As luck would have it, I did indeed find another light blue '84 V6 Cougar recently. If you recall, I sold the first one over fifteen years ago (1992) and ever since I've missed the car quite a bit. Throughout the years I kept the notion of owning another one on the back burner, hoping that one day the right combination of time, car and fate would intersect. That happened in June 2006.

A gentleman contacted me through this site, wanting to sell his car. His grandparents had bought it new and always kept it garaged and cleaned. As he described it, I couldn't believe what he was saying. The car sounded like it was in exceptional condition. I took a trip to see it (a mere 3 hours away from me) and indeed, it was exactly as he portrayed it. The only bad news: a blown head gasket. But given the car's condition, the interior, and the price...I couldn't pass it up. So I made another trip down a few weeks later to purchase the car and then towed it home.

Fast forward to April 2007. My friend Shawn towed the car over to my mechanic's house for the head gasket change. Once he dug in he discovered that the heads themselves were cracked. I found a set of brand new heads, he installed everything, and the car fired right up. It runs pretty well right now...it's almost back in tip-top shape. I've decided to keep the 3.8 V6 under the hood.

Far as the body goes...it's nearly flawless. I had to get some small spots of rust fixed before they got out of hand; there are a few more that need attention within the next year or two. And it's obvious that the car had to sit through a hailstorm at least once. But otherwise, the car has roughly 90% of its original paint and it's in incredible condition for being nearly 25 years old. I'm going to have a paintless dent removal person go over the car and push out the dings, and then...we'll see how much longer I can make the original paint last. For now it's in show condition, fully detailed and ready to show off its gorgeous color.

Be sure to read State of the Cat #42 for a more in-depth description of the car, and how it fell into my lap. Needless to say...I've learned a few things in 20 years. I'm definitely keeping this one. :)

If this pose looks familiar, well, it's on purpose. Nearly 20 years to the day, I posed next to the new '84 in a tribute to my old one...

...yeah, that would be the one.

A good shot of the sunlight hitting the paint near sunset. The way this color shifts at dusk is amazing.

A shot in the shadows, where you can see how clean this car is.

Let me just say how badly the stock radio sucks. I like the nostalgia and all...but how did humans put up with those crackly 7-watt decks for so long?

My two Cats. =^..^=