In the 1967 model year, competition came to the hot “pony car” market that Ford had owned nearly 100% for the prior two years. The new faces on the scene were the Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, and Mercury Cougar. The latter was a larger, better-equipped version of the Mustang that was #1. The first generation lasted until 1970, after which the Cougar became a personal luxury car. The seller has a trio of early Cougars for sale, two from 1969 and one from 1970. Not much is known about each, but the collective package is “cheap wheels” at $2,000 OBO for the trio and some parts. Located in a field south of Eureka, California, this trio is available here on craigslist.
The Cougar received a facelift in 1969, making the car a bit more streamlined than the 1967-68 models. Besides the base entry, the XR7 was the luxury edition. With the market getting more crowded, Cougar sales dropped from 113,000 to 100,000 units in 1969. The two ‘69s the seller has are a “regular” Cougar with a 351-cubic-inch “Windsor” V8 and a 3-speed manual transmission, gray in color. The other is an XR7 with a 351 and an automatic transmission with green sheet metal.
Wrapping up the trio is a parts car (maybe all three are), a 1970 Cougar with no details. All three cars have clear titles in non-op status, and the seller has a spare 351 Windsor engine to throw into the package. Perhaps you can make one good vehicle out of the two ‘69s, borrowing pieces from the ’70 when they fit. If you’re a Cougar fan, is this too good a deal to pass up? Thanks for the tip, Tony Primo!
Suspiciously cheap. If real, would be an ambitious undertaking, but would be worth the effort
You’d probably be in over your head just dragging them home.
That’s a good reason for them to be so inexpensive. That area is pretty remote for California and the area can be very wet. The ad leaves more than a little bit to be desired, but a low price tends to negate that. Serious potential buyers will call, that’s how they pick up deals, they follow through when others don’t.
Steve R
After checking the map, it looks far enough inland to not be affected too much by the salt or fog, but redwood country and the dry fire season. I lived about 50 miles south back in the early 70’s. Good enough for someone in N California who has access to a truck or trailer.
Dave in PA, it’s still 4 hours each way from the last large city in the northern part of the Bay Area (Santa Rosa), 5 hours from the core, there isn’t easy access to the central part of the state, gas is $5+ a gallon. Unless someone has a multi car hauler that can get very close to the sellers property it’s likely a multi day job to get these cars. For someone who lives close by and has a truck and trailer it could make sense, otherwise the time involved becomes prohibitive.
Steve R
Three sweet-spot Cougs for $2K? I get that they’re roasted, but it still breaks my heart. If only they’d been sold off years ago…one of them might still be cruising proudly.
Right on JD!!!
I agree. Three cars that could have been rescued if the owner wasn’t one of those guys who said I’m going to restore them some. Yeah right.
If these cars were anywhere close to me I would be all over this deal. Unfortunately I am on the east coast so they are no where close to me.
These are worth the gamble. Definitely 2k in parts here.
wrong side of the country or i would be all over them. best deal you will see here in a long time to come.
For sure like other others have mentioned it’s worth a gamble. The only thing is if the underside of these are out rotted out then I would say forget it, but if they are fairly decent underneath, this could be a great project!
But even if one car is salvageable, I think it would be worth it. I do like the shade of green and I’m not a green person. Some of these Cougars look really sharp in that light metallic green.
I’ve seen this ad many times.I was in that area a couple of weeks ago.
Hydesville is not too far SE of Fortuna.
If these were near a Redwood tree,they could have some serious
rust,as those needles retain moisture really well.I went & looked at three
Triumph GT6’s just outside of Eureka (Cutten),& one of them was parked
in vegetation & under Redwood trees.The rear ended was rusted completely through on one of them.
I’ve always had a soft spot for the early cougars! That green with black color scheme is ideal for my taste! Hideaway headlights and the sequential tail lights are icing on the cake! Hopefully a cougar fan snatches them up and they live on in whole or parts!
Not often you see 3 cougars out in the wild like that.
I’m going to guess that the price represents seller’s domestic partner’s ultimatum Either they go or I do. No judgment on whether he made the right choice.