Hey folks !

I got Leona and I a new photo scanner for Christmas and I finally got some of my Cougar pics in the computer. Still need to work on the dust but I'm learning !

I bought the car in 1988 and sold it in 1995. Originally it had a 302 in it, after I blew that one I went to a 351W (~400hp) C4 trans, 4.10 spooled rear, 10" slicks. Started out running 15.7's (like a MINI S ) and ended up running 12.70's. The times were good for a 3000# car back then, especially on my budget.

Here's the cat the day I brought it home, paid a whole $1500 for it, don't even want to know what they're worth nowadays



Here's Leona with her '67 Cougar, it had a "289" in it and we swapped in a 351W that Leona assembled (she really did it, crank, rods,cam everything !)



This was the final round in my class and the first time I won the whole class, I think it is a neat photo (my dad took it) that shows a perfect .500 light. Look at the christmas tree, yellow is going out, green is coming on, the car has launched and the brake lights are just going out - never do that in a million years again ! Ha !



Maple Grove, PA - Big time facility compared to 75-80 !


At the finish line for a photo shoot




another 12 second blast at 75-80

 

Just thinking, these shots make me a bit sad in a way, the Cougar is gone, have no idea what ever became of it, Leona's is gone too, many many friends I made at the track have moved on and 75-80 is no more. Time marches on I suppose. Those days were a lot of fun though........

 

Wow...hot car! Was it the Eliminator model? I saw two that sold at Barrett-Jackson. One was about $50,000 sold in 2003 and the other $128,000 in 2007.

On another note, I just happened to see a rerun of the episode of Pinks that was held in New Jersey which had a snippet of the drag race with the RMW MINI. It was great seeing a MINI beat a muscle car. But, it was really cool seeing the final four cars go at it: Duster, Mustang, Camaro, Firebird

 

Great photos! I go to Old Dominion in Manassas to help my boss with his Kawasaki drag bike during the summer. It is such a blast and I love watching some of the old muscle cars. Wednesdays is test & tune which is pretty much run what ever you drive. Fridays nights are the actually drag races. Maybe this summer we can get a group to go and watch some of the races.

 

I wish it had been an Eliminator, I added the scoop, spoilers and actually made the "Cat" gas cap door (between the tailights) from bits of 1969-70 Cars. I had the dash panels too, which were black camera case rather than the standard wood grain (imagine wood grain being standard - huh?)

I almost had a '69 Eliminator, just before I got the '70. A guy in VA wanted $2500 for it ! It was blue with white stripes, I wanted it and told him so. He said he was in no real hurry to sell it and to call him back......called him back and he decided not to sell it. I got the '70 a month later and he called me the next day wanting to sell the '69 ! AAArrrrrrggghh ! I would guess that car is worth a minimum of $20-30,000 these days, it was a 351W rather than the more sought after Boss302, 428CJ and SCJ.

I hated to sell the '70 but I had nowhere to store it and it was just rusting on the trailer after I stopped racing. I just about literally gave it away.....hindsight.....20-20 To be fair though, I was really burned out, 75-80 did points both Friday and Saturday, so Leona and I were there both days from April till October.....a bit too much.

 

My first NEW car was a white 1967 289 Cougar. Drove it off the showroom floor, I had just turned 21. Yeah, memories. I REALLY wanted an XR7 but my Dad wouldn't sign for it. Oh, and then the Dan Gurney Specials came out, I was really jealous.

 

Mike, my best friend in college had a 67 289 Cougar, I believe it was a light

green body with a black vinyl top. Pretty hot for those old days! The last

time I saw him and the car was my last day at school, looking back I think

we had just started our second case of beer for that day!! Shortly there-

after we both went to Viet Nam, but sadly only I made it back. Thanks for

posting that, it has brought back some old memories. Rab

 

My dad had a '68 XR7 he bought new. 302 V8. Black cherry with a black vinyl top. My dad took meticulous care of it, but the car was worn out at 65k miles.

 

Perhaps it's just me, but seeing the words "1970 Cougar" brought something entirely different to mind.

 

Funny thing was, I was not real interested in Cougars, I really wanted a Mach 1 Mustang. Leona and I were cruising one day and we passed by a '70 XR-7 sitting in a guy's yard. It was in decent shape but it needed a lot of work but with Leona's prodding, I bought it for the huge sum of $300 and drove it home. The rest is history.

I had the car and worked on it, made lots of bad mistakes, banged up the door in a driveway accident (whole 'nother story) and generally did dumb things with it. When I figured out that fixing it further was beyond my budget, my dad bought it and played with it a while, then Leona and I bought it back for the motor (for Leona's '67) my brother then bought the rest and was going to fix it up but that never happened.

During this time I bought a '69 and a '70. The '69 I got a Crystal Ford of all places, I asked how much and the guy says "$900" I told him literally "$900 my ***, I'll give you $100" He said "deal" and for $25 more I'll have it towed to your house ! I got it home, put a battery in it and it ran ! Smoked the tires pretty good too ! The '70 I got from a guy who's daughter used it for college. I drove that one home, hindsight, I should have fixed this one up, perfect interior, a dented front end, and a bit of rust but overall good shape.
Then I got the one you see above.

Leona had the blue '67 and we also found another '67 w/289 4bbl and got that for $100 just for parts ! It ran and we drove it home. I still have the 4 bbl intake for it. Its hard to believe how cheap these things were. Those $100 jobs are thousands now.

It was fun, I did all the work, pulling engines and trans', rear end swaps, carbs, cams you name it. Funny, I'm not sure if I could remember how to do any of it now I guess having done all this is the reason why I really don't want to mod Wensleydale, the "been there done that" thing I guess.

Anyway, keep the stories coming, winter has only just begun......

Rab, that's a sad story, I hope that didn't bring too much hurt back. I have a good buddy, well he's my best friend (next to Leona) that spent just about 2 years over there and he saw it all. He refers to it as "the other me" time. Never talks much about it but I have found stuff about him online that describes him as quite a brave soldier. Every Nov. 11th I either take him out for dinner, a show or make something up at home, you guys really went through some tough times. Not all too different from our current situation.

 

Great pics!

-former 1979 cougar owner