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'82 Mercury Cougar

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    '82 Mercury Cougar

    No, not a Panther, but still a boxy Ford so maybe it will get some love here.









    It's a 1982 Mercury Cougar GS, and it has a rowdy little freshly-rebuilt 302 with GT40 heads and BBK headers paired to a T5 transmission, with Cobra front brakes and '03 GT rear discs. And the interior is damn near spotless.

    I wanted a clean Fox Body, wagon preferred, stick even more preferred, so...this one checked a lot of boxes, so I decided to buy it having never seen it in person and had it brought via truck from Arizona last month. I didn't have time to do a fly-n-buy and honestly, a fly-n-buy would've cost $500 more dollars than having it delivered.

    Ran really great upon arrival but I believe I'm chasing a short as the car has developed a crank/no start condition. I've gone down a Fox Body no-start checklist I found online and ruled out tons of stuff (distributor, coil, ignition switch, etc etc etc etc) and have isolated it to the EEC and piggybacked tuner not getting power. I came to this conclusion when I jumped 12V right to it, and the LCD display on the tuner lit up. At that point, the car fired right up. Since the EEC relay tests good (and a new one was swapped in just to be double damn sure), it sure seems like I have a short somewhere and will just have to find it. NBD.

    Anyway, I like it a lot. It spins the tires (surprising, with a 2.73 rear gear that I eventually will swap out for a 3.55 or 3.73) and it doesn't have Rust Belt problems. The only rust is on the hood, where one of the previous owners tried to sand it down and failed. But it's that sunbaked type of rust, not the cancer type. I can live with that. Maybe hit it with some linseed oil or something, IDK.

    Don't worry, I still have my '91CS and two whales...
    '91 LTD Country Squire LX | '82 Cougar GS wagon |'03 Marauder | ' 18 Flex Limited EB
    formerly: '02 MGM, '04 MGM, '04 MGM v2.0, '04 MM, '07 P71 w/5-speed, '03 SAP P71, '04 CVLX (now in pantera77's stable), '10 P7B

    #2
    Weren't they a one year only thing, wagon Cougars? I mean there can't be but five left in the country. Nice find. I'd really want to daily that.
    1990 Country Squire - weekend cruiser, next project
    1988 Crown Vic LTD Wagon - waiting in the wings

    GMN Box Panther History
    Box Panther Horsepower and Torque Ratings
    Box Panther Production Numbers

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      #3
      Not a wagon fan but that is VERY cool and looks clean. Best of luck with it!
      What I Own: 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis GS
      What I Help Maintain: 1996 CV / 1988 CV / 1988 Tempo

      Comment


        #4
        Couldn't edit my last post so I'll add my question hers. Are you going to paint the rear to match the rest of the car?
        What I Own: 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis GS
        What I Help Maintain: 1996 CV / 1988 CV / 1988 Tempo

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          #5
          Sorry - "here" not "hers"!
          What I Own: 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis GS
          What I Help Maintain: 1996 CV / 1988 CV / 1988 Tempo

          Comment


            #6
            Very nice! It’s built on the fox platform. A lot of aftermarket part support.
            —John

            1985 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat
            1990 Mercury Grand Marquis LS (POTM March 2017 & May 2019 - gone, but not forgotten)
            1995 Mustang SVT Cobra coupe (cream puff)
            1966 Mustang coupe (restoration in-progress)

            Comment


              #7
              Very nice! It’s built on the fox platform. A lot of aftermarket part support.
              —John

              1985 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat
              1990 Mercury Grand Marquis LS (POTM March 2017 & May 2019 - gone, but not forgotten)
              1995 Mustang SVT Cobra coupe (cream puff)
              1966 Mustang coupe (restoration in-progress)

              Comment


                #8
                That's a Cougar? In wagon form that's rather cool looking. Rad that it's a factory five speed car? I did not know such a thing existed. Personally, I thought that generation of Cougar was an abortion. It wasn't until they restyled the interior in what, '84 or '85 that I liked them. Your car however? I dig it. Even the wheels don't piss me off like most I see.
                1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
                1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

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                  #9
                  huh, basically the same seats my Continental has, with the controls in the little "box" forward of the arm rest.
                  86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
                  5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

                  91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

                  1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

                  Originally posted by phayzer5
                  I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

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                    #10
                    I like your wagon. The tail lights look different from what I have seen. Maybe a Cougar thing. You need to find a mini Ltd police car and get the speedometer from it. The interior looks great for being that old. I also see the crank wind wing knob. Odd thing that the fox bodies had.
                    I had a 82 Cougar 4 door in 82 when I worked in DC. It was a good car. Lots of parts interchangeably.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      GMN sure is acting wonky tonight (or maybe in general?) so I hope my UBB coding is up to snuff as I manually respond to comments below:

                      Originally posted by Tiggie
                      Weren't they a one year only thing, wagon Cougars? I mean there can't be but five left in the country. Nice find. I'd really want to daily that.
                      Yes and no on the one-year-only. They had a '77 Cougar Villager wagon (based more on the Ford Torino/Elite/LTD). But this was the only Fox Cougar wagon to my knowledge.

                      Originally posted by friskyfrankie
                      Are you going to paint the rear to match the rest of the car?
                      If I do that, I'm painting the entire car. So, unlikely, at least for a while. I have been calling it The Baboon since it has a red butt.

                      Originally posted by Giraffe
                      Very nice! It’s built on the fox platform. A lot of aftermarket part support.
                      Yeah, it's got some of the Fox bolt-on goodies that Mustang guys use. I am excited to start learning about the platform.

                      Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
                      That's a Cougar? In wagon form that's rather cool looking. Rad that it's a factory five speed car?
                      Yep, it's a Cougar. Basically a Fairmont/LTD in uglier Mercury clothing I suppose. But nope, not a factory 5-speed car. The block and trans are out of a 1989 GT.

                      Originally posted by gadget73
                      huh, basically the same seats my Continental has, with the controls in the little "box" forward of the arm rest.
                      I kinda like the little box so far. Good for holding a pack of gum and a cell phone.

                      Originally posted by Mainemantom
                      I like your wagon. The tail lights look different from what I have seen. Maybe a Cougar thing.
                      Yeah, I am pretty sure they were a one-off for the '82 Cougar wagon, as the baby-sized Marquis wagon had an emblem design on the taillights. (at least the ones I've seen, anyway)
                      '91 LTD Country Squire LX | '82 Cougar GS wagon |'03 Marauder | ' 18 Flex Limited EB
                      formerly: '02 MGM, '04 MGM, '04 MGM v2.0, '04 MM, '07 P71 w/5-speed, '03 SAP P71, '04 CVLX (now in pantera77's stable), '10 P7B

                      Comment


                        #12
                        This is really cool. I didn't know they came in wagon form. I love "oddities" like this. Congrats on the car!

                        '78 LTD | '87 Grand Marquis | '89 Crown Vic (RIP) | '91 Grand Marquis (RIP) | '94 Town Car (RIP) | '97 Town Car (RIP)

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Thank you! Despite being built on a very common platform, it is indeed an oddity.

                          The temptation is to swap the front end to something more palatable, like an LTD LX. If I end up painting the car, I suppose that might be a consideration.
                          '91 LTD Country Squire LX | '82 Cougar GS wagon |'03 Marauder | ' 18 Flex Limited EB
                          formerly: '02 MGM, '04 MGM, '04 MGM v2.0, '04 MM, '07 P71 w/5-speed, '03 SAP P71, '04 CVLX (now in pantera77's stable), '10 P7B

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Well, I got it running a few days ago with the help of a friend. Turns out, the relay I thought was the EEC relay was in fact NOT. The EEC relay was nearby, but hiding out. Bad relay removed, terminals cleaned, new relay installed with dielectric grease.

                            Boy, is this thing fun to drive (and fairly quick).

                            '91 LTD Country Squire LX | '82 Cougar GS wagon |'03 Marauder | ' 18 Flex Limited EB
                            formerly: '02 MGM, '04 MGM, '04 MGM v2.0, '04 MM, '07 P71 w/5-speed, '03 SAP P71, '04 CVLX (now in pantera77's stable), '10 P7B

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Way cool. Like it a bunch.
                              ~David~

                              My 1987 Crown Victoria Coupe: The Brown Blob
                              My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320:The Benz

                              Originally posted by ootdega
                              My life is a long series of "nevermind" and "I guess not."

                              Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
                              But, that's just coming from me, this site's biggest pessimist. Best of luck

                              Originally posted by gadget73
                              my car starts and it has AC. Yours doesn't start and it has no AC. Seems obvious to me.




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