Picture the scene...03:45 on the 3rd December, I crawl out of bed to get ready for work, as I miss a lot of emails as we go to bed quite early I do like to check my emails when I get up.
I flick on the PC and stare blearily at the screen of emails downloading, the first one that catches my eye is fellow Cougar owner from Australia Leon Bray " Ebay- Eliminator in the UK" says the title with a link to an Ebay auction.
As I wait an eternity for the web page to load, the list of emails with "English Eliminator" grows, my interest growing as my patience shortened.
As the page comes into focus (it was still before 04:00!!) I was greeted by the pictures of a sorry looking 69 hardtop, mmm it's got high back seats and a scoop and spoiler, looks like someone had done an Eliminator look-a-like. The text describing it did not figure as an Eliminator:
The Advert read as follows:
"1969 mercury cougar was originally 5.0 289 V8 4 spd manual no engine or box it has been partially striped before I got it but has its original axle and disk brakes. It would be a shame to brake this car as it needs to be restored to an original Muscle car, Mercury's Version of fords Mustang, this Cougar is 98% Complete And would make an ideal Project, we are selling just the body shell with all its parts in this auction, Not the 9" Nodular Axle or the front disk ass, that is Disks stub axles and calipers Although if the body shell and parts exceed £450 in auction we will be prepared to leave them on, Delivery is possible to be discussed after auction"
At that point there were no bids and it was at £195 with a Buy It Now of £500.
At this point I was leaping around the room like a giddy kid, calling my wife over to see (fortunately she has to be up at the same time as me, otherwise the story would be going no further!!)
As she feigned interest the words "Well buy it then" were heard, I assume they came from her and not my imagination, but it was confirmation enough for voices, no voices or me!!!
My heart pounding as I logged into Ebay to Buy it Now Immediately I sent an e-mail the seller to ask about delivery arrangements and told him that I would pay for the car as soon as I arrived home from work.
All morning at work I worried that all the interest in the car may cause him to Welch on the deal and expected an email saying "sorry no longer available" however when I arrived home from work I found that I had received an email from the seller asking for me to ring him, when I spoke to him he said, "You know what it is don't you?" I tried to play it down by saying "it may have the sporty option pack" he replied: "If that what you want to call an Eliminator that's up to you". DOH!! He knows what it is, further more he says it used to be a BOSS 302. He asked what my intentions were (as if it were his daughter rather than the Car I was seeking); I explained I had a 69 S-code Convertible and that I had been looking for a project vehicle. We agreed a delivery price and we finished the call. I immediately paid through 'Paypal' and waited for him to contact me about delivery, by the following Thursday I had no fingernails left, what dark hair I still had was now either grey or falling out. I typed a laid-back email asking when it may be delivered and supplied him with directions. An hour later he called and confirmed that it would be delivered the following day, an all out panic ensued as I needed to find somewhere to store the Convertible while I decided the fate of the E-cat. In the end I arranged for the Convertible to be stored at the workshop of the Guy who imported it originally.
Friday afternoon I waited patiently expecting a phone call from the transport company who were delivering the car to ask me to go and meet them just off the Motorway (as previously agreed) so that they could follow me to my home address however while looking out of the window I was rather shocked to see a transporter pulling up outside my house with a very sorry looking Eliminator sitting on the back of it, the delivery Guys quickly unloaded the car and the very first thing I wanted to do was to check out the VIN number, the VIN was 9F91G confirming that it was a genuine Boss Eliminator! It was at this point that I felt like the Cat that had got the Cream, or the Cream that got the E-Cat.
Next job was to have a much closer inspection of my new project, this inspection revealed that all of the Body panels were crunched or dinged in one way or another there was also a hole in the Windshield and the lights, Grille and Bumpers were piled up inside the car, I gingerly started to lift the items off the seats hoping that nothing had damaged the seat covers, fortunately all was well with only compression marks where edges of parts had lay on the Seats. The next step was to move the car off the road and push it round to the garage. I was then able to open the door, (well take it off as it was not bolted on at the hinges) and was then able the rest of the 'Build Sheet' data off the door tag, it decodes as following:
Body: Standard, Hardtop
Color: Bright Blue Metallic
Trim: Lt. Blue Corinthian Vinyl & Lt. Blue Levant Pattern Vinyl
Date: 10 of June
DSO: Philadelphia PA
Axle: 2.83 Non-Locking
Trans: 4 Spd Man. (2.32) CR
I was rather surprised by the axle being an open especially as the original advert had stated a 'locker' a quick look at the half shaft end showed two holes which denoted a 31 spline, I jacked up one side of the rear end and the resistance indicated a locker, once the car was supported properly I crawled underneath and fortunately the tag was still attached to the Diff, once cleaned up it read:
WFD-D 9FB3L91 9 982B
Which (apparently) decodes as a 3.91 locker with a build date of 2nd week June 1969, something very strange, what's the chance of an axle being changed at a later date to a locker with a build date that matches the car? I have ordered a Marti report to see if it's a stamping error on the door tag.
Despite the majority of the unique Eliminator bits being present and correct many of the generic 'Cougar' bits that have been removed over the cars previous history time have gone missing, not so much the bulky items but the small bits that end up costing ££££'s to replace, things like Brackets, Trims, Hinges etc, they all add up to more cost.
Onto the bodywork
Someone at some point and probably with the best intentions has cut out the boot floor sides, the wheel tubs and the lower quarters, so when you open the boot you are greeted by a rather large section of my garage floor, the Sills are pretty sound although the Torque boxes are corroded and there is other localised corrosion, as I have mentioned the panels are all damaged by varying degrees including the roof which is dented due I suspect to someone storing parts on there in the past.
This leads me onto the difficult decision of "where to go next", we know it's one of 61 C/R 4 speed Boss 302's so it is already a very rare beast (even with it's Engine and Trans missing).
It's the only known 69 Eliminator in England so considering breaking it up is not an option, well it is but I don't want to go down in Cougar history as being the Idiot/Butcher who 'parted out' the only 69 Eliminator in England.
It looks like I will go in one of 2 directions.
(A) Buy a complete 69 std and cut out the panels I need to rebuild this Shell and use the parts that are missing to finish the job or (B) Buy a complete 69 std and re-shell the Eliminator into the better shell.
At the time of writing I am tempted to go with option 2, all depending on what is available and for how much it will cost to buy and transport back to England, the chance of finding a solid 69 that's already here is highly unlikely.
Regards
Gareth Newton
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