We appreciate Gunter Kramer sending us this tip. It is a 1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator equipped with a 351 cubic inch V8 engine and 4-speed transmission. The Cougar is located in Grand Junction, Colorado. The seller states that he is selling the car due to unforeseen circumstances. The car is listed for sale here on Craigslist and has only been for sale for 2 days. The seller is asking $35,000. The odometer reading states 17,000 miles but that it is probably on its second trip around. The pictures are not very good in the ad but the blue paint pops and gets your attention.
The seller states that he believes the 351 cubic inch V8 engine is original but has been bored and cammed. According to the Marti Report, the car was built in Dearborn, Michigan in March 1970. It was originally equipped with a 351 cubic inch V8 engine fed through a 4 barrel carburetor and backed by a 4-speed manual transmission. The Cougar came with the Eliminator package F70x14 tires, power steering, AM radio and the competition suspension.
The black interior looks really nice. It should because the seller installed a whole new interior that was sourced from West Coast Cougar. The car has been in Colorado its whole life. The factory wheels were changed from 14 inch to OEM 15″ wheels from Coker Industries. The car is currently sitting on new 15 inch BF Goodrich tires that have about 400 miles on them. The seller states that the car comes with a lot of extra parts.
There were only 2,268 Cougar Eliminators built in 1970. The seller states that this car has never been fully restored but also calls it a survivor. That may be because it has survived 51 years and is still a solid, dependable car. The ad states that the floor pans and trunk pan are not rusted. The Cougar is said to run and drive great.
That is a great looking car! Wonder why I would say that…. Just not a whole lot of them left, especially in that color.
Don’t know why BF turns my photo 90 degrees. No edit feature today so can’t fix.
I hope this works, Bob?
No matter what you do, Scotty, I still can’t see this as a Mercury Cougar Eliminator!
Thanks Scotty. I’ve never wrecked this car but first glance on the first picture would indicate that was about to change. Paint on the car is the Ford Grabber Blue version of the Cougar’s. It a beautiful car no matter what it turns out to be.
I saw one of these at the Los Angeles Auto Show. I was 9 so can’t say where the venue was, I remember it was under a tent in annex to a building. It left an impression. I remember that groovy rear spoiler.
It does look nice, that might be a fair price?
It’s fair if it’s as nice as it looks in the pictures. It’s very rare, has a 4spd and most importantly it’s unrestored. Many enthusiasts will pay a substantial premium for unrestored cars.
Steve R
he says in his ad the interior was restored, and the engine was gone thru…so unless thats the original paint Its had at least some restoration. Original paint imho is what most people look for as price factor or not. Either way its a nice driver.
Rare car and a great looker. Probably pretty close to what it takes to build and restore these cars. Almost no sheet metal is similar to ‘69-70 Mustangs. WCC parts aren’t cheap and are a lot more than Mustang parts. It should be an interesting sale!
My first car was a competition orange 70 Eliminator, same engine, but an auto. W/ a factory sunroof and white std interior. …I need this one :)
Not a true “survivor”, in the sense of an unmolested, untouched car.
It has been repainted and had body work done (some poorly), as well as the interior redone. The engine bay is missing a lot of correct components as well. However, it IS a true factory Eliminator, with a numbers matching 351C-4V, and a 4-speed manual transmission, so there is plenty of value in that.
If you are looking for driver condition factory 4-speed Eliminator that presents fairly well, this should be on your radar. Some equity can be added by making the engine bay more correct appearing while you cruise around in style.
2,268 Eliminators built in 1970, with about half of them being 4-speed cars.
he says he “thinks” it may be the original 351c, that being said not sure if Ford # the 351 blocks or not. I had a 70 Boss Eliminator too and that was a matching #s car. btw, this car has some nice original Boss valve covers :) :)
I verified the numbers this morning.
Dayle, Ford stamped all engines and transmissions built in the US starting in January 1968, in accordance with Federal Law. This one is no exception.
I exchanged messages with the owner earlier today. It IS a numbers matching block, with the factory partial VIN stamp. I believe he will be adding the picture to his listings.
Pretty sure those valve covers are aftermarket, or possibly an over the counter Ford item, but not factory.
Odd the cougar got roll down rear side windows in ’69-70, but the mustang did not get them.
I would have thought all cougars(which are upscale to the mustang) with bucket seats would come with a console – std.
All 69-70 Mustang coupes and convertibles had roll down quarter windows, just like the Cougar. The only Mustang not to have roll down quarter windows were the fastbacks.
The console was an option on all Cougar models It was not a standard item for any Cougar model.
My favorite Cougar, never seen all that many but when I do it’s all smiles. That blue paint really does Grab my attention, and probably everyone elses even non car people. It is too bad more of these weren’t bought back in the glory days and I get it, though. The market was saturated with eye candy muscle cars by 1970, unless you were a die hard Cougar fan the other choices were to tempting.
This is the car I really wanted, but none were anywhere near me. I think a 1970 XR7 Convertible was a great alternative that was near me!
The car sold on 8/10/21.