Is there any available resources on how to correctly restore paint to factory specs such as how the under side was painted ,how much of the rear body panel is blacked out , how the over spray should look going from engine compartment to floor pan, or from body color to floor pan , inside the fenders, wheel tubs and so on. I own a body shop and doing a full restoration on a 1970 eliminator for myself and I’m trying not to over restore it but the only info I’m finding is on mustangs, I’m sure some of the procedures were the same but I would like to have a mercury eliminator guide 'If any one knows where I could find this info I would really appreciate it.
I found that Vanguard Motor Sales to be a pretty decent resource for such information as they do take pretty detailed photographs of the cars listed, both past and current inventory. There too are videos as well. Grieg, of VMS is a Cougar enthusiast as he had a 67 for his 1st car. They may be a good lead. https://www.vanguardmotorsales.com/inventory/3872/1970-mercury-cougar-boss-eliminator
Here’s a link to a "70 Eliminator BOSS302 restored by John Benoit (DrCougar on this form) http://www.cascadeclassics.com/completed-restorations/1970-eliminator-boss-302-2/
BE VERY CAREFUL copying any of the details of the Vanguard Eliminators. While their cars are typically very nice, and they have a TON of pictures, they often lack “correctness” in multiple areas that can vary from car to car.
John Benoit is one of the best restorers of Cougars and Eliminators. His work is incredibly detailed and correct.
The short answer to those questions is: YES.
For the underside paint, over spray, engine compartment transition, and body color to floor pan, inside the fenders and wheel wells, etc, there is an EXCELLENT article on the Councours Mustang forum that goes into those details. Because Mustang and Cougars were built on the same assembly line they generally follow the same rules for paint stuff. Also, since all Eliminators were built in Dearborn, this is the document that is recommended for getting a “correct appearing” underside on your E-cat.
Be sure to look through the list of 1970 Articles on the Concours website for other items, such as restoring / repairing the seam sealer, and cleaning a stained build sheet.
We get this question A LOT. Instead of answering it here, I’m going to put it all together into a separate post and then add the link here.
Another item you might consider investing in is the Eliminator Book, by Don Skinner. Lots of great info and details and a ton of pics in there, as well as various details that are commonly missed during a restoration or repaint.
https://cougarclub2.org/store/Mercury-Cougar-Eliminator-Book-p147189020
Don’t forget this video starring Don Rush of WCCC and Eliminator registrar Dave Wyrwas.
Guess your truly looking to do a correct factory style restoration. The term “restoration” has allot of different meanings to many different people.
The BEST resource is your car. No one can tell you exactly where a certain sealer started or ended, what slop color (since you have a Dearborn car) it originally had since these are all the results and efforts of a small group of people. So the original (car) is your best bet. Now I realize that so many owners and builders are quick to get to repairs and to stripping the body down to bare metal they often skip over the step of cleaning and documenting all these details or more because they assume that somewhere there is a book that will answer all their questions. Well as you have found out there is none. There have been guides and helps out there over the decades but standards were lower as were expectations. Our knowledge of the cars has been improved greatly but so have expectations and the standard when your aiming for a car that could be taken to any show and with the most knowledgeable judges or just a group viewing the car there are.
Ands why not aim at this goal. You have to do the paint and sealants (the focus of this thread) anyway so its little more effort to do the car as it was originally.
Now since you may not have documented how your specific car was built you are left with using and seeking out unrestored examples built the same week at least at the same plant and apply that information especially if you can include multiple cars from that time period. You don’t want to copy cars built a month earlier or six months later. Practices and products changed and a worker that did “X” when he worked the line was no longer there when your car was built. I’m sure you get the idea. One of the challenges with using cars seen in magazines and in clips is that most of the time you don’t know when the car was built or even the VIN and for me if I can’t identify where the detail came from I can’t use or share anything collected from that car.
The search would include Mustangs also since they were built one after the other with the same products and by the same guys. You will need to add into the mix those areas that were different on the two different models but that list should be fairly short.
Before I get much longer let me say that you have asked for a very long list of needs that would fill multiple threads by the time you described and showed pictures as well as illustrations. A separate thread for each so that confusion is kept to a minimum would be my suggestion but others have tried to do it in one build thread. I invite you to take a look on the CMF to get an idea of one way of doing all of this.
In closing no there is not a written guide though we try to post and share what we believe and have documented but realize that we are adding to out knowledge every day or at least every week.
Good luck with your project. It can be a long process but it can also be very rewarding the the effort and homework will shine through in the finished project
Ok, here is a collection of 1970 Eliminator Blackout details.
https://cccforum.discoursehosting.net/t/1970-eliminator-blackout-reference-info/14462/1
Nice post Mike