Alright, so...we have all pretty much figured out by now that Ford's literature from the 1980s is not really all that accurate. There's now further proof. ;)
For the past year or so I've seen this NOS Cougar hubcap on eBay with a 1985 part number. It looked like nothing I've seen before and in fact, from the thumbnail photo, I thought it was mismarked for a 1995 model so I just ignored it as an error.
Decided to click on it one day, out of curiosity. It was indeed a 1985 part, according to the sticker on the front. This perplexed me, as this hubcap was never listed in any literature that I had, nor had I ever seen one in person. Nothing was listed in the dealer brochures, but also nothing in the dealer order books for either 1985 or 1986--and I have the revised pages also. The plot thickened.
So with the help of Brent (BCA) we did a little digging deeper into Ford's part books, and lo and behold, this thing was legit.
Apparently it was produced in small numbers and got out to some cars either in late 1985 or early 1986 (it has a 1985 part number). Again, I had never even known this thing existed.
I now own some of the last 5 NOS hubcaps like this and plan to possibly put them on my '84 (which will require stepping back down to 14" rims, but the novelty is too hard to pass up).
Guess this just proves that, 25+ years later, we're still learning a few things about our cars.
And for the record, this is one pretty ed cool looking hubcap, if you have to be stuck with a hubcap LOL.
Has anyone else seen them or have any?
(http://www.coolcats.net/ximages/85hubcap.jpg)
I didn't know they were rare. I saw a set on an 86 base (and I mean base) V6 Cougar in the yard about a year ago.
I have seen (a set) them at the local yard here back about a year ago, it was on a red Ls model, wish I would've known then what i know now......
Well I dont know about "rare" but "uncommon" would certainly qualify. I always thought the styled steel wheel with the center cap/trim ring combo was pretty rare on the '86 Cougars (the one on the far right in this photo):
(http://www.coolcats.net/fox/images/86rims.gif)
Now those I've seen on cars before. Apparently only the Mustang and the Cougar had that combo and only for 1986 (it's not listed in my literature for the Capri). It was available on the GS and LS models. Kind of odd, which made it stick out in my mind.
But this hubcap, for me being only 1.5 hours from the plant that produced these cars, and for the multitude of Cougars in my area still to this day, I still never recall seeing them on any cars.
Great to hear that a few people have seen them in the wild, though, thanks for the feedback.
Thd one on the right looks like an 80's Escort wheel :hick:
These cars were hot items back here and they sold well.
I've NEVER seen those before.
Quite the find!
Buy it and make a clock out of it.
I've never seen one, but I usually don't inspect wheel covers or hub caps very closely. I've always liked the styled wheels, so I tend to look for those. Should be a good conversation piece.
I just got me a set of 1980-82 Thunderbird standard wheel covers that were never featured in any of those years brochures.
(http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=20471&stc=1&d=1249444593)
Anyway, look here:
http://www.hubcaps.org/cougar.html
http://www.hubcaps.org/tbird.html
They look a little familiar, but I also don't remember what I had for dinner yesterday.
Like Paul said, there were also tons of cougars around here as well. But I don't recall remembering those exact covers.
They do look a lot like the center covers did for ford vans though.
This pic is too far away to see, but look.... My cougar has plates on it (April 13, 2003)
(http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee79/daminc/our%20house/100-0057_IMG.jpg)
Back to the thread. Sorry Eric, I got excited when I saw my car in that pic.. LOL
some preetty interesting hubcaps and centercaps there.... cool!!!!,
Sounds like you got something special.
Stuckman
my mom had a blue v6 four eyed cougar back in the early 90s with hubs just like that. they mustve been special back then because they were stolen at the supermarket.
i remember the car very well because my fingers were crushed in the drivers door of it, im not going to explain why but dont get in the back seat on the drivers side. except for the front seat back being broke the car was very clean(and much bigger than my dads 80something mustang) till she drove it in the snow and crashed it.
Nice find. I like the second ones from the left, myself.
You know I never realized those werent pictured in the brochures till I read that, I had to go check through my books to be sure. Odd thing is that most of the box birds I've ever seen around here had them, I'll have to grab the next set I see now. Have two sets of the 'deluxe' covers off my 1980 and one set of wire covers off the 1982, the wires rattle and squeak like crazy though.
Scott
Every year I have been collecting various Ford brochures off the showroom floor since 1977. I always knew about the standard wheel covers I bought and have seen them many times before, but the other day before I got my set delivered I went and checked my 1980-82 Tbird brochures and noticed they are not pictured at all. They are only mentioned as standard equipment on the base Thunderbird as "Full Wheel Covers". When you ordered the exterior decor or luxury packages you automatically got the radial finned "Luxury Wheel Covers". Wire wheel covers and special multi-spoke metric TRX wheels were optional.
Check these out....
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1985-88-FORD-THUNDERBIRD-T-BIRD-HUBCAPS-HUB-CAPS-HUBCAP_W0QQitemZ200269753468QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item2ea101ec7c&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245
The hubcaps.org site has them for $120 a set....Figured this was a better pic.
Fox Tbird Wheel Covers 1980-88
THe one on the top right is pretty neat.
Fox Cougar Wheel Covers 80-88