I just bought this car for $200. The kid I bought it off of said it had been sitting in a barn for 15 years. It only has 90,000 miles on it so I imagine it was parked. It has the world's ugliest paint job at the moment. ..patchy, thin and orange-peeled.
The interior is in much better shape than the outside. Some fading on the front seats but the rear is perfect.
The engine runs purrrfectly. This car loves to go. It's a 2.3 litre.
(http://www3.telus.net/public/kaffi/cougar_xr7.JPG)
(http://www3.telus.net/public/kaffi/cougar_dash.JPG)
(http://www3.telus.net/public/kaffi/cougar_backseat.JPG)
Welcome aboard and nice grab new friend. :poke: :headbang:
Sweet Deal!
Welcome & Congrats!
looks like a great score, how are the frame rails? and floors?
Except for some rust on the doors, I haven't seen any on the body at all really. I'm no mechanic, though. Everything seems really sound. Although I don't really know what a frame rail is, I'm assuming it's under the car. :welder: My boyfriend was under there a couple of days ago to change the oil and I didn't hear him say "wow, what an ugly frame rail" so I guess that's good.
...the car was originally red...thus is the extent of my technical expertise...I can be taught, though. :D
I took a picture of the motor for you but the picture makes it look rusty and it's not really.
(http://www3.telus.net/public/kaffi/cougar_motor.JPG)
What a great find! Perfect w red interior!
Welcome aboard !! Looks like a nice find with lots of potential
Welcome,
The camera always adds 10 lbs of rust. :rollin:
Really,then you must of used a LOT of cameras taking pics of the Cougar.LOL.LOL.LOL.
Just kidding Jerry.........kind of.LOL.
Congrats on your find. I wish you the best and many years of fun driving with it.
Defenately a great find! And cheap too! Good luck with it.
nice find...welcome
Nice score :D
Why can't I find cars in barns? Oh yeah because we don't have barns in Chicago;)
wow, looks great! wish my interior looked like that!
I'm not exactly sure which barn this one came out of. I'm in the city myself.
This is actually my 3rd mercury. I don't look for them, they just find me. My first one was a '89 sable. I paid $500 for that one from an ex-bf. The 2nd one was a '91 grand marquis. That was one big, old boat. Hit a speed bump in that one and you'd still be riding the wave 10 minutes later. I ended up paying about $1200 for that one. More than I'd usually spend on wheels.
The cougar came from my bf's cousin's friend. The grand marquis had died recently, (murdered by my bf) and I was looking for a new, cheap car. One day the bf came home and told me his cousin's friend was getting rid of an old car he'd been wanting to restore but couldn't keep anymore.
I wish I'd taken a picture of the first time I saw the cougar. She was in a garage, covered with dust and spider webs...and spiders. The car wouldn't start so there were no interior lights and no lights in the garage. The first thing I saw was the back end with the mecury badge. I started to laugh, thinking "another mecury, what are the odds?"
Massimo (the cousin) was telling my bf how fast the car was. I was skeptical. Apparently, the boy had bought it off someone who had stored the car for many years and had driven it a little but then bought a new truck and stopped driving the cougar. The inside was littered with cigarette butts and poker chips. I down know how the upholstery escaped.
Massimo kept saying "really, Pete, this is a great car. runs great. "
It turned out that the clip thing that holds the wires to the battery post was broken. My bf bought a new one for $4 and the car started right away. The boy was looking quite sad when I handed over the $200 and drove away.
I can be a little ocd, so when I got home I googled 1986 mercury cougar to see what I could see on the car. The first thing that came up was youtube videos of the car drag racing! ...with my stock engine!
Needless to say, I eventually found coolcats.com and the forum here. I feel a cetain responsibily for her now. She's an awesome car. The engine runs like a dream, the steering is tight, the brakes are good, it doesn't make any strange noises and the red velvet interior is to die for. She's even got a nice little kenmore cd player installed.
Having said that...she has her issues. All cosmetic, really. I guess the paint was really bad so the boy let his buddy spray it the ugly burgundy color. patchy, thin, dull, and bumpy. They took all the exterior mouldings off and only about 1/2 are in the trunk, bent and badly spray-painted black. A couple of the badges are missing. The speaker covers on the inside were taken off as well as some of the other interior trim. The speakers have their wires cut and are in the trunk as well.
All that is relatively easy to fix, I think. I haven't had any luck with the wreckers here in Vancouver but sooner or later I'll find what I need. A friend of my bf said he had one in his garage and offered me $1000 bucks for mine for parts but maybe I'll end up buying parts off of his. :D
Nice find. You've actually got one of the rarer and more desirable Cougars there. They didn't make many 86 XR7's, especially in 5-speed, and there aren't many left. Whatever you do, don't let anyone part that car out!
Welcome and wonderful find, we had believed mine was an 86 until I had signed the title and learned it was an 85 and my parts car was an 86. Go figure :D. Sounds like you are already enjoying the car quite a bit!
Nice cougar,...... got ant plans,... or just going to restore and drive her????