I was looking for some kind of pickup truck, but in a car lot in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, there was this Big Cat! All that was the matter was rusty wire hubcaps and its brown color. Not my favorite but it turns out the paint was original.
I was greeted by the lot’s salesman and he told me about the car. Turns out this car sat in a garage in Pittsburgh under a car cover since 1976. It ran but not perfectly. It had dry-rotted HR814 tires, but also all the documentation and factory undercoating.
Goldie was attractive and had only 24,500 miles on it. So I fell in love.
Come to find out, the car had a smogger 351 2v Cleveland with a C6, black bucket seats and floor shifter. All original everything, and was perfect inside, outside and underneath.
It just needed a little TLC from sitting.
Well, I love Goldie Hawn and had a license plate made with a big Cougar flying thru the mountains and here we are. Course, I would love to take her for a cruise and who knows maybe some day. Don’t think her hubby Kurt would mind.
All and all, she is a dream car, right down to the rim-blow horn and Alpine CD player I stuffed in the glove box. So now I can have a portable concert where ever we end up. Life is good.
— Roger McKee, Baden PA
I worked for an L/M dealer in the 70’s and drove these cars when we were out of Marquis and they were a fantastic car, rode good,quiet,and perform well especially if it had the 351 Cleveland with a 4 barrel which put out 300 hp
I always like to hear about the back story. How this 74 Mercury end up in ” storage” since 1976? With 24, 000 miles ? Any car for that matter, used two years, ends up in shed under a blanket for next 38 years? Will this occur less and less? Population of USA went from 200 million to 300 million from 1976 to now. Development continues to encroach. What insight or story you might have.