Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

Good quality video.  Dig the head unit in the car!  It's a Ford piece.  Never seen one like that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnhqBkBYRuY

Looks like an LS/elan, but no map/rear reading lights, auto lamps but not auto hi/low beam dimmer, no power seats or cruise control, how odd. Also, I've never seen a 3.8 with dual snorkels. 85/86 grille, but 83/84 tailights.

I thought the dual snorkels looked kinda cool.  Wonder if they would fit right in?

I like that EQ, notice the big power button? I bet that doesn't break like all of ours eventually do. Funny it still has the hood ornament too.

MexCougar needs to log in so I can find out how to order obscure non-U.S. NOS parts from Ford dealers in Mexico.  Gotta be a way to do it....

Here is a close-up of that head unit. Apparantly Ford sourced Clarion the Mexican market units.
This is from the 1986 Mexican Cougar brochure which also shows the same 85/86 style grill but 83/84 style taillamps and those funky looking "Geometric" wheels. 

So the Cougar was a Ford in Mexico?  Interesting...

Here is a rear 3/4 view.
Notice the Ford oval on the passenger side of the decklid, the Geometric styled wheels (they are 14"), and the alarm key-hole on the rear of the quarter. That rectangular badge in front of it reads "MEXICO".

.......I'll add on the later cars The Mercury badge on the front bumper on the driver side is replaced by one that says "Cougar" with a small cat's head logo next to it.  I actually have one of these MUCH better emblems on my car.  AFAIK, I am one of TWO Cougars that has it that were badged as a Mercury and not a Ford.

(http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29470&d=1336232868)

I've been hunting without any luck for the part # for this little piece.

That's pretty cool. Those wheels are ugly as hell, but I'd like to have that car just because of the rust free body. The 3.8/C5 could stay in Mexico.

I could actually legally import one of those if I ever really wanted to. Canadian law allows any vehicle over 15 years old to be imported. The streets here are crawling with tiny little KEI trucks and JDM rice rockets because of this. I wonder how hard it would be to buy one and have it shipped here, or even drive it. I'd imagine the biggest problem would be getting it into USA...

you need a law to allow a certain age car to be shipped in country?

Its funny how we can still learn neat things about these cars.

this walk around was nice till I saw that someone at some point must have put on a roof luggage rack.. all those dents along the top kinda sucked to see for such a great looking car.

what the hell is on the mirror,,
please don't tell me its a tiny arrow that lights up for "left turn"???????????????????????????????????

I wanted to do a dual snorkel air filter housing when I had the 85, all you'd have to do really is relocate the windshield washer fluid tank.

rear seat belts not retractable?  double snorkel air cleaner..
nice car all around

More specifically, the law basically says that any car newer than 15 years must meet Canadian emissions/safety standards for the year it was manufactured. Over 15 years the standards don't apply, meaning we can bring in vehicles that were never sold in North America because they didn't meet our standards. I don't know American law other than what I've read in magazines, but I always thought vehicles imported into USA must meet the emissions and safety standards for the year it was made. That Mexican cougar, for example, probably would not meet US emissions standards, and those rear seat belts might not meet US crash standards. Those would not be issues here.

There are a few strange things about importing a car into Canada though. If the car was manufactured after December 31, 1989, it must have daytime running lights installed. And if the seat belts do not meet Canadian standards the car could not be imported at all UNLESS it was over 15 years old. For example US-spec 1989-1993 t-birds & Cougars were absolutely not allowed to be imported because their automatic seat belts did not meet Canadian standards. It is illegal to modify seat belts in any car in Canada, even if that modification would bring the car into compliance. Once the carshiznit 15 years old, though, they didn't have to meet any standards, so they could be imported.

It's TWENTY FIVE YEARS here in the States for cars to be imported that weren't sold here.
It's actually a royal PITA.
Structurally the car is the same, but since there was never a Ford Cougar certified in the U.S. you may have to wait if you wanted a 1994 or such.....

More than you wanted to know about this here:
http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticles/ID/3198/Vehicle-Importation-Understanding-the-25-Year-Old-Rule.aspx

So don't import it through the US. Get a temp tag and drive straight through.

Either way it's most likely REAL fun to deal with customs, US or Canadian, to be legal for that....

the coolant/washer fluid reservoir is from 83 also, interesting what Ford had laying in the parts bin.........

My Ranger which is an 87, uses that same tank