$200 worth of Cougar

Reply #15 – July 15, 2009, 12:48:30 PM

I'm not exactly sure which barn this one came out of. I'm in the city myself.

This is actually my 3rd mercury. I don't look for them, they just find me. My first one was a '89 sable. I paid $500 for that one from an ex-bf. The 2nd one was a '91 grand marquis. That was one big, old boat. Hit a speed bump in that one and you'd still be riding the wave 10 minutes later. I ended up paying about $1200 for that one. More than I'd usually spend on wheels.

The cougar came from my bf's cousin's friend. The grand marquis had died recently, (murdered by my bf) and I was looking for a new, cheap car. One day the bf came home and told me his cousin's friend was getting rid of an old car he'd been wanting to restore but couldn't keep anymore.

I wish I'd taken a picture of the first time I saw the cougar. She was in a garage, covered with dust and spider webs...and spiders. The car wouldn't start so there were no interior lights and no lights in the garage. The first thing I saw was the back end with the mecury badge. I started to laugh, thinking "another mecury, what are the odds?"

Massimo (the cousin) was telling my bf how fast the car was. I was skeptical. Apparently, the boy had bought it off someone who had stored the car for many years and had driven it a little but then bought a new truck and stopped driving the cougar. The inside was littered with cigarette butts and poker chips. I down know how the upholstery escaped.

Massimo kept saying "really, Pete, this is a great car. runs great. "

It turned out that the clip thing that holds the wires to the battery post was broken. My bf bought a new one for $4 and the car started right away. The boy was looking quite sad when I handed over the $200 and drove away.

I can be a little ocd, so when I got home I googled 1986 mercury cougar to see what I could see on the car. The first thing that came up was youtube videos of the car drag racing! ...with my stock engine!

Needless to say, I eventually found coolcats.com and the forum here. I feel a cetain responsibily for her now. She's an awesome car. The engine runs like a dream, the steering is tight, the brakes are good, it doesn't make any strange noises and the red velvet interior is to die for. She's even got a nice little kenmore cd player installed.

Having said that...she has her issues. All cosmetic, really. I guess the paint was really bad so the boy let his buddy spray it the ugly burgundy color. patchy, thin, dull, and bumpy. They took all the exterior mouldings off and only about 1/2 are in the trunk, bent and badly spray-painted black. A couple of the badges are missing. The speaker covers on the inside were taken off as well as some of the other interior trim. The speakers have their wires cut and are in the trunk as well.

All that is relatively easy to fix, I think. I haven't had any luck with the wreckers here in Vancouver but sooner or later I'll find what I need. A friend of my bf said he had one in his garage and offered me $1000 bucks for mine for parts but maybe I'll end up buying parts off of his. :D