Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: COOL CATS Update (Read 6770 times) previous topic - next topic

COOL CATS Update

Reply #31 –
Looks like it went through!
Long live the 4-eyes!  - '83 Tbird Turbo

COOL CATS Update

Reply #33 –
The site is looking great Eric.
Still probably the most informative and easy to use site dedicated to a single model from the 80's.  :headbang:
1985 Mercury Cougar XR-7 - 5-speed 
One of 1,246 built

COOL CATS Update

Reply #35 –
Quote from: EricCoolCats;457785
So yeah...after 25 years, I'm still in love with these cars. Don't have the time to collect, fix, and drive them anymore, but my heart will always be with them.

How often/much do you drive the '84 GS and '86 Convertible?

COOL CATS Update

Reply #36 –
Quote from: EricCoolCats;457785
Thanks Brent. :) I just redid AeroCats also: http://www.aerocats.net

So yeah...after 25 years, I'm still in love with these cars. Don't have the time to collect, fix, and drive them anymore, but my heart will always be with them.

Looks good too and it’s nice to see a decent site for the MN12 series cars as well.

I was working at the FLM dealer back in 1989 and I was in love with the SC/XR-7. I was saving every penny and doing everything I could to try and figure out how I was going sell my ’85 and order a Bright Red XR-7 with a manual transmission. By the time that I came close to being able to afford it, they had dropped the SC engine and manual trans for the XR-7 so I lost interest.

I still have a soft spot for the Bright Red '89-'90 XR-7's, but in hindsight, I’m so glad that I never went through with it as I don’t think the MN12 styling has aged very well in my eyes. The slab sidedness of the car bothered me a little back then, but it really bothers me a lot more today. I know I am a bit biased, but overall the MN12 cars just don’t have as much character in their styling that my ’85 has.
1985 Mercury Cougar XR-7 - 5-speed 
One of 1,246 built

COOL CATS Update

Reply #37 –
Quote from: JeremyB;457790
How often/much do you drive the '84 GS and '86 Convertible?

Not very much. Let's put it this way: I fill up each car's fuel tank once a year, on average. Local shows and cruises, that's about it for me anymore. Our roads are pretty punishing here also, which makes me want to drive less.


Quote from: BCA
I was working at the FLM dealer back in 1989 and I was in love with the SC/XR-7. I was saving every penny and doing everything I could to try and figure out how I was going sell my ’85 and order a Bright Red XR-7 with a manual transmission. By the time that I came close to being able to afford it, they had dropped the SC engine and manual trans for the XR-7 so I lost interest.

I still have a soft spot for the Bright Red '89-'90 XR-7's, but in hindsight, I’m so glad that I never went through with it as I don’t think the MN12 styling has aged very well in my eyes. The slab sidedness of the car bothered me a little back then, but it really bothers me a lot more today. I know I am a bit biased, but overall the MN12 cars just don’t have as much character in their styling that my ’85 has.


I hear you man. When I got my first car in '87 it was at the end of that model year (June). My parents thankfully bought the extended warranty for the '84 and we ended up having to use it quite a bit (turns out we had a bad EEC processor, but not before replacing a LOT of parts first). So I was always at the dealership, which I did not mind one bit. I remember a new '88 dark Blue Max Cougar sitting on the showroom floor, the sun coming in through the window and hitting that paint just right. My mom didn't care for the back window on the 1987-88 cars and preferred the flat 1983-86 style, and at first I thought she was right, but after seeing that Max I was just in love. It was always the Fox love first.

So throughout 1987 and 1988 I made almost monthly trips to the dealership until they finally got the '84 straightened out. I remember seeing the 1989s there for the first time. There was disappointment on my face with the squared-off side window. That was unexpected...I know it was for more visibility and honestly, it does fit the car well but I was so used to that triangle. And yeah, the slab-sided styling was very 1990s but you could see where it was coming from with the Taurus/Sable. It was fresh and different and not unattractive. Once Autoweek started publishing photos and articles with the IMSA Cougar, that just cemented my admiration for the car. But that's just it: I have always had admiration for that body style...but never had the urge to own one. It just seems like more maintenance, more things to break, more issues that require taking it to a shop or dealership to repair instead of me repairing the car in my garage with basic tools. I never caught the MN12 bug in full, just on the surface. I never get tired of Foxes, ever. But I still appreciate the MN12 cars for what they were, and actually have more information on them as opposed to Foxes. It's a constant balance for me.

Just wish I could go back 30 years and start again. What wonderful times...