My Cougar bought in 69

[pontiac guy]

I have a 69. My dad bought it when he got home from Vietnam. Mom and dad went on their honeymoon in it and I came home from the hospital in it when I was born. They fought over who got to hold me in their lap and who had to drive!! Dad restored it just as it was when he ordered it. I don't have the heart to change it.

I actually don't have a good picture of it. Lol

 

[Local Hero]

I wouldn't be changing that one either.

 

[81cutlass]

I really like 67/68's. Second to a 68-72 a body, I think I'd take a cougar over anything else from that era.

 

[Wagonman100]

Nice cars, and that comes from a hardcore GM guy. Me being the type that looks at a car and think how to make it different, since a magazine a few years ago did an article on a company that makes the parts to convert a Mustang coupe into a fastback. I thought it would be cool as hell to use the parts to make the Cougar Ford never did. I’m in the home stretch of my El Camino wagon to give an example of my ideas.

I have actually seen a fastback Cougar project years ago. Never saw the finished car but it looked pretty cool. My sisters ex husband had a purple ‘68 with white interior and vinyl top when they got married. But he had narcolepsy and fell asleep behind the wheel and totaled it.

 

[Local Hero]

Most of the fastbacks on the web are photoshops. There is an orange one going together that looks to be close to finished. So that would be the first one I've seen actually done. Personally, I'm not a fan. It makes the rear quarters and roof look too heavy and out of proportion. If someone wanted that look so bad, they should have just bought a Mustang.

 

[Longroof79]

I have a 69. My dad bought it when he got home from Vietnam. Mom and dad went on their honeymoon in it and I came home from the hospital in it when I was born. They fought over who got to hold me in their lap and who had to drive!! Dad restored it just as it was when he ordered it. I don't have the heart to change it.

I actually don't have a good picture of it. Lol

Is that your '53 Plymouth wagon in the garage? Is it a hot rod project or restoration?
Nice Cougar convertible. It's cool that it's been in the family from day one.

 

[pontiac guy]

Is that your '53 Plymouth wagon in the garage? Is it a hot rod project or restoration?
Nice Cougar convertible. It's cool that it's been in the family from day one.

Good eye. It's a 54 but as you know. Same car. It's a driver. I rebuilt the Flat 6 and had 12v fields put in the generator because I'm fussy. I plan to do a gen1 Hemi (354) for a period correct rod. I'm targeting 63 as the cut off. I'm going to deviate from that with a A833 (883? I can never remember) OD trans. It will get a 9 inch and maybe fender well hedders if I can verify that is period correct. Im trying to source a dual quad for it. Right now browsing old hot rod mags to get it all worked out in my head. As is it's great to drive around. They flatty is pretty peppy despite the 1bbl and single exhaust. Of course it has a 3.73 rear so that helps a lot.

 

[Longroof79]

Good eye. It's a 54 but as you know. Same car. It's a driver. I rebuilt the Flat 6 and had 12v fields put in the generator because I'm fussy. I plan to do a gen1 Hemi (354) for a period correct rod. I'm targeting 63 as the cut off. I'm going to deviate from that with a A833 (883? I can never remember) OD trans. It will get a 9 inch and maybe fender well hedders if I can verify that is period correct. Im trying to source a dual quad for it. Right now browsing old hot rod mags to get it all worked out in my head. As is it's great to drive around. They flatty is pretty peppy despite the 1bbl and single exhaust. Of course it has a 3.73 rear so that helps a lot.

Thanks for confirming the date and sharing some information. I figured it was either a '53 or a '54....like you said, same body style. I know on the '54 sedan or coupe bodies there's usually a small chrome piece of trim over the top of the taillight...like a fin in a sense. That's how I usually was able to differentiate the years. I guess the wagon version didn't have that same trim. My dad actually had a '54 Plymouth when I was knee high to a grasshopper...yeah, I know, I'm dating myself.
I looked at a '53 Plymouth wagon years back with a chopped top, it had a Camaro/ Nova subframe with a smallblock Chevy in it. I always like that body style, being a 2-dr and all.
Those flat 6's were pretty strong engines. I remember them being used a lot for marine use. A popular boat engine back in the day.
I think putting an old school 331 or 354 Hemi in that would be a natural. After all, they did put them in Dodges and Chryslers of the same years, but not Plymouths.
It would be an awesome project. You certainly have some cool plans for it. It looks fairly original from the back.

 

[Wagonman100]

My old boss has a 2 dr. Plymouth wagon with the flat 6 in it. I don’t recall the year offhand. A friend of mine that passed away last year had an early 50s Dodge 2 dr. wagon that was tubbed with a Chris Alston chassis and a blown injected Hemi. It was mechanical injection though and he had a problem with it where it started to rev uncontrollably, so he switched it to carbs.

 

[FastCraig]

I don't have a pic of my dad's 69 Cougar XR7 convertible unfortunately. It was "my" car when I got my license @ 16 and I drove the wheels off of it. 351W with a 2 barrel that you had to feather the throttle when taking off or it would stumble and die. Also had a miss that dad said was a burnt valve. He never fixed either problem and I didn't care because I had the only convertible in my school. My mother drove it to work one morning. I watched her go down the road and a minute later saw her coming back. The cloth top ripped from the windshield back. It pretty much got parked outside with a tarp over it and never got fixed. I bought my 1st car, a 70 Roadrunner and dad ended up selling the Cougar for a few hundred dollars. Years later he told me he was going to give me the Cougar. I asked why he didn't tell me that before it got to the point of ruin and he just said he didn't know. This pic is identical to the car we had.