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Topic: New Addition (Read 14154 times) previous topic - next topic

New Addition

Well, the long search is over.  I've been on the look out for a Cougar convertible for 2+ years and have finally purchased one.  There were several other opportunities along the way that just never panned out for one reason or another ... but "Blanche" (80's Golden Girls inspired) is finally a member of the family.  She was an Arizona car for most/all of her "productive" life and was then purchased by a Texas family who collects Cougars (all generations and rare ones at that) in 2001.  Since that time, she has only had about 1,000 miles put on her and has spent most of her time stored on a lift collecting dust.  She's not much to look at right now, but we'll get her cleaned up and back in action in time.   This is a shot of her as delivered in our driveway this past Thursday.

Re: New Addition

Reply #1 –
Congratulations finding the convertible!
1988 Thunderbird TC, 5spd
Stinger 3" single exhaust, Cone Filter, Adjustable Cam Pulley, Schneider roller cam, Walbro 255 lph, AEM Wideband O2
'93 Mustang Cobra replica wheels on 235/50R17

'21 F150 Powerboost
'17 Husqvarna TX300

Re: New Addition

Reply #3 –
Spent the past few days on detailing.  I've made the first polishing pass to about 60% of the exterior.  I think the photos make it look a lot better than it really is, but she's cleaning up pretty nicely all things considered.  Gutted the interior for cleaning and need to test/replace some stuff ... rear passenger window doesn't work, rear passenger top cylinder is leaking, weather stripping is probably gonna be an adventure to solve for.

Re: New Addition

Reply #4 –
Wow!  What a difference already.
1988 Thunderbird TC, 5spd
Stinger 3" single exhaust, Cone Filter, Adjustable Cam Pulley, Schneider roller cam, Walbro 255 lph, AEM Wideband O2
'93 Mustang Cobra replica wheels on 235/50R17

'21 F150 Powerboost
'17 Husqvarna TX300

Re: New Addition

Reply #5 –
Looking great!  Is it a 5.0 car?
Mike

Re: New Addition

Reply #6 –
Quote from: mcb82gt – on
Looking great!  Is it a 5.0 car?

Unfortunately, no.  It's kind of hard to check off all the boxes with so few of these out there and available for sale.  She's solid having been in Arizona and Texas, runs (although not road worthy), and is pretty complete ... that was the most important thing.

Re: New Addition

Reply #7 –
Nice.

You keeping the red interior?
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Re: New Addition

Reply #8 –
Looks like she's cleaning up nicely  :smile:  What company did the convertible conversion on these? Did they strengthen the underbody at all, any added cross braces?
1988 Thunderbird
306 HO w/ A9P processor
AOD w/ Transgo Reprogrammer
Full Digital Dash w/ twin Cyberdyne A-pillar gauges 
245/50/16 Tires on Snowflakes
Engine swap - CA smog compliant

Re: New Addition

Reply #9 –
Quote from: 88BlueBird – on
What company did the convertible conversion on these? Did they strengthen the underbody at all, any added cross braces?

Car Craft Company from Lima, OH did the conversion (they are not associated with the Car Kraft company from MI that did all the hot-rodding to Fords in the 1960s.) The company got bought out a few times and are now part of S&S/Superior Coach which is still in Lima. Essentially the company did nothing but GM conversions at the time, and the Cougar was its one and only Ford conversion which used the same GM parts they'd been using. The top, top skeleton, top motor, cylinders, latches, etc. were all from a Buick Riviera. Even the weatherstripping had GM part numbers. The small side windows do operate and have GM motors, wiring, and switches. They used some aftermarket/generic relays for the top and for each side window. A modified power seat switch is used to put the top up and down. The rear seat was just chopped and narrowed (center armrest removal); the rear side panels were made from sheetmetal and covered with matching vinyl. There is a full snap-on top boot as well. For its day, not a bad conversion although the cut 2-point lap belts usually scare people LOL.

Underneath there are some pretty hefty subframe connectors welded on. They are not the typical ones seen on Mustangs or our cars, for that matter. These are fully boxed, even on the end caps, and contoured to the floor pan and are made of 10-gauge steel. They didn't mess around. There were no other braces on the car that I've found, though. Sometimes I swear my A-pillars were gusseted on the bottom side, as they never quite fit correctly, but that might be from cowl twist. D'oh!

Re: New Addition

Reply #10 –
Quote from: thunderjet302 – on
Nice.

You keeping the red interior?

That's a tough one ... I'm not a big fan of red interior personally, no offense to those who have it, just not my thing per se.  Other than a cleaning and needing to replace the covering on the consolette, the seating material is surprising good with no rips or tears.  The door armrests show the usual breaks and attempted repair jobs.  I've been collecting parts over the years and have the better part of two interiors ... a complete charcoal one for any replacements needed on my '85 and then a partial of the darker smoke/raven interior as well.  I may try to do some type of combo where I use the stock red in combination with the raven.  I can kind of tone down all the red that way while keeping some of the originality.  I don't plan to go too crazy with modifying the car, that's what the '85 is for.  Anything I change up on the car will hopefully be plug and plug for the most part.

Re: New Addition

Reply #11 –
Quote from: 88BlueBird – on
Looks like she's cleaning up nicely  :smile:  What company did the convertible conversion on these? Did they strengthen the underbody at all, any added cross braces?

Eric's the true historian on these, but as he mentioned, this particular car is a "Car Craft" conversion.  The underbody is strengthened with some pretty beefy subframe connectors ... definitely more substantial than anything you would buy aftermarket.  The interior backseat area of the car is quite the hack job when you start digging into it.  There is some square channel added but it's more for framing out the assemblies for the rear power windows than it is for bracing.

Re: New Addition

Reply #12 –
Quote from: 85CougarCobra – on
Quote from: thunderjet302 – on
Nice.

You keeping the red interior?

That's a tough one ... I'm not a big fan of red interior personally, no offense to those who have it, just not my thing per se.  Other than a cleaning and needing to replace the covering on the consolette, the seating material is surprising good with no rips or tears.  The door armrests show the usual breaks and attempted repair jobs.  I've been collecting parts over the years and have the better part of two interiors ... a complete charcoal one for any replacements needed on my '85 and then a partial of the darker smoke/raven interior as well.  I may try to do some type of combo where I use the stock red in combination with the raven.  I can kind of tone down all the red that way while keeping some of the originality.  I don't plan to go too crazy with modifying the car, that's what the '85 is for.  Anything I change up on the car will hopefully be plug and plug for the most part.

The biggest issue is probably the trim panels around the rear seat. You're going to have to recover those if you want to change the color.

Is the car remaining a 3.8?
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Re: New Addition

Reply #13 –
Congrats on the purchase.

Looks like you aren't messing around with getting it cleaned up.

Want a set of snowflakes for it? I have a set just sitting and collecting dust.
It's Gumby's fault.

Re: New Addition

Reply #14 –
Quote from: thunderjet302 – on

The biggest issue is probably the trim panels around the rear seat. You're going to have to recover those if you want to change the color.

Is the car remaining a 3.8?

Yeah, the back trim panels would be the only thing that I would really need to alter ... everything else can come off, go into storage, and be replaced with other stock parts.

The drive-train will remain stock ... at least until it would give me some mechanical reason otherwise.  If down the road it gets to the point where I have to pull the motor or trans ... well .. then I would be hard pressed to put a 3.8 back in.  I have no plans to do that though, just want a nice driver to enjoy.