Saving Cougars

i dont think alan meant anything hostile.(or maybe he did:cool:)..but we do hear this said far too often...i dont care if it was never intended to be sold here or it was overpriced/disliked...
ive happily got one...and i know plenty who have had one when they were new and miss them now they've gone.
why do you assume people new to this club know nothing about the cars history.
i was around 10 years ago(not on this club) and wanted one even back then but could not afford one ,as i said overpriced(and way out of my budget) which you rightly point out...most people who loved the car could barely afford an escort let alone an overpriced coupe
but to say it failed because people didn't want them or like them is wrong..ford just goofed on who would want it.
they did the same with the scorpio..putting it up against the high end beemers and mercs...it was bound to fail.
as for forgetting the car...i think they would rather forget the poor old scorpio:LOL: ,yet my wife caught some people actually taking photos of her scorpio in a car park..they said its been ages since they'd seen one and how they liked the shape o_O
some have even said it looks like a merc..:oops:

you've got an awesome looking car mate i just dont know why you always point to its failings...how about telling us why U like the car(y)

we never hear about your car or how its doing...or even if you've done anything to it..
 
F7OUD said:
I think Tony will be right about that. They would had to test crash at least 1 car.
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I suspect Ford would have crash tested a number of vehicles during the development but can't imagine these would have had VIN / chassis numbers? If they had it would have surely been across the pond where they use a different VIN standard

Trying to recall when Aston Martin closed down one of their sites at Newport Pagnell while I was living there and they had a bunch of test vehicles in various states of destruction, got a bit of coverage in the local rag as every single item from the cars had to be destroyed!
 
I do find it quite funny in a twisted kind of way that the Cougar was a faliure in the UK and got such a bad rep in the press yet most that had one liked them, had little trouble with them and wished they still had one, big coupes from BMW,Audi, Mercedes etc sell like hot cakes now and have since the Cougar was killed off, yes badge and price were an issue, plus Ford did not push the car much or offer a ltd edition high performance type, 3liter 4x4 cosworth kind of thing would have grabbed a few head lines, they will be the Ford that got away in years to come, a bit like the high street, undermined but missed when its all gone.
 
spjmorris said:
I suspect Ford would have crash tested a number of vehicles during the development but can't imagine these would have had VIN / chassis numbers? If they had it would have surely been across the pond where they use a different VIN standard
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Just to shed some light on that;
I've acquired from Ebay motors US, a couple of VINs of Mercury Cougars (2001/2002), both C2 V6 automatics, and list them here beside the UK C2s from previous post:

WF0HT61L715100782 Cougar 1998-2000, 2.5L Duratec EFI (170PS), Amazon Green AY51YVM 05.12.2000 01.09.2001

WF0HT61LX15100842 Cougar 1998-2000, 2.5L Duratec EFI (170PS), Amazon Green PK51NBG 19.12.2000 26.10.2001

WF0HT61L415100013 Wil's laser red C2, FordEtis keeps error when I submit

1ZWFT61L525614599 Cougar 1998-2000, 2.5L Duratec EFI (170PS), Laser Red Tint C/C 18.04.2002

1ZWFT61L515611734 Cougar 1998-2000, 2.5L Duratec EFI (170PS) (solid red) 07.02.2001

I believe the initial 1 is common to Ford US market, and up to the fourth character denote the manufacturer/plant, the remainder (T61L on) specific to the model (have re-read the thread on Wil's red C2 that the difference between Ford and Mercury VINs is the base serial number).

Also spotted this there:
According to the info on the TIS disc the 'Series' for the Cougar should be 20 for the Zetec, 30 for the V6 and 50 for the ST220
Maybe the C2s are described as 'series 25' Zetec and 'series 35' Duratec ?


It could be that between UK Cougar #1 and UK Cougar #2, other characters differed that caused #1 not to show up on etis (ie. it wasn't the same spec as HAR), possibly LHD European market press car (edit. Can we source some VINs for EU/Aus market cars?)

Double edit: to acknowledge @Quicksilverss post below and explain that between mybedits my browser was s-l-o-w switching tabs hence the long time takennto build my post.
 
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1ZW denotes Federal (US) vehicles.
WF0 denotes vehicles destined for the UK, Europe and Australia via Ford of Europe (Germany).

The 1 or 2 before the 11th digit 5 denotes the US model year, 2001 and 2002

The 11th digit 5 denotes the manufacturing plant, which for all Cougars is Flat Rock, Michigan. This throws up the anomaly when you put a Cougar VIN into a UK/Europe VIN finder of a supposed build year of 2005.

The last 6 digits are the build number; 100,001 - 599,999 for Fords. 600,001 onwards for Mercurys.

Source of info: TIS.


For a breakdown of the VIN for Wil's Red Aussie Cougar see post no74 here:

https://forums.ukcougar.club/threads/29418-Red-C2-on-Ebay/page8
 
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shirtyzeus said:
i dont think alan meant anything hostile.(or maybe he did:cool:)..but we do hear this said far too often...i dont care if it was never intended to be sold here or it was overpriced/disliked...
ive happily got one...and i know plenty who have had one when they were new and miss them now they've gone.
why do you assume people new to this club know nothing about the cars history.
i was around 10 years ago(not on this club) and wanted one even back then but could not afford one ,as i said overpriced(and way out of my budget) which you rightly point out...most people who loved the car could barely afford an escort let alone an overpriced coupe
but to say it failed because people didn't want them or like them is wrong..ford just goofed on who would want it.
they did the same with the scorpio..putting it up against the high end beemers and mercs...it was bound to fail.
as for forgetting the car...i think they would rather forget the poor old scorpio:LOL: ,yet my wife caught some people actually taking photos of her scorpio in a car park..they said its been ages since they'd seen one and how they liked the shape o_O
some have even said it looks like a merc..:oops:

you've got an awesome looking car mate i just dont know why you always point to its failings...how about telling us why U like the car(y)

we never hear about your car or how its doing...or even if you've done anything to it..
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I got my car when my brother mentioned it to me and we went and had a look at the one I now own. I had never really paid much attention to Ford's in general as I have never owned one before this car.

I was going through the break down of my marriage at the time and I needed something to focus on as it was a very difficult period in my life. I guess this kind of shows in what the car then became and evolved into over the years. When I got the car I had always planned to have it for 10 years. I am well into my 8th year now.

As with most things in life it starts to come to a time when I question why I still have the car now.............. The car has served its purpose to me now, it got me through the most difficult time in my life. With my growing business as well it is totally useless to me if I am being honest. It sits in my garage, I take it out once a week for a run out, put it back away and that is it. If I have done 500 miles in it this year I would be very surprised.
So I am now at a total crossroads with it, do I keep it and do what Tony has done to his car and future proof it, or just break it and say goodbye.

For the record IMO there is nothing wrong with the car, given what it was based on it was always going to work, I actually love it but I can see why it failed as well which is well documented and no need to go back into.

I have not been to any shows this year as my business requires me to be active on weekends, as for the car I have done nothing to it at all for a very long time apart from oil changes. The last mod I actually did was Daves UIM + 19" Wheels, that was over 2 years ago now. I do not plan to do anything else to it now if I am being honest.

So there it all is........... I guess I am in a different place now in life and the car is in my past life I guess. I think the next time anyone sees my car will either be for sale or broken and spares will be scattered across the land.
 
pllleeeaase don't break it mate..

and i quite understand what u say about running your own business ,very little time left to enjoy the car and attention tends to lean towards what you enjoy doing more...building your business..
my wife runs a cake business and delivers them in her scorpio:LOL: well it does have a good boot..but really she should have a nice little van with a cooler on top...
but she just hasn't got the heart to say goodbye to it.

as i have a company van, melina barely gets out once a week too...and i don't need her..but i know id feel bad if i looked out my window and didn't see it parked up out there..

things never stay the same and when your business has grown and succeeded...and you've employed a manager to take care of things..there will be time to open up that garage door and be glad you kept it.bet you didn't know im psychic did yer(y):LOL:
plus!
id love to see your car go round the combe track....if you ever get the time(y)
 
shirtyzeus said:
pllleeeaase don't break it mate..

and i quite understand what u say about running your own business ,very little time left to enjoy the car and attention tends to lean towards what you enjoy doing more...building your business..
my wife runs a cake business and delivers them in her scorpio:LOL: well it does have a good boot..but really she should have a nice little van with a cooler on top...
but she just hasn't got the heart to say goodbye to it.

as i have a company van, melina barely gets out once a week too...and i don't need her..but i know id feel bad if i looked out my window and didn't see it parked up out there..

things never stay the same and when your business has grown and succeeded...and you've employed a manager to take care of things..there will be time to open up that garage door and be glad you kept it.bet you didn't know im psychic did yer(y):LOL:
plus!
id love to see your car go round the combe track....if you ever get the time(y)
Click to expand...

The biggest issue with the car is I am in catering, so I spend a lot of my time in and out of food warehouses. My boot is full of speakers in the car + when it only really returns 22mpg it is silly to be using it as a daily car. And that is also where I am stuck with it, in catering most of what I do is weekend based so I never get chance to attend anything club wise. This is why I do not pay my subs anymore ( that is a whole different argument lol ) there is no point seen as I can not get to shows or xmas party's etc etc.
I have been to combe a few times and even called in when not attending the actual show. I did enjoy being at shows with the club but for me and what I do nobody can step into my shoes really. I have a particular way of working and I am very skilled in what I do. I would not trust anyone to replicate the things I am capable of so for now I have to do pretty much everything in my kitchen. maybe I will train the twins when they are old enough........... So for now this is the playing field, I love what I do, it comes naturally to me, I must be good as I now turn over well over 100 people every Sunday with my Carvery ( only open 12pm till 3.30pm )
Well we will see what the future holds I guess. If I am not busy I might make an appearance at the hall on the Saturday.
 
Even though you found out about rust issues that you would know about rust issues until it was posted by Tony in the general sections.
 
charliecd001 said:
Even though you found out about rust issues that you would know about rust issues until it was posted by Tony in the general sections.
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I was always aware of the issues of rust with the car as I have had first hand experience of the sills on my own car. I also seen what condition Phoenix was in when Si bought it so I have always known if you do not get under it at some stage it will bite you in the future. The only thing I actually learned that I did not know was about the ABS hole under the seat is one to look out for.

- - - Updated - - -

Also Tony has posted up everything on Facebook as well as in here so I would have seen it all anyhow.
 
elipton said:
I know the differences, but LED's still light the screens up which is my original reference because one of my LEDs have failed
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ah! The only LED's in the cougar are in the switches. All displays are illuminated by capless bulbs. If you have LED's in your displays they will be after market mods. At the risk of running this thread OT, let me know which display and colour and i should be able to get an LED to you.
 
spjmorris said:
I suspect Ford would have crash tested a number of vehicles during the development but can't imagine these would have had VIN / chassis numbers? If they had it would have surely been across the pond where they use a different VIN standard

Trying to recall when Aston Martin closed down one of their sites at Newport Pagnell while I was living there and they had a bunch of test vehicles in various states of destruction, got a bit of coverage in the local rag as every single item from the cars had to be destroyed!
Click to expand...

We're drifting off-topic, but I thought I would put you out of your misery.

The Newpers Paggers site - known as Olympia - shut down in July 2007, at which point all production was moved to Gaydon.

In 2013, it reopened as a "Heritage Showroom". Basically they have "one of everything" there so it's kind of a museum for paying customers, but they also rent it out to clubs and the like for events.

Fun fact for you: Olympia was on the opposite side of the road from the engine manufacturing facility. Every single engine was dollied on a pallet across the pedestrian crossing to reach its intended host.

Cars that were crash-tested would generally have been considered Cat-B writeoffs, if they'd been insured. But since they weren't and no inspection was done, it was impossible to certify them for use. Hence they were (kind of) treated as Cat-A and no part was allowed to be used on a restoration. They had to be shredded.

Hope this was interesting!
 
F7OUD said:
The biggest issue with the car is I am in catering, so I spend a lot of my time in and out of food warehouses. My boot is full of speakers in the car + when it only really returns 22mpg it is silly to be using it as a daily car. And that is also where I am stuck with it, in catering most of what I do is weekend based so I never get chance to attend anything club wise. This is why I do not pay my subs anymore ( that is a whole different argument lol ) there is no point seen as I can not get to shows or xmas party's etc etc.
I have been to combe a few times and even called in when not attending the actual show. I did enjoy being at shows with the club but for me and what I do nobody can step into my shoes really. I have a particular way of working and I am very skilled in what I do. I would not trust anyone to replicate the things I am capable of so for now I have to do pretty much everything in my kitchen. maybe I will train the twins when they are old enough........... So for now this is the playing field, I love what I do, it comes naturally to me, I must be good as I now turn over well over 100 people every Sunday with my Carvery ( only open 12pm till 3.30pm )
Well we will see what the future holds I guess. If I am not busy I might make an appearance at the hall on the Saturday.
Click to expand...

From someone who claims that the Club offers him nothing....yet another shameless plug for his catering business.
 
mmmm carvery:p

ive never seen your car in the flesh and would love to...missed it at combe two years ago ,got there late(n)

it would be a shame if you couldn't get it to the show as im sure it would be a real head turner.
 
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