351C w/FMX trans

1970 Mercury Cougar Description:

Complete mostly original 1970 Mercury Cougar, runs and drives. 121K miles onbelieved to beoriginal 351C 2 barrel engine and FMX transmission. Body is clean and straight with some heavy door dings on the drivers side and two dents onfront of thehood. Has a small rust spot on the quarter panelbehind driver back tire and that's the only rust I could findon the entire car. The car was one owner until I bought it a couple of years agoandwas normally parkedin the original owners garage in Phoenix for 46 years. It's now in my garage in the desertsoit's had minimal exposure to rain. I replaced the bent rear valence with a straight one and also have a replacement center hood extension (snaggle tooth) and driver side fender extension. The car has not been in any accidents that I'm aware of;it wasbumped on the front driverfender extension when original owners daughter was learning to drive. The car can use a paint job but I'd say bodyworkwill be minimal for a car this age--no surprises.

The 351C 2-barrel engine runs out strong but burns oil and could use a refresh. I've recently driven it to Palm Springs (about 240 miles there and back) with no problems other than needing to stay ontop of the fluids (It's a 47 year old car and has normal leaks).New radiator, starter, water pump, oil pump, timing chain, voltage regulatorand Pertronix upgradeddistributor have beeninstalled. I've also installed disc brakesto replace the front drums.Factory air conditioning with a new smallcompressorthat needs a charge. The last owner had a toggle switch installed on the dash to turn the compressor on/off. The driveshaftwill need to be balanced as I removed it to replace the transmission rear seal and didn't mark it to put it back where it was so you can feel a mild vibration at about 40mph. The factory AM radio is in place but not working (I suspect antenna wire not connected) and the horn does not work either. The interior is mostly original with a good headliner, nice door panels and good gauges.The seatswere recovered in dark blue cloth and look really nice. The carpet is worn and could use replacement; that's the only change I would make to the interior. The car has worn through a set of new tires in ashort time indicating it's time to replace some steering components, though I have replaced the rag joint at the steering box. The rear tires are still new with very low miles, front tires are pretty old and need replaced before you drive the car anywhere--so bring a trailer to pick it up. It can go for rides around the block though!
The cool thing about this car is that for the most part it's complete and mostlyoriginal with only regularmaintenance done to keep it on the road. Nobody has hacked into the wiring or tried to hot rod it so it makes a great start to either drive and fix as you want or begin a resto-rod project of your own.
The original sequential tail-lights work and the original vacuum operated headlight doors also work.

I've tried to include all information I have about the car so you should have no surprises about what you're getting. It's a good looking car and is really fun to drive.Ino longerhavemotivation towork oncars like Idid when I was younger. This would be a great first hot rod for a young person or evenfather son project. One of the pictures shows the Cougar on some borrowed Cragar wheels to give you an idea of how much cooler it would look when you get rid of the hubcaps--the Cragars are not included in this sale.

Please ask any questions you've got. I've priced the car realistically for much less than what I've put into it in the last two years. I'll keep in touch with you after the sale forquestions you'd have and I'd like to see what you do with the car over time. Thanks!