar can be a lady about it.  She came with a suspension adjusted for a smoother fling, and extra sound-deadening material to make for a soft purr instead of a roar inside the passenger compartment.  The ‘67 cougar was a slick car, and these days, harder to find than a Mustang of the same era. 

Say what you want about Cougars, the cars or the people, but I’ll say this: I’m not technically in the appropriate age range to be a cougar, but hells bells, I’d love to drive one! 

Brake Job

For today, we have a step by step posting for those of you who like to, or would like to work on your own cars or just want to save money by doing it yourselves  Now, keep in mind, I am not a professional mechanic, so if you try any of this at home or elsewhere for that matter and it blows up in your face, I am not liable for any damages or injury that may occur.  This posting is documentation of my own work on my own car, and if somebody happens to find something useful or helpful, well then, hooray for them.

So, I’ve been using my Mustang less and less this spring.  I prefer not to take it out in nasty weather.  Here in Minnesota, we haven’t really had much nice spring weather, and if there’s even a chance of hail or sleet, I take steps to leave the car in its sheltered little garage sanctuary.  So, when I noticed a slight grinding sound from my brakes when I first would start out from the driveway, I figured it was probably some rust that had formed on the brake rotors.  Still, when it comes to the mechanism that helps you stop or slow down, you really ought not to take any chances.  Besides, I figured this might make a nice posting, and there was a little something I wanted to do anyway, so I decided it was time to do some brake work.

Let’s visit our brakes.  Here’s where they live -behind the wheels. 

A car’s front brakes handle the majority of the slowing and stopping work, so they’re significantly larger and more powerful than rear brakes and will also wear out sooner than rear brakes. 

Before we do any heavy lifting, it’s a good idea to loosen the lug nuts that keep your wheels from flying off while driving.  In this photo, I’m just putting a socket on the locking lug nut (a set of these are a good idea if you value your rims at all), but usually you’d use a tire iron to do this.  Most cars come with one that you can use if you don’t have a lot of tools.

Now that the lug nuts are loose, lets jack up the end of the car we’re working on.  Ideally, you should position jack stands in place on each side rather than just using the jack to suspend the car.  I did this while traveling to visit my folks and forgot to pack my jack stands, so that’s why you won’t see any in this posting.  Since I’m not going to be underneath the car at all, it’s really not a big deal, but if you ever are doing work that requires you to get under the car then definitely use jack stands.


Lets get that wheel off, shall we?  

What do we have here?  This is a disc brake.  Well, that round thing that looks kind of like a record is called a rotor.  That thing stuck to the right side of the rotor is the caliper.  The caliper wraps around both the front and back side of the rotor and contains a piston or two (in this case, two) that push against some little slabs of tough, hard compound that can be made from ceramics, metal, or if you want to go all hippy dippy about it, even crushed walnut shells -years ago, asbestos was also a component, but that‘s just no good for people, so it‘s no longer available -anyway, these slabs are called brake pads, and there is one on each side of the rotor.  If you are replacing your brake pads, try to get ceramic ones.  They work better and create less brake dust than other varieties.

 What happens with disc brakes is that when you push on the brake pedal, the pistons push against the brake pads, which in turn squeeze the rotor.  The rotor is attached to the same lug studs as the wheel, so when the rotor slows, so does the wheel, and so does the car.  If more illustration is needed, take a compact disc, and put your index finger through the hole in the center then spin it around.  With your other hand, make a “C” shape with your thumb and index finger and put them on either side of the spinning disc.  Then squeeze them together.  This will cause the disc to stop spinning.  That’s how disc brakes work.

Now that we know all that, take a flat head screwdriver and use it to pry the brake pads back from the rotor a bit. Don’t wedge it between the rotor and the pad, but angle it so it’s against the steel base part of the pad rather than the braking compound area, then pressure it back just a bit.  This will make it easier to pull the caliper off.

Before we remove the caliper, we’re going to loosen the bolt that holds the brake line to the caliper.  This is located on the bottom side of the caliper.  Be gentle with this bolt.  It’s hollow, and if you manage to break it, you’re screwed until you get a new one.  You should get some type of container to collect the brake fluid that’s going to seep out.  I dug a Diet Coke bottle out of the recycling bin and chopped the top off for this purpose.  You will probably even want to get a second container to collect the brake fluid that’s inside the caliper, too.  I've placed the second picture here because it's showing you the brake line draining into my Diet Coke container.

Now the caliper.  It’s held in place with a bolt at the top and bottom on the back side of the rotor.  Use a ratchet or a box end wrench to unbolt both. 

You may have to wiggle it a bit, but the caliper should pull free. 

Now that the caliper is off, let’s make sure the fluid is drained from it.

Remove the brake pads -it’s not too hard, just wiggle it a bit if needed.  * While we’re at it, lets take a quick look at our brake pads.  In this case, these pads are still in great shape with plenty of thickness left for braking, so they don’t need to be replaced. 

It’s easy to get new brake pads though.  An auto parts store should have a variety to choose from.  I prefer a ceramic compound that is better at transferring heat to keep your brakes from fading out on you.

Check the rotor, too.  Run your finger across the surface of the rotor on both the front and back side.  It should feel smooth on the surface area where the pad has contact with the rotor (the shiny area).  If you feel ridges, you should pull the rotor off (which isn’t too hard now that you’ve removed the wheel and the caliper -we didn’t take off the caliper frame that holds the brake pads, but if we needed to take off the rotor, we would remove it.  Anyway, before you spring for new rotors (also available at the auto parts store), you can see if you can get the rotor machined or ground down so it’s smooth again -often times, the auto parts store can do this or recommend somebody who can if you don‘t know anybody whose good for that job.  If the rotor thickness is too thin, then you’ll have to buy a new one though. 

What comes off the car eventually has to go back on.  To make that task easier, snug one of the brake pads against the pistons and then put a C clamp on it and crank it down until the pistons are pushed back inside the caliper.

As long as we have the caliper off, I think we should spiff things up a bit.  Just so happens that I have a can of caliper paint.  Guess what that’s for!

We’re going to paint those calipers bright red, because why not?  I’ve found that reasoning works well to justify a lot of things I do, actually.  So, plug up any ports and areas where bolts are meant to go, and mask off any rubber parts and the pistons.

Then spray away.

Before too long, you’ll have cherry red calipers to show for the effort -the auto parts store also had black and silver caliper paint, but silver was too close to what color the calipers already were, and black paint didn’t seem like it would pop the way I wanted it to.  Decision via process of elimination, then.

 

We already took the pads off and had a good look at them, they won’t be due for replacement for a long time, so now it’s time to put them back on.  Since they’re identical, I decided to flip flop them front to back, because, why not?  I think of it like rotating tires, though this isn’t typically done.  I just felt like doing it. 

And just look at that shiny red caliper!  Lets put it back on already.  Remember those two bolts we removed earlier?  Time to figure out where we stashed those and put them back in place. 

It would probably be good if we reconnected that brake line, don’t you think?  Remember, that bolt is hollow, so get it on there snug, but don’t torque it too tight, or it could break.

Would you look at that!  Almost all back together!

Don’t think we’re done just yet.  There’s still a matter of all that brake fluid that we drained from the calipers and the brake line, and all the air that’s occupying the space where it used to be.  Now it’s time to pretend we’re medieval barbers and bleed this system!  Hope you’ve got a friend to help you with this, or it’s a big pain. 

First, remove the rubber cover from the brake bleeder.

Have your friend get inside the car and wait for your signal.  When you tell them to, they’ll need to push the brake pedal all the way to the floor, then release and do that over and over again. 

Start at the brake that’s the farthest distance from the brake fluid reservoir. This picture above is a shot of the brake fluid resevoir... it's that small white tub with the back cap.  The cap usually contains helpful info about what kind of brake fluid to use, so make sure you figure that out before you dump just any old fluid into that reservoir.

Use a wrench to loosen the bleeder, then have your buddy push the pedal to the floor.  Tighten the bleeder and have them let up on the pedal, then loosen and have them push to the floor, tighten and have them release.  Repeat until you get brake fluid coming out of the bleeder valve instead of air. 

You’ll need to keep topping off your brake fluid reservoir as you do this.  Check it periodically while you're bleeding the system. Like I said before, make sure you’re using the correct type of brake fluid for your vehicle.

Do the same steps for bleeding the other brakes, then check again at the first brake you started at just to be thorough, because, why not?  Make sure the reservoir is topped off, put the lid back on, and close the hood of the car. 

Bolt the wheels back on the car, lower the car back to the ground, and you’re done. 

Remember that anytime you take the wheels off your car, or even just one wheel, you need to torque those lug nuts again after driving the vehicle for about 50 miles.  This is an important step that could be disastrous if skipped. By that, I mean, your wheel could go running off without the rest of your car while you’re driving.  So, take the time to tighten those lug nuts.