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Topic: '85 Cougar with Moonroof on eBay (Read 1422 times) previous topic - next topic

'85 Cougar with Moonroof on eBay

I thought this was pretty interesting:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1985-MERCURY-COUGAR-2-DOOR-LOADED-SUNROOF-RUNS-GREAT_W0QQitemZ130012595447QQihZ003QQcategoryZ6339QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

According to Eric, the power moonroof wasn't available until late 1986. This thing has to be aftermarket. You can tell by the frame surrounding the glass. The reason I posted this is because of the moonroof itself. That's pretty impressive! I can't imagine how much coin somebody dropped to have that thing installed.
The auction states that the car has been sitting since 1991. Does that mean that you could have an aftermarket moonroof installed before 1991? That's pretty  impressive to me!
For those who don't know, a moonroof is one that slides under (internal) the roof when opened. A sunroof stays above the roof (manual or power).
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'85 Cougar with Moonroof on eBay

Reply #1 –
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The auction states that the car has been sitting since 1991. Does that mean that you could have an aftermarket moonroof installed before 1991? That's pretty  impressive to me!
For those who don't know, a moonroof is one that slides under (internal) the roof when opened. A sunroof stays above the roof (manual or power).


I've known people to have a roof put in a car before then even, but not internaly like that one. that is expensive.

Didn't know there was actualy a difference, and always understood it to mean the same thing.

Found this, since you got me a bit curious. I still think they mean relatively the same thing though, and have never heard that there was a difference, since most cars allow both sunlight and moonlight in either way. I wonder how correct the first answer is. You know how the internet (imformation) has a way of sounding true, especialy when you agree with a certain answer.

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view.php/3225

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A sunroof is opaque (usually flush metal with the body color on the outside). This roof can either tilt open to vent, slide open to let in light, or both. It is called a sunroof because the opacity prevents the sun from heating up the vehicle. These have existed for quite some time.

In the 1970s, Ford introduced a glass sunroof that they named the Moonroof (actually, the American Sunroof Company, the company that made all domestic sunroofs and now known as American Specialty Cars invented it, but Ford was the first to install it). So to answer the question, a moonroof is a sunroof made of glass.

The problem is, the distinction is becoming lost as more and more people use it incorrectly (some on this website, it seems) Most people today just consider any sort of hole in the roof a sunroof. But in the strictest sense, sunroof=metal, moonroof=glass.

'85 Cougar with Moonroof on eBay

Reply #2 –
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According to Eric, the power moonroof wasn't available until late 1986.

Actually I've never found evidence of a physical car with the factory power moonroof from the 1986 model year. What I have is documentation from Ford dealer order books that the power moonroof was available to order after March 3, 1986. Considering the cutoff point for special orders is usually around the end of May for a typical model year, that would give a person roughly a 12-week window to order that option. I don't really think that was likely. Also, a few of the guys on the NATO board ordered their '87 TC's brand new, and the power moonroof option wasn't installed until November 1986, about 3-4 months into production of the '87s. They had to wait that long for their cars to be built...that's how we know it was delayed.

So I don't see a 3-month window at the end of the 1986 model year as being plausible. And considering the facts about the 1987 cars, I have to come to the painful conclusion that factory (Lorain) 1986 moonroof cars probably did not exist out on the streets.

However...if a customer wanted a power moonroof, they could get one as an aftermarket installation. That was common for dealerships to send out and have done for the customer (or sometimes for a car that sat on the floor too long LOL). They were expensive...usually over $1000, some close to $2000. The aftermarket units were designed for a tight fit into factory roofs, and believe it or not, in some instances I've seen them actually fit better than factory Ford units. What Ford did was design an entirely different roof panel for cars with factory moonroofs. That put extra reinforcements in appropriate places for strength (protection in rollovers and crush resistance). While that's all nice, it also means a lot of intrusion into the headliner and thus your headroom.

The aftermarket units of the time allowed a slight drop in the headliner (sometimes next to none) so they could be universally adapted. They're really amazing pieces of technology, if you think about it...cut a hole in a roof, and design a compact sliding glass unit to fit in that hole, and seal it all up so water doesn't get in, and make it durable, and don't take up too much headroom...and so on. You now understand what it took to do that vs. the factory design. And that's also why they were so expensive.

But available? Hecks yeah. They look almost factory, especially the very popular ASC units. One thing you will notice on aftermarket sunroofs, though, it that they usually aren't as big as the factory ones. Side-to-side and front-to-back, I'm not aware of any aftermarket units that were as large as the Ford ones. Also, Ford moonroofs of our era had a 1/4" chrome ring around the perimeter. Pretty much all the aftermarket ones had a solid black trim ring. So obviously the car in that auction has an aftermarket power moonroof. Installation looks pretty nice.

And Victor...thanks for the info. But I'm still sticking with flip up=sunroof, power=moonroof. For our era that's all we had to deal with since there were no all-metal "sunroofs" for our cars. ;)
 

'85 Cougar with Moonroof on eBay

Reply #3 –
mmm, moonroof. i like mine very much (in the explorer) but doesnt work. The friday my brother and i quit the headliner, a real PITA, to see why it doesnt wanted to retract completely. We proceded to remove the sunroof, very simple and light design, to find a little piece was broken.....we were unable to repair that and we needed to reinstall that....

Time to remove headliner and sunroof = 25 minutes
Time to reinstall headliner and sunroof = 3 hours.....

Trust me , i never gonna try again that.....
well, if i can get a rolled explorer (mmm, that really isnt hard...)
1985 Mercury Cougar V6
1989 F-200 V8
1996 Explorer V6
2001 F-150