Immediately after purchasing the car, I replaced the 14" road wheels with the 15" XR7 rims I'd had in the shed. Bought my very first set of new tires for them too---Firestone Firehawk SS 235/60R15's. This car was another experimentation car, as she's how I learned to tear apart a Cougar.

After an accident (not my fault) in January 1996, I had the repair shop install all the cool parts I'd been accumulating for the car. So on went the Turbo Coupe hood, and front air dam and rear valance from the ground effects kit. Prior to the accident I experimented with the Tempo mirror conversion. Found a pair of '83 clear turn signals, and installed the same Marchal fog lamps I had on the '84. Believe me, the car's finish was very bad and didn't look nearly as nice as it does in these photos. The paint had cracks all over, and it was actually peeling off the doors.

Probably the coolest thing I did to the car was make a custom grille (the procedure is still top secret). The addition of blackout headlight covers really made this car look awesome. Mechanically, the car ran great---it went to 192,500 when I sold it--- but the transmissions left a lot to be desired. I had two rebuilds on the AOD within 3 years. It never did shift correctly the whole time I owned it.

Inside, I installed an XR7 2-spoke sport steering wheel, put in a console, and painted all the dash and console panels Smoke Grey to match the rest of the interior. The final touch was carbon fiber-simulated dash trim. In this car, I also learned how to rewire for the Turbo Coupe instrument cluster.

I had a second accident (also not my fault) in November 1996 and at that point, I did not feel like putting more money into this car. I got it looking the best I could and it was sold in early 1998. Can't really say I miss this car, for some reason. The next owner had it for a few years, and not without incident. Right after he bought it from me, the AOD transmission went out for the third time. He still drove it for 2 years in just second gear. He also had a break-in, with the stereo system getting yanked and a crowbar shoved through the trunklid. He took the hood and grille off and put them on an '86 XR7 he'd bought as a second car. In the early summer of 2000, he sold it to a "friend" (and I use the term loosely) who hadn't even finished paying him for it when he proceeded to turn the Cat a crumpled ball. So ends the tale of the Black Cat. And believe me, it was....to this day I'm a firm believer that black cars have more accidents because no one sees them until the last minute. While the car got me from Point A to Point B for 6 years with reliability, it still was a pain to own and it fought me every inch of the way.