Linky: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mercury-Cougar-Cougar-1985-Mercury-XR7-Cougar-7-300-Orig-Miles-Turbo-5-Speed_W0QQitemZ150289653266QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item150289653266&_trkparms=39%3A1%7C65%3A10%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245
Not in bad shape...some things could be a little cleaner, but overall...sssssssmokin'.
Nice, but why are the strut towers grey? Did Ford not paint them on pre-87 models, or was that car painted at some point? There appears to be overspray on the K-member as well...
my strut towers were the same way, and mine's an '88. had some kind of rubber foamy type stuff covering them, too.
Strange... mine are body-colored, same as my 87 TC parts car was. I'm sure I've seen photos of rusted strut towers posted on this forum that were body-colored, as well. Must have depended on the mood the paint shop guy was in that day...
It looks to me like a lot of the grey primer is just showing through. I think that was typical on some of the darker-colored cars. You'd expect the upline XR7 to be a little better...however, if basecoat/clearcoat paint was specified (the door tag isn't shown, incredibly, in all the oversized photos in this auction so we can't verify that), it may have been a cost-saving procedure to save as much basecoat as possible. It was fairly expensive back then.
The engine bay on my '86 (Oxford White) had incredibly thin paint, and that was an acrylic enamel color. It took about an hour to remove the white and get to the grey primer, using nothing but lacquer thinner.
Ford paint jobs, on the outside of the vehicle, are usually fine. But they lose points big time on all the small details (engine bay, inside the trunk perimeter, underside of hood and trunk lid, etc.). My brother's '97 T/A has relatively INCREDIBLE paint in this respect; GM really paid attention to the details. Our cars were pretty good, most of the time...Mustangs are generally poor in this regard.
I can certainly relate to that - the inside edges of my front fenders (the edges that face the hood when it's closed) were not painted. At all. A thin layer of primer was all that was there. Amazingly enough, they were not rusted, either.
Here's the thread I was talking about that shows plenty o' painted (but rusty!) strut towers...
Some things have not changed....I'm not particularly happy with a few choice spots on the strut towers of my Mustang.....
Invisible link :hick:
Some things look fantastic about the car while others......
The bumpers come to mind. The close up shot of the taillight and the one a few down show faded paint on the bumper on the part that should be factory color. It's a far cry from a match. A notable rust spot on the bottom front on the inside of the driver's door surrounded by perfect paint....I'm guessing re-paint on this car.
It probably does have the low mileage claimed (the underside is testament to that), but it looks like it sat neglected for a long period of time after being cared for in the manner one would care for the average train station car. A lot of dirt and stains in weird places for a 7300 mile car. Note the area of very thin fabric on the left side sun visor as well. Why?
I was thinking the same thing. certain things don't match, or look consistant with the rest of the car. and then again, everybody has those strange things that happen to there car that others don't have a problem with.
I'm leaning towards a repaint or touch up myself.
someone also bent the bottom lip on the rocker.
I'm wondering whether that car may have been a Community College Special, a car that was donated by Ford for aspiring young mechanics. One thing is certain: It's spent all of those 7300 miles outdoors. Another thing is certain: I'd still love to have it :hick:
Now I've gotta go looking for that missing link I posted but it disappeared earlier....
*EDIT* Found it: http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?t=16198&highlight=framerail+repair
What ever became of that project
Beautious!
My engine compartment is very similar to this one with lots of gray primer showing also. Black in '85 wasn't a clearcoat finish so it appears that they may have all been painted this way without much coverage under hood.
This car would benefit with some cleaning, polishing & detailing. Not to mention re-installing the fog lamps, how hard is that?
Without that WOW factor of it being super clean & shiny and looking like a 7k mile car should, I'm going to bet that it doesn't meet his reserve.
I'm going to stick my neck out though on the paint, I think it is original. :shakeass:
Nice car, I hope it finds a good home.
Brent
:cougarsmily:
I thought he finished replacing the rails but i could be wrong. even his K member is painted (thats what she said). Almost everything under my hood is gray, not that you can see it though all the grime, but everything I have cleaned is grey.
The car looks amazing. I feel like I know what a fresh, new interior in our cars looked like back in the day.
Did 85s not come with the covers over the gas tanks?
Mine looks the same, there is just a rectangular plastic "shield" on the very front of the tank.
Does your '86 have a full cover?
Brent
:cougarsmily:
yeah, with the vents at the rear of it.
The 18-gallon (turbo-4) tank didn't have the full shield...
Probably a good thing. The shield only serves to hold moisture. I've had to replace the tank in my 88 Cougar and 88 T-Bird because the bottom rusted out due to dirt gathering in that shield and holding water. When I had the T-Bird in the shop doing the tank the other guys in the shop couldn't believe that a car with so little rust could have such a rusty tank...
Most have body color strut towers, firewall etc... The Red '88 Sport my racing buddy owns, has what appears to be reddish brown primer under the hood, nowhere near the exterior color...
Suuuuuuuweet.
Nice car but yeah, it must have spent some time sitting outside. Did anyone notice the yellow showing through on the rear bumper? Either that speedo has been swapped or changed or it spent a fair amount of time outside. Still a nice car but not what I'm used to seeing in cars with less than 10K miles.
If the speedo was swapped,, someone cracked the code and got rid of the (S) indicator.
Maybe thats where bondocougar went to:D
I didn't know that showed up on the buttstuffog ones. If so, then a speedo swap would be less likely.
By the way, I wonder if there was shill bidding by the owner's friend. g***b entered $6395 on Sept 3. That is a losing max bid.
the whole thing seems a little odd. There is a lot of wear for 7300 miles. Why were the Marchals removed in the first place? The trunk lid insulation looks great but the hood insulation has alot of wear. The seams of the seats, joints of the dash and carpet look much dirtier than I'd like.
I was wanting to bid on this but just not comfortable doing so.
anyone notice the underside of the front bumper cover,, compared to the fog lamps in the trunk?
I also do not think there should be that much gas pedal carpet wear either.,, just an observation. I no longer have my carfax account active but it would be nice to check in on that vin.
would anyone agree the slave cyl has a leak based on the stain pattern on the carpet drivers side?
Scott,
5-speed cars in 1985 didn't have a clutch slave cylinder, that came about in '87.
Judging by the amount of uncleaned dirt under the front valance and the accumulation of dust on the kick panel near the hood release & embedded dirt on the clutch pedal and carpet pad, I'll bet that the current owner lives on a dirt road.
Removing my CSI hat now. ;)
Other than a few spots on the driver side (that I think would come out) the carpet looks very clean and new looking.
All of the darker "blotches" in the carpet are more of the way the carpet reacts to the light depending on how the fibers are "standing".
I have that same carpet in my car and I have been trying to find a new replacement for several years now without success.
It's an unusual color that has a "sheen" to it when the light hits it and when in shadow it is noticably darker.
All of the aftermarket samples I have gotten from various companies have come very close to the shade of color as the original but they don't seem to have the "sheen" and "shadowing effect" that the OE does.
Brent
:cougarsmily:
looks good were can I get on of the stock shifter s.
They show up on eBay from time to time, but be prepared to spend some serious money for a nice one.
About the closest to the original is Ford part # XR3Z-7213-BA which is designed for the 1999-2004 Mustang. It's very similar in size and shape but lacks the "TURBO" embossing.
Brent
:cougarsmily: