Nouveau membre

Christophe, the last six digits are the production number, which started at 100001 for Ford, as opposed to Mercury vehicles which started at 600001.
5 is the build factory - Flat Rock, Michigan.
X is the model year - 1999.
2 is a check digit.
T is a 2.0 engine.
60 is the Series denoting the I4 Zetec.
T is a passenger car.
H is Active seat belts in all positions and front and side air bags for both driver and passenger
WH0(zero) are Cougars built in America but marketed in the UK, Europe and Australia.

The VIN for Mercury Cougars, marketed in the US, begin with 1ZW.
 
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Hello everyone, is there someone in the club who has restored their car to preserve it over time?
Because I want to keep my cougar so the car's paint, a driver's seat, and especially the history of this car since its conception, because here in France, I can't find much information.
 
Hi Christophe!

Yes, by this point anyone who owns a Cougar is preserving it, even if they are running it daily.

How well you can preserve the paint will probably depend on where you store the car, how often you drive it, and in what conditions it is expected to live. Since she's probably 25 years old at this point, you must expect that she will show scars. I don't demand perfection, but if I did, only a full respray or coating will fix it.

The seats are another question of how often the car is used and - I hate to say this - the physique of the person driving it. One of my old cars (Tiger) was originally owned by a larger man, so the seat bolsters were pretty flat by the time I bought it. My current car (Florida) has apparently only been owned by smaller people like me, so the seats are perfect. I think that the best you can do is make sure that the leather/fabric is well cared for with cleaning and humectants. The underlying foam can be replaced, but it's not a fun job.

As for history, Unless your car has been serviced at a Ford garage, (or the same independent garage) for all of its life, you're probably out of luck unless the previous owner kept all receipts and gave them to you when you bought the car.

If you want my opinion... Service and clean her the best you can. Do your best for her as she is now, and don't worry too much about what happened before you knew her because you can't change it. You can fix things that you find, but don't panic about the past.
 
In France sunshine is becoming more of a problem.
It damages paint dries leather and destroys dashboard plastics.

Even here in U.K. if it’s a hot sunny day I open the tailgate and / or windows to release trapped air and reduce in car temperature.
I wish I could get my cars into shade but that’s not something that will happen any time soon, maybe in the future….
 
Mabo, I grew up in Florida where the heat of a closed car would melt the plastics. The dashboard on my (first) stepmother's late 2nd-gen Camaro turned from blue to grey and then developed cracks that you wouldn't even want to try to fix because she was an idiot. And that was in 1982.

Tracey experienced this back in 2012 when we used my grandmother's black Lincoln Towncar to wander around S. Florida. "Don't get in. I'll start it and put on the aircon first, hon." She literally couldn't comprehend it.

And now, there are days that I open the windows on my Cougar just for airflow, even if it's not going anywhere immediately. Because otherwise I wouldn't be able to hold the steering wheel when I do need to drive it.
 
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I’ve seen the damage you describe when we were in California years ago. Global warming has brought the problem here.
 
I’ve seen the damage you describe when we were in California years ago. Global warming has brought the problem here.
Ugh, very much so.

It's not that bad yet, but it might be. Or even worse - imagine if it rains here constantly and we can't keep our cars clean and dry? That's the more likely scenario.
 
We’ve had both of those over the last 2 years.
Last summer was a scorcher, followed by the 9 or 10 months of rain until fairly recently.
 
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