428CJ Elim.

[BOSSGTE]

Many phone calls were made and emails and pictures exchanged with the Cougar Eliminator experts, to make sure this car was restored to as close to original as possible.

That is a big statement above. It is a very nice Eliminator for chrome and paint, I like it, but which Eliminator Expert recommended the stripe placement (low in rear), the snorkle, the thermactor, the heat shield/S tube, the power steering pump, the inside rear view mirror, the PVC piping, the no-H-pipe muffler shop exhaust system, the coil, the oil cap, the vacuum line routing, the repo export brace, the missing horns, the lanyard anchoring, the pop riveted door tag, the repo floors, the repo seat covers (I hope I am wrong on this), the repo door sills, the repo trunk mat and the repo carpet? And I'm going to assume the experts got the right Carter X fuel pump, C9 Holley carburetor auto choke, CJ-R transmission with cast iron tail housing, 31-spline N-case rear with 3.50s, 428 CJ engine date correct, power steering cooler, C8 cooling fan clutch, heater motor shield...

[jsv]

To be honest I love it when people share their cars with us. Don't look at it as picking the car apart. If the owner were to read the comments posted here, he might get more for the vehicle. We are actually being rather helpful, I think. If one of my cougars were for sale and I wanted to get top dollar, I would be glad for the help.

[428coog]

Amen, and to think, the 69 Eliminators never came with the running cat gas door, only the 70's did. Most people on this forum dont have clue. Consider the source!!!

[jcbingcougar]

Most people on this forum dont have clue. Consider the source!!!

That's quite a statement. Who are you?

[dmac]

If you consider this kind of input to the seller help, ah, I dont want your help. Help a buyer maybe. If guys are not being picky, wow I hate to see what picky is. As in the post up above, Id be afraid to post pics of a few of my rides. If your going to try and do an E-cat, they came with hood pins! I know everyones is entitled to an opinion, but this guy didnt post his pics here, we took them from ebay and started shreddin. I dont get it, this guy doest have the proper shade of silver under the hood, but should omit the hoodpins! I dont know if it worth the money, but to say thats not and some rusted hulk is worth 40+ because its a GT-E or whatever, Im confused or just partial to 69-70's. Thats it, I'm done, Thanks.

[428coog]

James Lanford
owner Ford Specialties, Houston Tx
www.fordspecialties.com
Remember, MOST, not all, of the guys on this forum-the same guys that own several top end Cougars, usually hire a guy like me to do the restoration. 713-464-8704 ask for James Mon-Fri 10-7 cst. Who are you?

[Larry Whitaker]

If you consider this kind of input to the seller help, ah, I dont want your help. Help a buyer maybe. If guys are not being picky, wow I hate to see what picky is. As in the post up above, Id be afraid to post pics of a few of my rides. If your going to try and do an E-cat, they came with hood pins! I know everyones is entitled to an opinion, but this guy didnt post his pics here, we took them from ebay and started shreddin. I dont get it, this guy doest have the proper shade of silver under the hood, but should omit the hoodpins! I dont know if it worth the money, but to say thats not and some rusted hulk is worth 40+ because its a GT-E or whatever, Im confused or just partial to 69-70's. Thats it, I'm done, Thanks.

No one said anything negative about the pins except for me. I'm no expert. I'm just a dumb meat cutter in California. They're probably correct and most people here will like that.
I don't know anything about hood lock pins except that I don't like the way they look. I'm one guy with one opinion. Guess what? I don't like scoops, stripes or spoilers either. I also don't like yellow for a color on a Cougar. I only like two things about that car. 1 the 428 & 2 the condition.
I like Cougars and this is an interesting one even if it's not one I'd like to have.
If it was my car, and I had the money, I'd get rid of the scoop, stripes, spoilers, pins, change the color and then add AC

[BOSSGTE]

I am here to learn and share information about Cougars. I'm nuts about them. So, with that in mind:I thought Eliminators did not come standard with hood pins, they were a $7.80 option over the Eliminator package.

[69428SCJ]

Yes, hood pins were an option, my car also happens to have them. I was mainly referencing posts 8-10. Here's where I'm coming from. My car is just as clean if not more clean than his. I've spent thousands of dollars on rechroming and making sure everything is "show quality". My engine has aluminum edelbrock 427 medium-riser heads with a streetmaster intake a Mighty Demon Carb (hiding under a repro raim-air fliter MINUS snorkel et al). No Thermactor anything on the engine and I'm running an MSD ignition and distributor. I had to replace the comfortweave because the windows had been left down for quite sometime, new carpet, headliner and (gasp) sail panels! My car came with hood pins from the factory and thankfully I have my external oil cooler and all it's parts. What I don't have is stickers everywhere. I have restored my car to as close to it was (minus some engine parts) when my dad was the original owner. I have taken some creative license while creating my vision of the car and it seems to me that it is the opinion of some here that if our cars aren't 100% concours then they're not worth top dollar? Do we forget that the stripes were put on BY HAND at the factory by a person, that lends itself to natural variances in placement of the stripes. OMG teh str1p3s rn't str8t!!1!!one! Seriously.....

I understand that a car is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it so appraising a car is relative. I stand by my position though, I have spoken with the owner of this car, and not withstanding "blatant" flaws of this car...I firmly believe that his BIN is well within the appropriate price range for this particular car.

[68PUMA]

I thought Eliminators did not come standard with hood pins, they were a $7.80 option over the Eliminator package.

I don't know if you have this book called Mercury Muscle Cars by David Newhardt but on page 84 & 85 there is a picture of a '69 Elim. with the hood closed and another picture with the hood open and it doesn't have hood pins on it.

[BOSSGTE]

I don't know if you have this book called Mercury Muscle Cars by David Newhardt but on page 84 & 85 there is a picture of a '69 Elim. with the hood closed and another picture with the hood open and it doesn't have hood pins on it.

I know, they were an option...

[1969XR7Vert]

I prefer the '70 Mach 1 style.

Me too Dave. I have considered very seriously putting a set on my ECI resto's hood. What do you think?

[1969XR7Vert]

Wow guys...and because of comments that have posted in this thread I don't post any pics of mine. I corresponded with the seller many times when he previously listed this car, he shared pics of the restoration with me and I can tell you that he had a VERY thorough restoration, almost to the point of over-restoration.

My car has been appraised for more than his BIN price and is far from stock or even remotely concours which tells me if you're tearing his apart, you'd really lay into mine. I love you guys to death, but when you get so nit picky about the tiniest of details, it really makes me not want to share my pride and joy with everyone here.

When a car is for sale, and for that kind of money, the discussion is very fair. And beyond that, correct is correct and that is the spirit here, not "I won't post pictures here because you guys might make comments that will hurt my feelings".

I do not have a rare car, I had a nightmare I worked through over 5 years time. If I took your attitude I would have needed to cancel my membership to this board for fear of "the comments". This board and my experience through my lunacy on my quest has actually enhanced my life, and much of it involved people looking at me/commenting like this:

I have come to enjoy it actually!

Regards,

Bob

[Al Bundy]

I haven't been a member of this forum for very long, but I spend a lot of time here. I haven't seen anyone post pictures of their car and be criticized for their efforts. I've only seen positive comments.

On the other hand, when you put a car out there for sale with a big price tag and tell everyone how great it is, you should be prepared to get some criticism about the things that aren't right.

JMHO

[jcbingcougar]

James Lanford
owner Ford Specialties, Houston Tx
www.fordspecialties.com
Remember, MOST, not all, of the guys on this forum-the same guys that own several top end Cougars, usually hire a guy like me to do the restoration. 713-464-8704 ask for James Mon-Fri 10-7 cst. Who are you?

Thanks for introducing yourself Mr. Lanford. You can see who I am in the signature of each of my posts. A piece of advice: If you intend to be a contributing member with the expectation that other members will take you seriously, it would be wise to at least exchange a few pleasantries before making broad statements about the lack of knowledge on this board.

As with any gathering of individuals, some folks will know more than others and some will think they know more but in either case, the sharing of knowledge usually isn't done with malice.

In this case, I was simply pointing out that on a car that is represented as nearly perfect and factory correct, there are a number of items that would need to be addressed to meet my definition of factory correct. When you paint over all the bolts holding the hood latch support, etc and neglect to use the proper colors when painting, it smacks of shortcuts or someone not doing thorough research. Things like having a toe pad on the replacement carpet, while incorrect, are accepted by most. I look at that as an item I would need to replace if I bought the car. I would also have to spend a fair amount of time detailing the engine compartment in the proper colors and fixing some of the other details.

This car is beautiful and none of these details really take away from that but in order to fulfill the statements made in the advertisement, they would need to be fixed.

As for 69428SCJ's posts, there is a big difference in modifying a car and doing it well and attempting to do a correct restoration but getting the details wrong. Most of the posts in this thread are addressing the correctness of a car that is being presented as accurate.

Personally, I modify every car I restore so I'm not a concours snob even though I love a concours restoration. The restoration I'm doing on my current Cougar should be done by Spring. I'll post photos when it is and everyone can feel free to make whatever comments they want.