For your enjoyment, HOT Cougar action!

[Dabooka]

Right, thought I’d throw together a thread detailing my own piece of automotive shiteness; the wondrous Ford Cougar. A bit of a long one to start off with, and if it’s in the wrong place can a Mod shift it. Ta.

My example is a MY99 registered in early 2000 and owned by my in-laws since they acquired it a couple of years later from Lombard Motoring.  Having the correct compliment of cylinders in ‘v’ configuration I always wanted it. I had first refusal to purchase, but years came and went with no sign of selling and so I made do with all sorts of things instead (Mazda Tribute anyone?).

Eventually I acquired it following a poor MOT fail.  Deemed uneconomical to repair with knackered wishbones and an impressive list of broken stuff, its sudden availability coincided with a couple of pals and I signing up for a banger rally to Monaco. Perfect!  After all, the three hundred quid budget would get it through an MOT, right?

Well it did*. At what I consider great expense I sourced replacement wishbones from Poland, found several impossible to get Ford bolts and after convincing the garage to take it on, we had it back in for a repair and test.  Success! We eventually got the rattler down to Sheffield and collected it.

What a car! Check out those lines. ?

Driving it back was a pig.  It wandered all over the place at 70, the blower motor was shagged so it kept misting up and the road noise was… noisy.  We spent time replacing various broken or missing parts including servicing. This is the first time I did anything more than top up washer fluid and change the wiper blades, although my mate is far cleverer with his hands and sorted stuff out. Such as the n/s wheel bearing which was borked.

Pretending he knows what he's doing.

A full dead cow interior was found for £100 over in Carlisle so that went in to replace a truly wrecked driver’s seat. A set of four alloys with decent rubber came from the rather excellent owner’s forum which along with tracking helped with the wandering hilarity and even improved the noise further.

The trip down to Monaco nearly ended in fucking disaster.  A huge fuel leak outside Brussels made us too late for check in on the first night. Caused by the twat of a little clip breaking off the fuel filter, a bodge inside some recovery yard at midnight got us back on the road after we stole parts from a wrecked C5(?) along with a sneaky use of a kettle and some cable ties.  I'll write this bastard thing up another day.

Us thinking we were going to get murdered in deepest Brussels.

Anyway it performed flawlessly* for the rest of the trip, and by now I had committed myself to keeping the delightful old thing.  This is us at Tabac.

Of course it’s failed every MOT since.  Firstly on shite handbrake efficiency (THADTS) and more recently the dreaded rust in the cill.  Oh, and I bought a really wrecked V6 to break for parts too, which has been jolly useful and taught me a lot.  Since then it has made its way to a NE meet near Bishop last year, but now has virtually been in a lockup I can’t get access to, although post lockdown I’ll be moving to a new house and then it should fit in my garage to get stuff done.

TLDR;

Clueless idiot takes a fucked Ford failure to Monaco and decides to keep it.

I will upload more pics to bring it up to date.

[Tamworthbay]

These things are rare as fook now, not that they were ever very common. An ex colleague of mine had one for years, I remember him buying another for spares after it failed the MoT on a dead abs ring that he couldn’t find a replacement for anywhere.

[Dabooka]

Yep, a lot of that going on, got mine from an ex-member on the forum and there's a couple of communal breakers to keep them going. The owners forum is a god send, these things were so rare you can't even get a Haynes manual; it's American (Chiltern?) or the knowledge on the forum.  Saying that I'm sure the ABS rings are available from either a Mk2 / 3 Mongy, but other parts certainly aren't.

I think there's more SORNd more than taxed nowadays.

 

[Tamworthbay]

That was about 5 or 6 years ago when he had his, think it was a 3.0 litre one? He got a jag shortly after, the Cougar was a better car.

[Dabooka]

They were either 2.0 Zetec (Blacktop) or the 2.5 V6^ Duratec. There has been a handful of 3.0 conversions using ST220 lumps, and an ongoing one in the states from a Jag. If mine died I'd be tempted too but the engines are pretty tough units really.

 

[Cookiesouwest]

Brilliant. Always been on my wish list, but so few left, I think I've missed my window.

Well done for keeping it going.

I loved that v6 in my st24. Great engine.

[Dabooka]

I do enjoy driving it, very much a cruiser.

Even well sorted examples go for sweet FA.  Sad really. They do come up when owners 'hit the wall' especially rusty cills.

[Bren]

Truly the forgotten ford.

[SRi05]

Couldn't tell you the last time I seen one of these on the road. Still handsome looking things 

[paulplom]

Good source of spares https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-cougar/174278038419?hash=item2893c7d393:g:bWoAAOSw2sJet7xt

It has a jag steering wheel for some reason?

[Dabooka]

8 hours ago, Bren said:

Truly the forgotten ford.

With good reason to be fair.  All the running costs of the ST24 without any of the practicalities. Mind it didn't meet the expectations of the press either, who were still yearning for a new Capri.... A good cruiser but rear space is compromised.

8 hours ago, SRi05 said:

Couldn't tell you the last time I seen one of these on the road. Still handsome looking things 

Same here. I knew someone at work years ago who had one new, otherwise it's been club meets. Never saw one in the wild apart from a MILF driving one on France. She got the horn. No, wait.....

1 hour ago, paulplom said:

Good source of spares https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-cougar/174278038419?hash=item2893c7d393:g:bWoAAOSw2sJet7xt

It has a jag steering wheel for some reason?

That is actually the standard Cougar wheel.  A few members have swapped the grill for US spec ones with the same 'cat' logo on and it does make people query the marque.  Steering wheels are very limited on these things as they have a hexagonal shaft rather than splines so it makes it difficult to swap them out.  Basically it's that one of the facelift version (the coveted 'C2')

The fail sheet on that is typical, although not beyond saving. We've seen worse be returned to the road but it's time consuming and there's no real market for them so being beyond economical repair is very easy. My own example was going to the scrappers for the sake of an ARB bush, a drop link and two shagged wishbones.

[Angrydicky]

Oooh I've always liked a good Cougar. ATCNBE!

Seriously, always thought these were a smart piece of design, and very rare now. Haven't seen one for five years or so now.

[dozeydustman]

Mine was scrapped for the same reason yours failed its MoT in 2015 (V6 with the x-pack). I couldn’t source the replacement parts for sensible money so despite being in otherwise excellent mechanical and body condition it had to go.

I couldn’t even off it as a spares car on eBay For £100. If I’d been on this forum back then it would have found a new home I’m sure.

It was a lovely comfortable cruiser, one of the handful of fwd Fords I’ve enjoyed driving and would definitely get another should circumstances permit.

[andy18s]

Nice,a black Cougar does look smart

Mine was a 2.5 X pack on a V reg,in black with full leather and all the toys

A quick car but not a fast car, I found it great for the daily commute.

The seats were slightly odd as you seem to sit on them,and not in 

The only issues I had over a couple of years of ownership were the same rear brake issues, the imrc seizing up and the alternator dying

All doable at home although some alternator bolts require access from the passenger wheel arch,and a shitload of extension bars

Only sold it as I needed a van

I was a member of cougar.org back when a 4wd version was built,mating a v6 engine to a Mondeo 4x4 running gear

A fair bit of work went into that

 

[Dabooka]

7 minutes ago, dozeydustman said:

Mine was scrapped for the same reason yours failed its MoT in 2015 (V6 with the x-pack). I couldn’t source the replacement parts for sensible money so despite being in otherwise excellent mechanical and body condition it had to go.

I couldn’t even off it as a spares car on eBay For £100. If I’d been on this forum back then it would have found a new home I’m sure.

It was a lovely comfortable cruiser, one of the handful of fwd Fords I’ve enjoyed driving and would definitely get another should circumstances permit.

Yes a lot went over the bridge around then for that reason. Those wishbones for mine cost in excess of £200 for the pair, enough to put a lot of folk off a car worth maybe £500 with no market.  That led to an glut of spares and repairs hitting the market, with no / hard to source parts, for a model that was never popular to begin with. Worryingly even scrappies are now starting to run a little low on stock for these things.  Saying that there are plenty of good examples and it is easier to justify salvaging one to get it back on the road if the desire is there.

4 minutes ago, andy18s said:

Nice,a black Cougar does look smart

Mine was a 2.5 X pack on a V reg,in black with full leather and all the toys

A quick car but not a fast car, I found it great for the daily commute.

The seats were slightly odd as you seem to sit on them,and not in 

The only issues I had over a couple of years of ownership were the same rear brake issues, the imrc seizing up and the alternator dying

All doable at home although some alternator bolts require access from the passenger wheel arch,and a shitload of extension bars

Only sold it as I needed a van

I was a member of cougar.org back when a 4wd version was built,mating a v6 engine to a Mondeo 4x4 running gear

A fair bit of work went into that

 

You sum up the seating experience well. A lot of folk swap the facelift interior in for that very reason, much much better seating.

IMRC common on all the Fords. I've replaced the dodgy transistor in mine but it didn't change anything. Some delete the butterfly valves all together but I want to try and retain them if I can.

Ah the famous 'John Deer' fourby!  It came up for sale not too long ago on FriendFace, and is possibly the one I'd love to own as much as mine. It was indeed a mammoth undertaking (before my time mind) but an epic conversion. When drunk I watch FleaBay for wrecked Mongys with the running gear but it is waaaaaaaay beyond anything I could attempt.

[andy18s]

The floorpans are identical,so the Mondy 4x4 will just bolt in if you are keeping the 2.0 zetec

It was the v6 block that wanted the same space as the transfer box that caused issues,a fair bit of trimming was used to sort things out i believe 

They were a good car but Ford priced them very close to BMW's 3 series,which was so much better

[Dabooka]

9 minutes ago, andy18s said:

The floorpans are identical,so the Mondy 4x4 will just bolt in if you are keeping the 2.0 zetec

It was the v6 block that wanted the same space as the transfer box that caused issues,a fair bit of trimming was used to sort things out i believe 

They were a good car but Ford priced them very close to BMW's 3 series,which was so much better

Yeah, but who's going to go for the Zetec over the V6?!  Actually joking aside the 2.0 works nearly as well and I'd be happy with it.

RE: The BMW; spot on, and of course no deasel option either, so no go for fleety types.

[Eyersey1234]

12 hours ago, Tamworthbay said:

These things are rare as fook now, not that they were ever very common. An ex colleague of mine had one for years, I remember him buying another for spares after it failed the MoT on a dead abs ring that he couldn’t find a replacement for anywhere.

They were rare as fuck when new IIRC. Chodtastic save though @Dabooka

Edited May 13, 2020 by Eyersey1234
Adding information

[Tamworthbay]

10 minutes ago, Eyersey1234 said:

They were rare as fuck when new IIRC. Chodtastic save though @Dabooka

There were a few round here but not many at all for saying they are a Ford, they all seemed to be either silver or a metallic British racing green. I can’t remember the last one I saw on the road.

[Eyersey1234]

Just now, Tamworthbay said:

There were a few round here but not many at all for saying they are a Ford, they all seemed to be either silver or a metallic British racing green. I can’t remember the last one I saw on the road.

Think I have seen 1 in recent years, in Gilberdyke a few miles from me, though it was always parked on a drive when I saw it so not really on the road

[Spurious]

Wonderful. I'd a die cast model of one when I was younger that my dad brought home from the states. 

They were a sharp looking car. Looking forward to more updates. 

[Tamworthbay]

Perhaps the right car but at the wrong time? Based on what else was around at the time I was surprised they didn’t sell loads more of them.

[Dabooka]

When I looked into them they only flogged about 12000 over the couple of years they were available here.  Confused marketing, no deasel, a move away from coupes in general and up against both the ST24 at launch and then the ST200, you can see why. And that's not including the external competition that's been referenced. 

I fucking love driving it though, and for someone with absolute no clue of spanners and things it's actually not a bad starter car to learn on.

[beko1987]

I went through a phase of wanting one once! Then I got my Puma, which is the better car of the two (virtual wars have been fought over it, I've never driven one mind...) 

Certainly looks a mega comfy place to sit and eat road though! We're a few alright modifications you could do too iirc, and upgraded equivilant mondeo bits bolted on fairly easily here and there

[sierraman]

2 hours ago, andy18s said:

The floorpans are identical,so the Mondy 4x4 will just bolt in if you are keeping the 2.0 zetec

It was the v6 block that wanted the same space as the transfer box that caused issues,a fair bit of trimming was used to sort things out i believe 

They were a good car but Ford priced them very close to BMW's 3 series,which was so much better

No, the Mondeo 4x4 had a hump in the passenger footwell and the boot floor was different on them. 

[greengartside]

My good mechanic friend had a Cougar for many, many years. I believe it was a Ford management vehicle when it was new and he bought it from them. I remember it had a set of Wolfrace 5-spoke 17”s on it, along with a mesh front grille and it looked the nuts. Sounded amazing too. R.I.P V583 LNO.

Amazingly, before the lockdown, I went to my local scrappy’s and guess what was sat there?

 

Amazing! A late one on a 51-plate? All complete.

[Dabooka]

5 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

I went through a phase of wanting one once! Then I got my Puma, which is the better car of the two (virtual wars have been fought over it, I've never driven one mind...) 

Certainly looks a mega comfy place to sit and eat road though! We're a few alright modifications you could do too iirc, and upgraded equivilant mondeo bits bolted on fairly easily here and there

Yep, I have several ST200 / 220 bits to add moar powar!  There's a chap in my estate with a black Puma, we give each other acknowledging nods when he drives past (and I'm under the bonnet). If ever I see a For Sale sign up, it's bought.   Very nice cruiser it is and returned us high 20s mpg across Europe. Not bad for a big heavy V6 that was three up with a full boot.

1 minute ago, sierraman said:

No, the Mondeo 4x4 had a hump in the passenger footwell and the boot floor was different on them. 

Yes it took more fettling. Fuel tank fitting was another one if I recall, not just allowing for the transmission but something else.

[Dabooka]

2 minutes ago, greengartside said:

My good mechanic friend had a Cougar for many, many years. I believe it was a Ford management vehicle when it was new and he bought it from them. I remember it had a set of Wolfrace 5-spoke 17”s on it, along with a mesh front grille and it looked the nuts. Sounded amazing too. R.I.P V583 LNO.

Amazingly, before the lockdown, I went to my local scrappy’s and guess what was sat there?

 

Amazing! A late one on a 51-plate? All complete.

OMFG where be that?  Late for a Cougar, let alone a pre-facelift.  Proper engine at least

[greengartside]

1 hour ago, Dabooka said:

OMFG where be that?  Late for a Cougar, let alone a pre-facelift.  Proper engine at least

My local scrappers in deepest Norfolk. Do you need parts?

[PhilA]

Still see a good number of them here rolling round, they've hit that "cheap car of the slightly sporty coupe that his rock bottom depreciation so all the po' people buy then drive it into the ground" phase here, as filled by other vehicles such as the Toyota Solara and Pontiac Solstice.

 

Phil