1968 Reserved spot with my body guy

[CougarCJ]

I talked with my intended body guy, and my car is the next in line.

He has been in Oregon a few years and works from his home business. Very savvy Mustang wise, he previously was restoring Mustangs down in Sacramento. As of late, he has been restoring Cougars along with Mustangs. The two he is working currently are a 1969 Cougar Eliminator with ram air 428CJ, and a 1971 XR7 429CJ with factory sunroof.

Looks like we will be replacing the late, 1968 passenger side quarter panel that was scabbed on poorly. My car came with the recessed, painted framed reflectors.

Decided on a shade of blue close to Acapulco Blue, with blue interior, don't hate me but we are going to paint the tail light panel argent like the Shelby's. White stripes, GT rear valance, adding passenger side door mirror, sequential LED tail lights, 1969 bucket seats with headrests, probably will get a set of GT wheels and caps in 15x7.

Here is a picture from the beginning.

 

[rvrtrash]

There used to be a guy in Vancouver running a 71 XR7, 429 and sunroof in the late '70's/early 80's. I wonder if it's the same car. There can't be that many of them.

Steve

 

[CougarCJ]

There used to be a guy in Vancouver running a 71 XR7, 429 and sunroof in the late '70's/early 80's. I wonder if it's the same car. There can't be that many of them.

Steve

It's a yellow car. Loaded Cougar sold new in Eugene, to an eye eye doctor.
That is the story that we heard when we picked it up down near Roseburg.

 

[robert campbell]

Scott,
What was your build date and consecutive unit number.

Rob

 

[CougarCJ]

One of these years I hope to find out if my car is one of the first J codes. I also believe that this car is from the group of finished cars selected to be converted to a GT/CS, and used to fill the pipeline for the introduction rush.
I say this because of the 2 week gap from my actual built and release date, coinciding with the timing of the introduction date.
I will likely have this car finished and returned from Denver next year, before I get my hands on the 'book' that will hopefully shed some light on my early GT/CS

 

[CougarCJ]

Soda blasted the body

I had a guy come out and media blast my GT/CS with baking soda today.
Previous repairs look like the passenger side quarter panel (which we knew about), both doors look to have had rust repairs in the front corners previously, plus more damage to the passenger side door (evidence of multiple holes drilled for dent puller), several other dents since we found skin coats of bondo in several places.

I will post up some pictures in a day or two.

Thinking black interior now. :wink:

 

[robert campbell]

Scott,
One of the earliest without a doubt. I still doubt that the guy with the book knows the whole story.... Yours is without a doubt one of the earliest we have seen. Wonder if it was on the floor at the debut?

Rob

 

[CougarCJ]

Really pleased at how little body work will be needed.
Passenger side
Passenger side door patch.
Driver side door lower front
Top of cowl
Driver side rear quarter panel, hard to see California script holes
Even did the inside door panels and rear panels, nice clean scrolling
Door jambs
Rear tail panel

 

[di81977]

Scott,
Good luck with the build, exciting times. I totally agree with the do what you like philosophy, but never was a fan of the argent tail light panel.

It is interesting to me that it took 3 months for your car to sell. Sorry to go off in a tangent, and I am sure this has been discussed, but was the California Special a success? How about the HCS? I find it interesting that it took one of the earlier cars three months to sell. My late June car took more than 3 months to sell. I wonder what the average days to sale were for these cars.

David

 

[CougarCJ]

Scott,

It is interesting to me that it took 3 months for your car to sell. Sorry to go off in a tangent, and I am sure this has been discussed, but was the California Special a success? How about the HCS? I find it interesting that it took one of the earlier cars three months to sell. My late June car took more than 3 months to sell. I wonder what the average days to sale were for these cars.

David

Not sure, my guess is that the GT/CS cars were used to generate floor traffic to lesser Mustang coupes. They also may not have bargained on the sticker prices, much like the Ford dealers do now on popular new cars.

 

[hookedtrout]

Was the California Special a success? How about the HCS? I find it interesting that it took one of the earlier cars three months to sell. My late June car took more than 3 months to sell. I wonder what the average days to sale were for these cars.

David

The good news is that less interest then means less cars produced which means more value or rarer cars for us now.

 

[BroadwayBlue]

Both of the CS's I have owned took 6 months to sell almost to the day

302 - Built 4/30 sold 10/26
289 - Built 3/21 sold 9/20

The Marti Report thread will tell you how quickly they sold. Most seemed to take awhile.

http://californiaspecial.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3199

 

[CougarCJ]

The body and paint guy that I had lined up has not been returning my calls for months now. So, I sought out another shop for body and paint.
Long story short, I trailered my GT/CS down for an estimate this morning and ........it should be completed in 3 months!

The shop owner is another former California resident that has moved to Oregon.

 

[68 special]

If it doesn't work out with this guy, I have a friend who has been into mustangs forever and started his own restoration business in Grants Pass. I saw a couple of his cars at the Medford cruise and he did an outstanding job. He owned his own paint business for years prior to his new business. He is very active in the Rogue Classic Mustang Association. His attention to detail is crazy. Let me know and I'll forward you his name.


Bret

 

[J_Speegle]

It's a yellow car. Loaded Cougar sold new in Eugene, to an eye eye doctor.
That is the story that we heard when we picked it up down near Roseburg.

Sounds like mine (Comp Yellow White leather XR7) just no sunroof (thankfully) on mine

 

[CougarCJ]

Sounds like mine (Comp Yellow White leather XR7) just no sunroof (thankfully) on mine

Have you seen Chris Long's yellow 429CJ?

 

[CougarCJ]

Progress, it's taking shape

What a transformation!
The guy doing my body work is quite the prefectionist. He has re-aligned my previously replaced, passenger side quarter panel. It did not line up with the deck lid. He has also made modifications to the rear end caps (both reproductions), so that they conform to both the the deck lid, and the quarter panels. I realize that the fiberglass fitment on my car is going to be 'better' than when assembled way back in February 1968.

 

[robert campbell]

lookin great!!!!

Rob

 

[rvrtrash]

I made my original parts fit correctly, before I knew they weren't supposed to. Arlie and I talked about it when he was up here last, and we decided it's ok to have it fit right.

Steve

 

[CougarCJ]

October 2011 Progress

Major body work is finished:grin:

Disassembled and in initial primer.

This is where they check for high or low spots.
It should be ready for pickup just before Thanksgiving.