ok i have a question ive pondered for a while. ok here goes... why does the 84 gs cougar have the "waterfall" type grill and the ls xr7 then the 85 cougars have the egg crate type? why is this?
For the same reason that 86 T-Birds had four headlights and 87 had composite. Just a model year change. Eric's got all kinds of info on the 1983 model year right here: http://www.coolcats.net/modelinfo/1983/index.html
because when a mommy and daddy really love eachother, and they really want a ba....oh...woops
the 83 and 84 cougars had the waterfall type.
and the 85 and 86 had the Mercedes style.
owning an 84 cat and an 85 cat. i must admit I like the style 85-86 style better.
T-birds changed grilles as well. 83-84 was also eggcrate, then 85 and 86 was a different style, not sur what you'd call it, but you can see it in my sig.
Mercury cars have typically had the waterfall grille as their signature. Pretty much every Cougar from 1967-84 had one (sometimes the originals were said to have an "electric shaver" grille). The 1985 grille change was a direct attack on imported European cars--namely the Mercedes-Benz--to try and persuade customers that our cars were at least as equal to, if not better than, cars twice their price. In essence, it was nothing more than a marketing ploy, but it really did fit the car too. Check out the comparison here: http://www.coolcats.net/modelinfo/styling/198386.html
ok that clears it up somewhat but why the difference in one year or am i mistaking. the 84 gs had the waterfall type then the same year but different grills on the xr7 and the ls to the eggcrate type. now why is that?
No....1983-84 had the waterfall. The 1985-86 had the butcher-block Mercedes style. If you ever see different, someone simply swapped out grilles.
I'd call it a recessed eggcrate. Looks great in my book.:)
It's not quite square enough to be a real eggcrate grille. I guess I should also mention that I painted the entire center section of the grille flat black.
Didn't feel like taping off all that chrome? :p
Exactlty! I was originally going for a stock repaint of the black parts but said eff it and just did the whole center. I'm very pleased with the results.
I did do the extra taping on mine.. probably why I'm considering hacking up the next grille and doing something completely different. :p