Major Milestone for me today. April 11, 2008, 11:58:22 AM Today is a major milestone for me and my 1985 Mercury Cougar XR-7.I turned 40 years old last November, and in January of this year, I passed the 20th year of ownership. Today, April 11th is the 14,769th day since I was born and the 7,385th day of ownership of my car. So as of today, I have officially owned my Cougar for more than ½ of my life! My story:I was wowed by the style of the '83 T-Birds when they first came out and of course was drawn towards the Turbo Coupe since it was their performance version. I was impressed with what Ford had done with the SVO Mustang and I really liked the refined nature of the Turbo Coupe and what it offered in comparison to the SVO.In the spring of 1987, I had my heart set on buying a black '87 Turbo Coupe but I just couldn't quite swing the payment of a new one. I still wanted a TC so I started looking at used '83 or '84 since they were in the price range I could afford. After test driving an '84 I decided that I needed to save a little more money and look for at least and '85 or newer car because I liked the design of the interior much better than the '83-'84 style. It was the summer of ’87 when I saw it. It was a 1986 Mercury Cougar XR-7, 5-speed, Medium Canyon Red Metallic over Charcoal Grey. As soon as I saw this car I fell in love, this was THE car I wanted. It was owned by a guy who was dating a woman from work, he had bought it new. He let me drive it and that sealed it, it was just what I wanted. I then set out on a mission to find another XR-7 with a 5-speed in that same color combo. This search was of course limited since Mercury dropped the 2.3 turbo/5-speed combo for 1987 so that meant I would have to find either an '85 or '86 XR-7 if I wanted to get the color & power train I was wanting. It took many months of searching but in December of ’87, I found a guy in the Detroit area who had an '85 with 39,000 miles on it that fit the bill perfectly. I made him an offer and after some negotiating and the paperwork trail, car was officially mine on January 22nd, 1988. So although I haven't owned it since new, I am the second owner and I bought when it was 30 months old. As soon as I brought it home that January, it was cleaned up and put away for remainder of the winter and is has been stored each winter since. It's currently got about 80k on it.It’s undergoing a complete driveline & interior overhaul at the moment, but I hope to have it back together and on the road soon.Brent Quote Selected
Major Milestone for me today. Reply #1 – April 11, 2008, 12:03:14 PM Wow! I plan on owning my car forever, but then again, that's what I said about my last Turbo Coupe. Sounds like you keep it clean, nice job. Quote Selected
Major Milestone for me today. Reply #2 – April 11, 2008, 12:12:10 PM Pretty cool Brent.Hope you get it out on the road soon! Quote Selected
Major Milestone for me today. Reply #3 – April 11, 2008, 12:29:59 PM WOW, Brent congrats to both you & your 85 CougarXR7 now let the memories last forever. Quote Selected
Major Milestone for me today. Reply #4 – April 11, 2008, 12:32:05 PM that's awesome! i hope to be able to say that about my truck someday. i've already had it for almost 10 years. i'm now on my 6th turbocoupe and the one i've got now is the 87 that tc2 had. this is one of the nicest ones i've owned and i've got no intentions of getting rid of it. a buddy of mine asked me a few weeks ago what my next car was going to be and i told him that he was looking at it. i love my car and my truck and plan on having both for many many years to come. Quote Selected
Major Milestone for me today. Reply #5 – April 11, 2008, 09:16:22 PM wow now that is what i call epic ...it remindes me of the story of my 87 that just sits in my garage awaiting me to curve my atintion away from my covertible Quote Selected
Major Milestone for me today. Reply #6 – April 11, 2008, 09:28:42 PM Thats a great story Brent,There's just something about these cars, I cant explain Quote Selected
Major Milestone for me today. Reply #7 – April 12, 2008, 08:33:09 AM I agree, what a great story! Quote Selected
Major Milestone for me today. Reply #8 – April 18, 2008, 04:51:33 AM cool, way cool Always love seeing your car on the site. One of the great looking cats on this here site. Quote Selected
Major Milestone for me today. Reply #9 – April 18, 2008, 06:47:37 AM Congrats.I've had the Sport for about a tear and a half.It seems the last two Birds were targets for stupid drivers.Hopefully the Sport will have it a little better. Quote Selected
Major Milestone for me today. Reply #10 – April 18, 2008, 10:00:36 AM Thanks everyone for all the positive comments.Quote from: tc²;213572Wow! I plan on owning my car forever, but then again, that's what I said about my last Turbo Coupe. Sounds like you keep it clean, nice job.I made the decision long ago that the name on the title will not change in my lifetime, so I guess that would be considered forever. It's pretty easy to keep clean when it has been torn apart as long as it has. I've been pretty motivated the last six months, but it was just too cold to do anything. Of course now there are the usual things to tend to in the spring like house and yard work, but I am very close to having it ready for its trip to the paint shop to have the engine compartment shot. Then I can begin re-assembly.Brent Quote Selected
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