1968 Cougar GTE XR7 4 speed 428cj. 1 of 3. First ever public sale

[Toby_S]

Rare Holy Grail Muscle Car if you are into that.  Please share with any serious collector.  Only one of these to ever go for public sale, and chances are will not see it again for very long time. 

 

http://owlshead.org/auctions/detail/1968-mercury-cougar-gte-xr7-428-c.j.-4-speed

[countrytravler]

Beautiful car. My friend until he passed had this one.

[alsancle]

I sold mine a long time ago.  Always thought it was a shame that they strangled the 427 the way they did and made them all automatics - except for the 3 CJ 4 speeds.  This would be a would record for a Cougar I think.  Would be interesting.

[alsancle]

What do you know,  google turns up a picture of mine sitting in the driveway back in 2005.

[countrytravler]

The one I posted above was a 4 speed.

[alsancle]

I stand to be corrected but I believe they made zero 427 cars with the 4 speed.   The 428CJ was a great engine but they built lots of them and lots are still around in mostly Mustangs but in Cougars too.   What made the GTE so special was the 427 side oiler which was basically a race car engine.  Unfortunately Ford detuned them with a hydraulic  cam and a 390 intake and carb.   Still factory rated at 390HP they were not a slouch but probably on par with the 428CJ.

[smithbrother]

In 1968 I read a short story in Hot Rod magazine that 500 were bring built to satisfy Nascar engine requirements. I called the Saginaw ,Mi. Merc dealer, he had NO idea what I was talking about. I convinced him to call Detroit's locator system. He called me back in minutes to say one was in Battle Creek, Black Cherry with same interior. I said, I want it, he made a deal with the dealer, so he and I headed down. It was on the floor, I didn't drive it, I just made the purchase.

Equipped with the C6 tranny, Black top. It would CHIRP the tires with each shift. I blew lots and lots of cars in drags on the street. At that time I was with Tractor Supply in a High position, so had contacts. Tractor Supply sold air conditioners for farm tractors with enclosed cabs, so talking with the air company I learned they were after market for under dash car installs. They sold me a unit, and I made brackets to mount the compressor. It worked, well I had to make a pulley system that was close to touching the belt. Seems at high RPM it would throw the belt.

The strange part is this,,,,,the neighbor and I started a small business selling lawn sod, we kept our day jobs, but welded a trailer hitch to the GT-E and it was what we used to pull our trailer.

Needless to say I had NO idea what the future was ahead for the car. The dealer asked me several times to sell to him, 18 months later I did sell it to him. He had it a couple years, then sold to a man in Canada, I have tried to locate, but without the Vin number, well no luck.

I CRY often, I have never seen one on the streets, Merc never made the 500, as Nascar lifted the
demand as insurance companies put pressure on them to replace the engine, thus the 428.

 

To make it clear mine was the 427 side oiler engine.

Dale in Indy

Edited July 11, 2015 by smithbrother (see edit history)

[Ric Dean]

"I CRY often, I have never seen one on the streets, Merc never made the 500, as Nascar lifted the
demand as insurance companies put pressure on them to replace the engine, thus the 428.

 To make it clear mine was the 427 side oiler engine.
Dale in Indy"

 

Its better to have loved; then to have never loved at all!   

[alsancle]

At least you drove yours!  It is good to hear from someone that got to do that in period.   Mine engine was in 400 pieces and I sold it to finance another project.   Probably if they didn't de-tune the engine it would have twisted that uni-body into a pretzel!  But still,  I think if they had not,  or at least topped it with the dual quad you would be looking at  a 300k car now.   As it stands you can still buy decent ones for under 100k. 

[smithbrother]

I paid a tad less than 5k for mine.

 

A month after my purchase we were at a neighbors home for an evening party, got home around midnight, I had a flight to London early the next morning, at around 5 am I went out to get in the GT-E, and it was not in the drive.  I went back in the house, said to my wife, DID WE LEAVE THE COUGAR AT DAVE'S HOUSE LAST NIGHT, AND WALK HOME?  She said NO.  I knew then it was stolen.  Police found it an hour later, in the area, on blocks with wheels/tires stolen, nothing else was hurt, well they hot wired it.   I was paid by insurance company, I purchased ET mags, and the only picture I can find of the car shows it with the ET's on it.

 

Lots of folks don't know the "E" in the GT-E was for Edsel Ford.  The first GT-E was built by engineers as a SURPRISE  for Mr. Edsel's birthday, after that, the decision was made to go in to limited production.  Most people feel the "E" is/was for ELIMINATOR, that title came out when the next years production started.

 

It is documented on the Cougar web site that I did own a GT-E side oiler, and the complete story.  They have good records of MOST of the cars, but mine, they know I had, but too, have not found any record of it since. It may be the only one that ended up with AIR, maybe......hehe.

 

Dale in Indy

Edited July 11, 2015 by smithbrother (see edit history)

[smithbrother]

A RED GT-E 427 side oiler sold at BJ a few years ago (APPROX. 5 YEARS AGO)  for $182,000.00 counting fees.

 

A new car dealer purchased it.  The restore was documented on the Cougar web site, STEP BY STEP.

 

I would be surprised if it draws a record amount being it is a 428.  The 4-speed will help, but it's NOT A 427 SIDE OILER, period......

 

Dale in Indy

Edited July 11, 2015 by smithbrother (see edit history)

[alsancle]

Sold for 228,800.

 

Maybe I should have kept mine.

Edited August 25, 2015 by alsancle (see edit history)