SAAC Forum

Thanks for posting the pics!

- Phillip

From Tom Cotter's excellent book " Dean Jeffries, 50 Fabulous Years in Hot Rods, Racing & Film" -

On putting the first coat of paint on CSX2000, Jeffries says; "The body was a disaster, all heliarced and torched up. I had to cherry the body up first....I had only three days from start to finish. I worked by myself. I asked Shelby what color he wanted, and he said, 'Any color you want.' So, not knowing if it was right or wrong, I painted it pearl yellow because I had heard on TV that yellow stood out best."

Story also goes that for payment, Shelby gave Jeffries a Weber-equipped high-performance 289 and a four-speed gearbox that he put in his Manaray show car.

BTW, Jeffries also named and painted James Dean's "Little Bastard" Porsche 550 Spyder that he was killed in. And I'm sure has most of you know, up until his passing he also had the GT40 that was given to him by Ford.

- Phillip

First time I've noticed the "Simulated Mag" wheel covers in the 1970 Lincoln-Mercury Accessories brochure.

Kinda surprising I've never ever seen those on a Cougar.

- Phillip

Jaguar went after Ford/Mercury over the Cougar "running cat" logo, they thought it looked too much like the leaping Jaguar logo.

Mercury added "COUGAR" under it on the grill emblem and Jag was happy.

- Phillip

Terrific Fiberfab ad Chris.

Don't think I've ever seen the "Jamaican" before. I think that has potential!

- Phillip

Plus I've always thought that Ken Miles's story is amazing and it will be great for more people to learn about him.

- Phillip

Stone, Woods & Bones 467 ci Hemi powered Shelby gasser.

Pics are from an article in the Feb. 1970 issue of Super Stock and FX magazine.

The article says it's based on a '68 Shelby GT Mustang but rear end looks to be '67 Shelby.

- Phillip

One more before I call it a night.

The promotional and advertising artwork generated by the auto industry from '69-'70 is some of my favorite.

- Phillip

Thanks Chris - I love seeing what everyone else is posting also.

Hard to believe those Roush Cougar ads are from 30 years ago!!

- Phillip

Here's another one -

- Phillip

Wish Mercury had come out with a street version using some of the Roush body mods.

Heinz Prechter was a German foreign exchange student who was friends with the son of the founder of Golde & Co., an early manufacturer of sliding canvas and metal sunroofs in Germany.

While at school at Cal-State, Prechter worked at a San Francisco body shop. With his Golde connections, Heinz suggested to the body shop owner Mr. Forster that they get into the sunroof business.

Prechter was awarded Golde's west coast distributorship and in 1963 he and Forster founded American Sunroof Corporation - or ASC as it is often referred to.

ASC's first customers were regional San Francisco and San Mateo new car dealers.

Early on, ASC set up shop in a garage that they rented from George Barris (yep, that George Barris).

Barris had high-up connections within Ford and when Ford came to him about installing sunroofs in some VIP vehicles George put Ford and ASC together.

In early 1967 ASC got a contract from Ford to install sunroofs in 200 Cougars as a sort of test run.

Ford advertised the 1968 Mercury Cougar as being the first American car to offer a power operated sunroof as a factory option.

Since XR7-G conversions were handled by Shelby Automotive, 1968 XR-7 Cougars slated to be XR7-Gs were sent to A.O. Smith for conversion. XR7-Gs that got sunroofs (431 of the 622 or so built) were then sent by rail to ASC for installation.

This info comes from an article on the history of ASC by Mark Theobald and the XR7-G book by Don Skinner.

- Phillip

Sunroof looks like a Golde unit you would find in VW bugs of that vintage.

- Phillip

Some photos would be great!

- Phillip

Thanks for posting - that's a piece I've never seen before.

Very unusual look and illustration style.

- Phillip