Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums  

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.

You're welcome to the snowflakes if that's the direction you want to go. If I can fit them in the car, I could bring them to you at Carlisle this year.

Quote from: 88BlueBird – on September 27, 2019, 02:36:22 PM

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!

I think red lower dash,  center console, door inserts, and seats will look good with raven everything else.

Quote from: thunderjet302 – on November 18, 2019, 11:30:53 PM

I think red lower dash,  center console, door inserts, and seats will look good with raven everything else.

Thanks.  Trying to decide if I want to go with Raven or Canyon Red armrests/speaker grates/map pockets now.

Started experimenting with the interior color combo a little.  As I mentioned before, I'm not a huge fan of red interior ... or at least not a full on red on red on red.  I do want to keep some of the stock-ness of the interior though, so here's what I'm toying with:

-Stock dash - Raven on top, Canyon Red below
-Upgrading to the high series door panels - messing with these now, thinking of going Raven as the base and then mixing in Canyon Red pieces (started with the inserts)
-Switch out to a Raven carpet
-Add a Canyon Red center console
-Keep the stock Canyon Red seats

Quote from: 85CougarCobra – on November 19, 2019, 08:16:14 AM

Quote from: thunderjet302 – on November 18, 2019, 11:30:53 PM

I think red lower dash,  center console, door inserts, and seats will look good with raven everything else.

Thanks.  Trying to decide if I want to go with Raven or Canyon Red armrests/speaker grates/map pockets now.

I'd go with raven. Leave the red just for the middle door insert.

I like the color combo (a lot) but having trouble imagining the seats being one color (either).  Are you painting the trim pieces or they original color?  Would dying/paint the seats a combination be an option?  I believe the raven seats were originally two tone so something similar?