YouTube Transcript:
A couple years ago we did a
numbers-matching video on a 428 Cobra
Jet convertible Cougar turned out to be
wildly successful. It's got thousands and
thousands of hits and been spread all
over the forums, so we decided to do the
other end of the spectrum.
This is a not
so rare 67 289.
Why would we care if it's
numbers matching? Well as the value
creeps up on these cars, it matters more
and more. So we're gonna go through it, from one into the other, and find out
what's original, what's not, teach you
some of the differences between the way
they change the numbering systems between the 67
to 69 .... we're probably gonna run out
of words here pretty soon so....
Scott our
Carchaeologist is gonna take over here, he's our main man on this stuff and I
think you'll find this educational and
entertaining.
First thing let's go ahead
and we'll do the door tag to establish
our baseline. I can already tell you this is the
original color, this is code eight
Jamaican yellow, black interior standard
model.
This is the date cut that tag says
code 65 a AAA is designated as hardtop
bucket seat interior this is the
standard standard interior colored black
code is 2a and starting 68 this was
actually considered decor because they
actually had a base interior that was
much much lower you know in fanciness
it's not a word okay this is a 1967
Mercury Cougar built at the Dearborn
assembly factory but designated by this
the F F here designates Dearborn
Michigan the only place that the 67
Cougars were built starting in 68 they
built quite a few of them in San Jose
which was also known as the the Milpitas
California plant the this 91 is the body
style that's a standard and then the
engine designation is a which is the 289
four-barrel carburetor which was the 225
horsepower I believe
automatic transmission as designated by
the transmission code of w-4 a/c for
you'll always find a c4 behind the small
block or the 289 cars the axle code is
one
I believe that's 3.0 non-locking the
date is 0-2 F June 2nd and that is the
schedule for build date and I'm gonna
kind of jumping ahead a little bit I can
tell you this car was probably fully
built a little later than that because
there's some different things that'll
tell me that and will show that and it
was also the district sales office was
number 54 which is Seattle so this car
probably quite likely was sold in the
Oregon Washington area brand-new we
don't have a Marti report for it this is
that's for the new owner to get we've
cars on loan so so let's let's look at
some other things talk about the body
book tag which is here gonna read that
that basically is your VIN number
complete VIN number the body code 65 a
meaning it's a bucket seat coupe eight
would be the color Jamaican yellow again
467 three zero one that's called the
body rotation now we're basically what
that is
that puts places the car on the chain in
the factory basically it's a place on
the assembly line to a black standard
interior bucket seat Dearborn Michigan
used these tags on the assembly line and
this indicated to the workers with the
options the ones that needed knockouts
or holes drilled for installation of the
things this one has a vinyl roof so it
would it would have holes drilled for
the the moldings and the power brakes
would have the cutout on the firewall
for the brake booster in this case it's
powered drum brakes but either way it's
still got a booster okay couple little
things here sixty-seven air cleaner very
typical the California version would
have had an extra elbow coming out of
the side which would have plugged into
the air foil filler cap which would have
been a closed system this is considered
open starting at 68 they went to em Co
it just improve
combustion that was a smog thing and
they also had some smog pump on some of
the some of the cars
okay 67 this is very correct this the
oil cover smooth smooth valve covers
rather than powered by Ford powered by
Ford covers did not come out until 68 on
the small blocks we have done some work
on this that's why this is painted it
should be teal blue rather than the
black it's just easier to do it that way
a couple of little details here on the
this is a leather strap here some of
them are some leather leather rubber
this would hold the RIT the original
power steering hoses hose rather one huh
and that would hold it kind of kind of
put a loop in it kept it away from the
heat of the exhaust manifold that's that
was original and we've we've replaced
the hoses they were kind of getting
checked kind of bad all right
unveiling coming up all right we've got
the air cleaner off so we can see the
carburetor distributor intake manifold
etc okay intake manifold correct for the
engine although we do know the engine is
a 302 the the block has been changed at
some point casting number on the intake
is seven letter D 12 April 12th 1967
that would be a match for this this
particular engine for the car rather
than the engine carburetor even though
this is the remnants of a remanufactured
carburetor tag it's probably the
original one the tag is present so that
helps a lot
but it you know deciphers C 7 D F and
then AF which would be as correct for a
1967 289 four-barrel on this for this
engine for this car and then below that
there's another 7e c and that would be
May 1967 I believe third week
manufacturer for the carburetor itself
that's the auto light 4300 carburetor
okay we've got the original antigen tag
and I pretty sure that's the original
location based on my nails book 467 they
kind of jumped around for different
years now that one that reads 289 see
289 will be the engine size C I believe
is for Cleveland engine factory then six
seven is the year 67 15 is just changed
level based on the yet for the engines
seven - a that's the date again that's
May 1967 and then a 235 B that's a plant
code and that 235 is significant meaning
that it's a 1967 289 four-barrel engine
assembly on the distributor this is the
original auto light distributor it's
typical you would see this type of
vacuum advance or the 67 is this style
the tall style I don't know what they
call that typically on that distributor
that does have the correct part number C
cz F dash F it was dated 1717 which is
May 17 1967 we didn't expect to see the
suffix F to designate a manual
transmission on this car you know things
happen it's dated right it's likely
original to the car but not specifically
what you would expect to see all right
we're looking at the power steering
gearbox and that's designated by the K
suffix on the SMB part of the number
that was designated as a 16 to one ratio
and the bottom number seven letter e 31
B that is May 31st 1967 and then B is
probably second shift and there will be
a casting number on that power steering
gearbox but it's behind the box against
the frame and I'll show you an example
here all right here is a steering box
from a know one of our core ones that we
take weeks we have and you can see
here's the actual casting number for the
steering box itself in this case
this one's 8 b6b february 6th 1968 and
that's actually if almost about two
weeks they're a little later than the
the assembly date this would be the
assembly date for the steering box which
is 8 b 23 as opposed 8 b 6 so it's 17
days later there was assembled as when
it was cast but anyway there would be
the casting number for the steering
gearbox if you're trying to do a
numbers-matching thing you'd want to
look for that number and there's one
other mention on the 67 cougars and
Mustangs the early steering boxes they
would have a one-inch sector shaft this
is an inch and an eighth this is a
stronger sector shaft here that's the
diameter here and they would take a
unique pitman arm and they would be one
inch on that very very early cars you'd
have to look on my website to see what
the date is on the part and a lot of
times on the early ones they would
actually say c6z are on the steering box
casting which would have been a
carryover from the 66 cars cut the car
up in the air now point out some
differences a couple things between a
Mustang and a cougar and then also
between a first generation first
generation cougar and later ones first
thing I want to point out is this is
called an articulated strut this
actually has a hinge joint in here and
it was for the ride part of the ride
engineered part of the Cougar they did
it for one year
I don't know they for whatever reason it
didn't pan out what have you I don't
know this is an example of a 68 69 strut
rod that would that would replace it
next year and as you can see there's no
no joint there and one year only 1967
only cougar only Mustang would be
different they would have the similar
one like this but this would be straight
here this is more shaped like a golf
club the Mustang one will be just kind
of a straight spear with the bump stop
on the end now the one thing about those
if for 67 cars if you do put on the
modern
or later model disc brakes you would
need to get this styled strut rod with
the bump stop here because otherwise
your turning radius is gonna be much
much reduced not good a previous owner
has added a large front sway bar which
is kind of a good day but it's not
original the original one on this car
would have been about three four
quarters or maybe even a little smaller
originally okay you can see up here here
is the fuel pump and this one is also we
can show we can look at it from the top
this car does not have air conditioning
so we can see it easier but I'll show
you that this is a modern replacement
fuel pump I've got an example of a
button top one which would be correct
for this to this engine this doesn't
generation I can show you this is a an
example of a used core fuel pump the
button top this is made by Carter and
this is the button that I said everybody
refers to us as therefore that as the
button top and you can say it says
Carter they broke up carburetor with you
know the small it says carburetor but
it's Carter on the big letters that was
just their little little take on this
thing and this one you know this one was
made in Canada there was some US made
ones too and the body was similar for a
lot of years a lot of different things
and you know the the lever is unique for
certain engines so if you're gonna
rebuild one of these you need to make
sure that the lever matches the
carburetor and these actually there is a
small number stamped on these would be a
designation for different fuel flow
rates based on the engine output it's
like a k-code mustang would have a
different one of these higher output
potentially then a regular 289 4v or
even the 289 two barrel so original
carter button top fuel pump water pump
this the one on this car has been
changed this is an example what would
have been originally on that car
casting number here c6 that is a six
that's not an 8 OE a this was used in 66
and 67 in
sixty-eight they changed casting numbers
again so this would be an example of an
original water pump if you were really
really gonna go numbers-matching
concours for judging type thing with
this type this is to be the water pump
you would need and these can be found
they're not dated so there's no dates on
any of these and you know there's a
couple you know I can't show you the
impeller but there are some cast iron
impellers a lot of the modern a lot of
the rebuilt ones have stamp steel
impellers you know some people don't
care but some people would want to have
the original correct piece on there
you've assembled
we're gonna show you where the casting
number for the engine block would be if
you could see it without the start of
there which we've already removed that
and we'll show you that at a later time
the engine block number the casting
number on this engine is c8 0 e - 6 0 1
5 - a 1968 302 block in here rather than
the 289 so you got a few extra cubic
inches hiding under there and you cannot
tell over here I noticed over here on
these coil springs you can see the
original paint stripes coming down those
were pre marked and they were basically
designated the colors correspond to the
weight rating of what the specific car
would have this is a standard cougar 289
automatic four-barrel no air
conditioning and that's probably typical
street spring for this car you know it's
not a high-performance spring it's you
know it's based if you had air
conditioning it'd probably be a
different color because of the added
weight of air conditioning alright we're
under here looking at the transmission
that's a c4 transmission found the tag I
didn't find it earlier but typically
they're there they're fastened on one of
the bolts on the servo and the tag reads
P letter e e another space and then a
letter C on the top the second row is
just a just a plain X and then it goes 7
e to 9 and that is the date 1967
for the year ie for the month that's May
29th for the assembly day that that
falls in with the originality of the
transmission could very well be the
original transmission I expect it to be
that least the tag anyway on the c4s on
a lot of the Cougars they actually have
on the tail-shaft this one doesn't have
it but a lot of them had there's that
there's a piece there's extra metal on
there that has poles for that for this
counterweight
and this counterweight would fit up here
like this on the transmission now we
don't see it all the time we see it
often enough then we know it's a cooter
part but this is a vibration dampener
all right one other anomaly on the 67
even on the Mustangs they only had one
torque box torque box is this structure
here on the driver's side on the 67 they
only did they just deemed them only
needing it on the driver's side not sure
why but as you can see lack of one here
they could be added a lot of people do
just to strengthen up their cars but
starting 68 and in you know the years
after that they did have the both torque
boxes so the 67 is a little bit weak
structurally compared to the 68 and
newer just based on the lack of the
torque box on the passenger side we've
moved to the rear part underneath of the
car the one thing I could point out here
is there at this you can see there's a
stripe here drive shafts were marked
pretty much that it did help to identify
them for the assembly line people
specifically for a Mustang or cougar
because they did follow each other down
the assembly line for a cougar Cougars a
longer wheelbase in a Mustang and also
this would be for a c4 transmission the
proper length for a c4 so not exactly
sure what color that is but that is the
original mark the exhaust system the
whole thing appears to be untouched it
is the style of what the original one
would be you would think a dual exhaust
on a on that four-barrel
couger would be typical but in 67 they
were all single exhaust so it's got a
white pipe up there and then it goes
into a transverse muffler back here this
is a service replacement muffler of some
sorted it it matches and fits correctly
probably the light kind quality of the
original it wood doesn't have the cougar
cougar part number stamped on it like
the original but the rest of the system
is all original but these brackets for
mounting this this muffler are
absolutely correct and original for a
1967 both sides and even this this
little bend right here that is factory
original tailpipe tip so do that and
these leaf springs the the new owner of
this car he has commissioned to have
some work done on the car he elected to
put new leaf springs on there we do so
we do sell these Springs and we did when
we took up when we took the old ones off
they did have a board casting number
designated for a cougar and I can show
you that here and then I but you know
it's like obviously these shocks are
Monroes they're not original the
original cougar ones they would have had
a c7 w part number on them stamped can't
find those anymore
a couple of their little things under
here you can see this car has the
original factory tie-down from the
transporter most of the Cougars have
those they just never turned him in
friend of mine his father worked at a
dealership in the 60s and he said that
the Ford Motor Company would buy these
back from the dealers in their pan 25
cents a pair they had to accumulate them
in a 55-gallon drum and then they turned
him in that way and most most dealers
did not feel that it was worth it so
that's why they never took them off it
wasn't worth 24 two bits to pull them
off throw them in a bucket and keep
track this was the original leaf spring
that we removed from this
and you can see the forged stamp is on
the small the bottoms leaf-spring here
it's c7 waa - 5 5 5 6 - G 1 and then 7e
70 would be the date May 1967 ding
that's a match all right we're just just
a comment here on the rear suspension of
a cougar if you can see we've got this
portion here with it with the rubber
inside there that's called an ISO clamp
Cougars had that that was another part
of the right engineered thing it's more
of the the cushiness and whatnot is just
kind of eliminating road noise Road
vibration whatnot so by putting these in
they also had to use a lot longer a
little bit longer u-bolt and also a
wider stance on the shot plates it has
to be a little wider in order to go you
know to encompass the box there and then
it's got the wedge to this wedge
actually maintains the pinion angle in
conjunction with the engine and
transmission so you have to take leave
that in there this is our original rear
end tag this is an 8 inch rear end this
was typical of all small-block Cougars
getting an 8 inch not a 9 inch you could
get a 9 inch on a GT small-block Mustang
but the Cougar never had that on the
small-block this tag it reads wc:z has
in Zed f1 second line 3.0 0 7f a7 fa as
the date - that's the first week in June
1967 and then the last three the 931
that's an internal number and the for
the company that did put the rear ends
together or for Ford it's an internal
number for them alright and one other
comment here on the fuel line 67 s used
a smaller diameter fuel line which was
5/16 as opposed to 3/8 which you was
standard in 68 and they've determined
for determined that we suspect because
they weren't getting enough fuel flow
with the larger larger engines like the
390 s and whatnot so they beefed it up
and it is something you could put on
your 1967 if you want to do you know
when you replace your fuel line you
might want to think about putting the 68
fuel line for the for the Cougar now the
only thing you'd have to also change
would be the fuel sending unit from the
67 to a 68 they use the same exact tank
the only difference would be on the
sitting and it would be the smaller
diameter on the fuel line oh this looks
like an original tank you can tell the
factory undercoating all over it okay
we're looking at the glass this car has
all eight pieces have car light dated
glass and on this one here we're looking
at the passenger side rear quarter
window and this one says tempered and
the date is seven d as you can see in
the lower right lower left corner of the
picture they're all eight of these
pieces of glass I believe are correct
and original to the car and I found a B
C D and E dated glass on this car all
tempered I'm sure it's all original I
don't think that they were really
careful about their inventory rotation
all right we're looking at the passenger
side wing window that one is also dated
7 D also since we're standing here
looking at this mirror that obviously
doesn't belong on there originally this
also just point out that these are
available and they are a companion
mirror for the 67 8 cougars it's a
mirror image of haha mirror for the
driver's side non remote but these do
make a nice addition to the cars the
front windshield is a tinted windshield
factory tinted windshield is dated
correctly for the car it's unknown why
it has it like this assembly line things
happen I would have expected to see a
totally clear windshield clearly it
isn't it says Sun X which is tint it
also says Sun Visor which has the dark
band at the top and in this case it is a
light purple
unlike the
service replacements or modern glass
which has a very dark band at the top
it's just very it's visible but it's
fairly light all right Andrew actually
pointed this out to me this is we knew
as a vinyl top the original vinyl top
for this car you can tell by the texture
and just the overall glossiness it's
quite a bit different than our than our
economist of style of the vinyl top but
also this one see there's there's a lack
of a seam here which the the aftermarket
normally puts because it makes it easier
to make less scrap involved with making
the the vinyl top here without having
the seam here and then also when they
put these in here and you can see this
one's starting to lift out a little bit
this the stainless steel track it's in
it's in the trough of the the rain
gutter here this is actually a stainless
steel trim piece that actually goes in
there they rolled it in somehow it's
it's very difficult to try to replicate
but this that that's actually original
and you don't see them all the time and
I don't know that they even used them
all the time because not all of our
vinyl top cars have those okay what I'm
going to focus on here is not so much
numbers there's not a lot of numbers to
be seen in the interior but originality
and the first thing I notice when I
close this door everything's wrong about
this armrest the texture when you put
your hand in here it just feels wrong
reproduction armrest there pretty much
garbage so that's something you want to
pay a little extra for at a swap meet or
on ebay if you find a good used one you
look at this original here it just feels
better looks better lasts better not
much to pick apart on the inside of this
car I mean it is it is original steering
wheel still has the wood grain
definition this is not a recent you can
never restore that look just like that
you can paint on wood grain but that is
a texture to it I look at this door here
most of these have been replaced you see
how it's got a matte finish to it the
reproductions are overly shiny and look
more like this the knobs are correct
these are 67 cougar only console only
being there cougar only and not Mustang
is Mustang consoles did not have this
additional pad and when you put a pad
here you need longer knobs to be able to
work in conjunction with the console
that another thing is kick panels these
are the original kick panels the
reproductions are technically mustang
and notice these are perforated for
speakers this is not a stereo car there
are no speakers behind there but that is
a cougar kick panel perforated four
speakers that's a big deal those are
usually broken this carpet if you ever
want to know what two original carpets
like you just feel it this feels wooly
and the originals feels a real soft it's
a different blend also nobody seems to
when they do the carpet put these screws
back in place
see these pan head screws with a with a
flange there that's original
whenever somebody replaces the carpet
they almost always forget to put that
screw back in place a lot of people who
just want to replace the carpet because
it's getting a little worn on the driver
side or a little faded I say get some
good floor mats these aren't good floor
mats but there there are cougar original
floor mats to be had out there and I'd
say I'd say go that route as opposed to
replacing your carpet because the new
stuff doesn't hold its color like the
original you only get original once and
it's starting to matter more and more
let's see what else do we see here
correct mirror this is a later 67
earlier 67 would had more of a rectangle
mirror earlier 67 are real early 67
wouldn't had this cut out here in the -
late 67 notice we have the stamped steel
hinges in the upper position and cast
iron in the lower position that's the
way they did it in in late 67 early 67
you would have had cast iron on both
upper and lower sixth early 68 the same
way cast on the bottom stamped steel on
the top
moving on here I noticed these screws
are wrong no big deal but it just tells
you somebody's been there and they
weren't conscientious those are the
wrong size screw wrong angle notice how
they're scratching the aluminum there
it's neither here there but it's just
good to know this stuff look at this
original rubber on here and the dimmer
switch rubber is still there most people
don't even know these cars came with
these originally they're almost always
missing so kind of fun to see those
originals and it's still pliable and not
old wore down do believe that should
have had stainless around here I see
that's missing like it should match the
fuel pedal if this is an original brake
piece it will have a Ford part number on
it and I can just kind of tell it is
yeah the not a full Ford part number but
that this is original I think the
reproductions say DCM are for Daniel
carpenter mustang reproductions so kind
of cool to see that still in place
original plastic cable assembly these
are very prone to breaking and the
service replacements were metal in this
area which is a better design but kind
of cool to see one of the delicate
originals in place let's look at the
seat belts these are correct for 67 if
this was a more a deluxe model or an xr7
they'd have a little button right here
and it does not so correct for standard
seat belt let's see the date codes two
one six seven I do believe that's the
21st week of 1967 the W probably stands
for the Cougar line maybe not I'm not
sure what the w7g is but somebody will
probably clue us in on that let's see
the other ones match yep 21 6 7
this one says 2167 2167 can't read that
one this one says 22 six seven that's
still right right where it should be
22 six seven and it's falling off on
this one it looks like the original
hardware notice there's no markings on
these some some time further I think
either late 67 or probably 68 they put
markings on these so it showed the line
workers which ones went where
right now they had to kind of eyeball
them by length and there is different
lengths for there as opposed to there as
opposed to on the outboard these
ashtrays are prone to breaking the
console so when you open your ashtray
it's a good idea to put a little
pressure this way and open it up I don't
think these guys were smokers look at
this nice
okay this pretty much an untouched trunk
I love seeing these original old worn
taillight protectors in place tucked
under the way they should be
get those out yeah it's supposed to be
held in by a screw there and then they
go to this tab that's sticking out here
so nice nice to see those still there Oh
nos right rear wheel up molding always
nice to have an extra one of those when
you buy a car laying in the trunk
the original trunk necks are textured
textured on the backside your
reproductions are smooth and of course
you got an original part number
stenciled on the backside I'm also
seeing a lot of other little original
things like this clip is off oftentimes
missing this has been replaced this
underlayment that's very much original
seeing a big glob of glue there and
messy underlayment sprayed all over
original cloth wrapping here and the
taillight harness yet this is uh from
what I see a early trunk handle notice
it can't fold within itself from what I
hear though it's a supplier issue but I
don't recall ever seeing these in 68 so
you see these in 67 s in some cars I
don't know what the cutoff date is or
the rhyme or reason that you would have
this as opposed to another that is the
correct spare or the or anyway a correct
wheel I should say 7mf on it and the
smaller diameter J hook and hold-down
assembly and of course we got the
directions here showing it and on this
particular car it's actually a picture
of a cougar some cars some Cougars
you'll you'll look in there and you'll
see a picture of a Mustang and doesn't
mean somebody's bought the wrong decal
it's which it could but they did stick
stick pictures of Mustangs on the bottom
of Cougar trunk lids
here's another oddity 67's some of them
had these little rubber bumpers don't
know again what the cut-off data on that
was but they in 68 you never see those
rubber bumpers and this shows that the
car has been painted in this region it
should not have paint on that rubber
bumper if we come over to this side
you'll notice that there's no paint on
it I do believe this is the original
trunk weather strip because of how firm
it is
and that is how they put them on from
the factory with yellow glue sloppy like
that couple quick observations here in
the front area no faux moko stamped in
the radiator so we know that's a
aftermarket radiator very typical this
is a 67 grill assembly oftentimes I'll
open the hood of one of these old
Cougars and one of them will be filled
in here that would be a service
replacement or a 68 so the delicate 67
grill with a hollow casting is in place
notice we're missing the rubber bumper
that goes here this bumpers never been
rechromed reason being is the first time
you wreak Romo bumper its polished and
you'll see grinding marks in here you'll
see stamping marks in here see how rough
that is in there and the but the chrome
was somewhat of a mem finish hence a
matte finish but it wasn't a high luster
so that is a bumper that's never been
rechromed
when I reach under the bumper I peaked
earlier the little rubber bumper that
goes right here is still in place held
in with a piece of tape very rare
here's another indication it's never
been repainted people always forget to
paint this black I think they brush
painted those after after the piece was
sprayed so that is a black area and
they're not painted and lastly let's
let's take a look at this pinstriping
everybody wants to know what original
pinstriping looks like look at that you
see little little stop and starts just
didn't look real great to be honest with
you let's go over here oh I can tell
it's been repainted and when I run my
finger here right there you can you
there's a ridge so that's been repainted
from the pinstripe down if you look real
close you probably won't see on the
camera different shade of yellow here as
opposed to here let's continue on this
down this pinstriping and here's another
good example down here always on this a
original pinstriping you can see see
where they stopped right there and
oftentimes you sight down these original
pinstripes and they're a little wavy if
you want to learn more about the
differences in pinstriping you can go to
classic cougar community.com and the
guys there have pictures of what they
look like from the San Jose plant the
Dearborn plant sixty of seven verses 68
and what colors should be with what
color combinations in conclusion I'm
glad we got it to put our hands all over
this old car here is a really nice
original car and hopefully you'll feel
more like a pro when you go to look at
that car that's advertised is all
original never touch never wrecked
you'll be able to point some stuff out
and hopefully that works to your favor
anyway it's been fun thank you for
helping Scott and I hope you enjoyed the
video. West Coast Classic Cougar