(http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/3994/remains.jpg)
Not sure if I'm remembered or not but I spent the first half of the year here before my car got totaled and I ended up in a long stretch of depression, dropped out of school for a good while, and just generally have had a very rough last half of the year.. anyway.. trying to turn things around for myself, and a nice surprise led to me being stoked about something again (my girlfriend of course also helping my mood, lol).
My baby before she was wrecked:
(http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/1845/sonicu.jpg)
(http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/9664/parked.jpg)
(http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/7673/71325936.jpg)
And her demise..
(http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/8006/deathw.jpg)
Now.. I'm back on the road with something again. :hick:
(http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/876/cougar.jpg)
(http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/7906/enginey.jpg)
hehehe ..
(http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/1994/tc1y.jpg)
(http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/4853/tc2k.jpg)
(http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/6991/tc30.jpg)
(http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/4189/tc40.jpg)
(http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/659/thundercat0.jpg)
So.. upon inspection of my TC after removing crunched stuff off her found out that I needed a whole car or at least a front clip in order to fix it. Smashed a lot of stuff. :mad: I can't weld at all, and I had never chopped anything up like that before so my father played the biggest role in this fix - I basically just financed it. Now it's finally more in my realm of capabilities (minor stuff with appearance and wiring, etc) and I'm able to take reins on it again and.. well.. kinda starting over somewhat on that restoration I was attempting. lol :hick: :punchballs: It's also going to be very interesting.. and now that keeping it original is completely out the window I'm gonna have some fun with this one.
What made it possible to bring her back to life:
(http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/9523/welcomehomeq.jpg)
1984 v6, Cougar with 97k miles. Car came missing a waterpump (which we bought one and put one on it and checked everything out, she worked great!). A nice Cougar.. but I wanted to fix my baby.. soo.. sorry Cougar fans but she had to come apart and get cut up a bit.. :giggle:
(http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8143/cougar2.jpg)
Still a lot more I am taking off of her to fix stuff all over the TC (Which is now more like "Thundercat" ) and stuff to keep for later just in case (the chrome piece on the bottom of the cougar, various trim, doors, and stuff like the center console which is in very nice shape, etc). Engine will be sold, rear end, transmission, etc. I've got a set of Cougar hubcaps that came on it I will sell later, and some other misc things I definitely wont need that are very Cougar specific that I don't plan to retrofit.
So.. that's my Thundercat. :D Oddly enough I think I am going to like her better now. Really diggin the Cougar hood and grill, and those clear side markers. <3 Current plan is to get her looking solid in terms of consistent body trim (the side molding) which wont be hard, retrofitting some parts I think will look nice on her from the Cougar, etc. I am not worried about being original at all now and am just doing what I want with her. I am going to make the entire car black with some chrome accents. Black on black, just like I said I wanted to see her as someday before - I've got the excuse to do it now and no reason to stay with the white anymore (which already wasn't the original colour of white to begin with, never did figure out what that colour of white on her was). I had just fixed the engine's quirks the week before the accident so that is in great running order right now. I'm just gonna leave her a 4 cylinder. I actually need the fuel economy right now anyway, and I've greatly missed hearing it. Later on when this engine finally completely dies I will then do something else.
Happy to have my baby back. :cheers: Sorry for the long post guys! I had a lot of catching up to do.
Looks awesome! I'm actually really diggin' that Cougar front clip. Glad to see it's running again.
Welcome back. I have your car saved on my screen saver here at workand just saw it pop up earlier today actually! Hate to see it get wrecked, but I am glad you could salvage it. Also glad to hear you are on the mend as far as depression and stuff goes.
You could really have some fun with it before you paint it all black...if you were to paint the back portion of the car black and leave the doors white, it would look like a Cougarbird cop car lol.
Welcome back , I'm glad you didn't throw in the towel
nice !
Glad to see you back also Nathan. :D
Dan & Paula ;)
Congratulations on saving the TC. It's a great looking ride.
Looks real nice...............glad to see you save it.
Good to see you and the car back on the boards!
....now go do a huge burnout in front of that shop....
Thanks, everyone. I'm really happy I didn't part her out or sell her. Really, I didn't have the heart to part with her. Someone tried to buy her off me weeks after it happened. Word had spread around town that 'that' car had been wrecked (people saw it driving by talked about it). I wouldn't name a price though, and refused to sell. She was my first car and I don't want her gone, ever.
I'm really looking forward to messing with her again. I had fun the last time I fixed her up nicer and this time will be even better. I'll likely be the one doing the final painting too.
Lookin real good...can't wait to see it completed. :cougarsmily:
sweet looks like mine under the hood!
(http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa74/4bangen/DSC_1072-1.jpg)
Sweet, another cougarbird. Its alot closer on the 83-86 years then the 87-88.
I'm glad to see you found your way back! It's amazing how a car can make you feel.
I am glad to see you brought it back to life! Well, looks like you are having fun with the Cougar nose. I did the same thing for a little while but decided I wanted the 87-88 Tbird nose instead. So are u gonna leave the Cougar and Mercury emblems on the front? Are u happy with the waterfall grille or do you prefer a eggcrate style like 1985-86?
Awesome, dude. It's a killer looking hybrid, right there.
Thanks, guys! Yeah, this car has always inspired a lot of emotion in me - nothing else like it.
Watchdevil: I love the current grill, pretty classy looking. Really loving it! I will likely be debadging the front when I do some body work and prep it for paint in the future. In the time being I'm gonna rock the emblems and have no plans to remove them before then. ;)
Now if it only didn't snow today, lol.
Glad to see your ride is alive once again!
Do you still have the cougar sitting around?
Yup, still stripping it and picking stuff out of it. Will be a while before I'm finished and have a list of stuff available, but that will happen once I'm done picking through it.
Cougar (what was left of it lol) is gone now. Took off lots of stuff I decided to keep to fix things on my Thunderbird (and have some spare stuff if I need it) and a few things to sell. I've been pretty busy since my last postings here. :D I got married, am going to be a dad later around October, and have a new job/career. Things are pretty fresh and awesome right now! Taking the "Thundercat" to a cruise-in this evening in its current oddball state; hopefully someone will appreciate it even if it is W.I.P. and if not they can bug off and I'll enjoy seeing some cool cars anyway. ;) I'll take some pics. Weather is kinda gross today though.
Welcome back, and glad to see that a rough story CAN have a good ending :)
Congrats on getting married and for be a Dad to be!! I'm glad to see things are headed in the right direction for you.
Thanks guys! :) Should be getting all the body work and paint on the 'bird this summer. :)
Nathan , Congrats to you and your wife from the both of us friend. :D
Dan & Paula ;)
Glad to know we share first names. I love Birds with the Cougar front end. I think it is the coolest combo. Hopefully you get it back to where you want it. I know it's taken me 5 years to get anything done on my Cougar and now it's coming along quickly. By the way if you ever wanna let go of the taillights off of the Cougar let me know. I'm looking for an extra set.
if you ditch the cougar badge on the grille you should put a tbird in its place. It looks cool on those grilles to have a badge right there.
Well, she's on hold again until summer 2012! :punchballs: Need to get some stuff for our new place we are going to move in to and I need to spend the money on something else (namely a TV). I will fix the rusty spots that need attention right now to slow down the progression of rust until next summer when I might be in a better position to pay to fix it the way I want (I want good paint, etc). Until then.. I've got other stuff to take care of. Happily for me my truck is exactly where I want it right now and I'm thoroughly proud of how it looks right now. :D
One day Thunderbird... one day you'll look great again.
(I love where we are trying to move in to though!)
It's sucks to have to wait but you'll eventually get it done. It's nice to see you have your priorities in order.
It's almost impossible to kill a cat/bird and its totally impossible to kill one when you love it as much as most of us do and you did a great job saving it and the front end is...well i can't describe what a good look it is on a bird and good luck finishing it, well there is no "Finishing it" when it comes to our cars but good luck getting it "Close"!