Cougar & Probe - Ford's Aussie Orphans?

DRU842 · 25-04-2005, 10:46 AM

Just picking up on the sentiments in another thread here; Should we start a 'club' for Ford's Orphan Coupes. It seems we are forgotten by most of the official 'clubs' when it comes to full membership and while its nice to be along as an associate, it would be good to have somehwere to call home. Not sure how the Cougar guys find this but I suspect it might be the same.

professorsabre · 25-04-2005, 12:24 PM

Yeah I'm all for it but I don't think there's too many of us here. The club I use to be in wont let me be an assosiate member anymore and another I tried said no to be a member and no to be an assosiate member. So would be nioce to have a place to call home.
Now how do we get this thing started....

Cheers

DRU842 · 25-04-2005, 05:48 PM

We looked at setting up a new club a few years ago, when the Probe scene was a fair bit stronger but the costs & hassle of incorporation were too steep.
I've always missed on discussing this with the Small Ford Clubs, as I think they would be the best fit. Perhaps someone here would give us a home?

Dshibi · 28-04-2005, 05:20 PM

Hey DRU842, whereabouts in Sydney are you?

I just picked up my Cougar last weekend, I'm out west near Blacktown. Would be good to have a place where the "rare orphan" Fords can get together and discuss things.

I'm guessing there's not too many Cougar/Probe owners on these forums?

Abraxas

b2tf · 28-04-2005, 05:30 PM

There is a Cougar in Wagga Wagga and i have heard the owner express his interest in a club for the cars. There were only 250 or so made werent there?

professorsabre · 28-04-2005, 10:38 PM

Abraxas congrats mate. You ended up getting the Cougar.

How you enjoying it?

If regards to back2thefutura's q, how many Cougars were sold in Australia? I seem to remember reading something in Wheels saying 900 odd. Anyone know exactly?

Cheers

b2tf · 28-04-2005, 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by professorsabre

Abraxas congrats mate. You ended up getting the Cougar.

How you enjoying it?

If regards to back2thefutura's q, how many Cougars were sold in Australia? I seem to remember reading something in Wheels saying 900 odd. Anyone know exactly?

Cheers

Ahhh ok, i always thought they were a limited run, not just built to order.

Dshibi · 29-04-2005, 12:00 AM

Hey ProfessorSabre,

yep, as I mentioned I got her on Saturday last weekend. Have driven her a little (but had to be careful of double demerits), but I still have my old car so I'm getting my usage out of that. The Cougar drives like a dream. Still has a few months of New Car Warranty left, and there's a couple little issues that I'm going to get fixed up before that runs out.

I've ordered some clear side indicators for the car and am looking at some other minor adjustments. I've got a whole heap of questions for you if you don't mind helping me out with in the near future?

Not sure how many Cougars were sold here, but I rarely see any on the roads. That was part of the appeal of buying one.

Abraxas

Quote:

Originally Posted by professorsabre

Abraxas congrats mate. You ended up getting the Cougar.

How you enjoying it?

If regards to back2thefutura's q, how many Cougars were sold in Australia? I seem to remember reading something in Wheels saying 900 odd. Anyone know exactly?

Cheers

DRU842 · 29-04-2005, 06:32 AM

Sorry, can't help on the Cougar numbers but there were 2010 Probes imported by Ford.
We're in the Shire (southside). There are several other Probers in our neck of the woods.

professorsabre · 29-04-2005, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abraxas

Hey ProfessorSabre,

yep, as I mentioned I got her on Saturday last weekend. Have driven her a little (but had to be careful of double demerits), but I still have my old car so I'm getting my usage out of that. The Cougar drives like a dream. Still has a few months of New Car Warranty left, and there's a couple little issues that I'm going to get fixed up before that runs out.

I've ordered some clear side indicators for the car and am looking at some other minor adjustments. I've got a whole heap of questions for you if you don't mind helping me out with in the near future?

Not sure how many Cougars were sold here, but I rarely see any on the roads. That was part of the appeal of buying one.

Abraxas

Glad you're enjoying it. Happy to help you when you're ready.

Have fun.

Cheers

professorsabre · 29-04-2005, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by back2thefutura

Ahhh ok, i always thought they were a limited run, not just built to order.

The Cougar were imported from the US. I'm pretty sure they sold close to a 1000 of them in Australia. Then Ford US dumped the car because of poor sales.

Still, I enjoy my Cougar.

sbutler · 30-04-2005, 09:25 AM

I love both those car, & I dont see why ford dropped them. Again Ford marketing lets down another pair of good cars.....

**Polyal** · 30-04-2005, 10:42 PM

Yeah I love both cars.

The one Id really like is teh Cougar Ebiach. There is one on carsales going for ~30,000. A bit optimistic I think but it looks HOT!

EFFalcon · 30-04-2005, 10:45 PM

Me too, i'm a big fan and its such a shame both the cars don't have more interest over here..
the amount of interest in probes in the states is unbeleivable.

professorsabre · 01-05-2005, 02:26 PM

It's the same with cougar's in the states. The interest over there is hugh. So much stuff avail. for them over there I'd like to see here but I doubt we'll see anything.

Dshibi · 01-05-2005, 04:08 PM

Yeah, the Cougar scene in the states, and to a smaller extent in Europe is quite large. That's why I was shocked to see ProfessorSabre's Cougar had the Wings West front lip on it and then realised he was in Australia!

Abraxas

Quote:

Originally Posted by professorsabre

It's the same with cougar's in the states. The interest over there is hugh. So much stuff avail. for them over there I'd like to see here but I doubt we'll see anything.

professorsabre · 01-05-2005, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abraxas

Yeah, the Cougar scene in the states, and to a smaller extent in Europe is quite large. That's why I was shocked to see ProfessorSabre's Cougar had the Wings West front lip on it and then realised he was in Australia!

Abraxas

I got that front here in Australia, what I couldn't believe was that there's a official Wings West distributor in Sydney.

Dshibi · 03-05-2005, 12:54 AM

I'm going through a bit of a learning curve with getting bits and pieces for my car. Autobarn looked at me like I had four heads when I asked for a panel filter! It's gonna be fun working on this car.

So, on the topic of this thread, do the "Cougar clubs" that exist out there in Australia snob the NECO Cougars? I get Performance Ford mag and notice there is a Cougar club listed in there.

Abraxas

murcod · 03-05-2005, 09:34 PM

You could get something like this made up:

I bought and cut up the alloy and got an engineering joint to weld it up for $50 - total cost excluding the K&N was $65.

professorsabre · 04-05-2005, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abraxas

I'm going through a bit of a learning curve with getting bits and pieces for my car. Autobarn looked at me like I had four heads when I asked for a panel filter! It's gonna be fun working on this car.

So, on the topic of this thread, do the "Cougar clubs" that exist out there in Australia snob the NECO Cougars? I get Performance Ford mag and notice there is a Cougar club listed in there.

Abraxas

I know the club your talking about. I think that Cougar register is for classic Cougars only.

Lightning Strike GT · 04-05-2005, 11:39 AM

I tried a few things with the Probe - they are a lot more tempremental than the Falcon on mods
I actually lost FWKW with a pod set up
Stock with 91 ron fuel was 97 kw at the treads
K&N with 98 ron fuel was 102 at the treads
POD with 98 ron fuel was 98 at the treads and the POD made it idle like crap
The only down side to this car is the cost of genuine replacement parts from FORD

:
We have had it for 3 years now (Feb 02) and the only major mechanical foobar we had was a collapsed power steering pump bearing.

dontask · 15-05-2005, 12:37 PM

Hi guys!

Congrats on your Cougar Abraxas.... just need some performance parts and you'll be sweet....

Turbo: http://www.arizonadynochip.com (click on turbo kits).

The only supercharger kit that I know of - Vortech - is unreliable for the Cougar and should not be used.

Oh, and BTW, Cougars were made in two places of the world - Germany and the US. The US Cougars were predominantly made for their domestic market and suffers from higher unreliability problems than ours. Our cougars - which also served the European market, were made in Germany.

Dontask.

Dshibi · 15-05-2005, 04:28 PM

Hey dontask,

Thanks for the welcome. Yep, I've been looking around for some potential "go fast" bits too

Just got to get my bank account looking healthy again tho haha.

Thanks for the performance info as well. Do you reckon we'd get a group discount if we bought more than one?

How is your project going? Send us some pics if you like I'd love to see what you've done and what-not.

I figured my car was made in Germany given all the writing in the engine bay lol. Solid and beaut car to drive I must say

Whereabouts are you in Oz?

Dan (Abraxas)

Quote:

Originally Posted by dontask

Hi guys!

Congrats on your Cougar Abraxas.... just need some performance parts and you'll be sweet....

Turbo: http://www.arizonadynochip.com (click on turbo kits).

The only supercharger kit that I know of - Vortech - is unreliable for the Cougar and should not be used.

Oh, and BTW, - - - Our cougars - which also served the European market, were made in Germany.

Dontask.

dontask · 15-05-2005, 11:44 PM

Hi Dan,

My car is currently completely disassembled and I've just got a parts order come in from the States. Should be good to go soon.

Dont think they'll offer much of a discount with only a few buyers - but hey, at least we could save on shipping. With my current mods, the compression ratio will be bumped to 11.0:1 so dont think I'll be doing much turbocharging.. ;)

I'm in Brissie.

Dontask.

DRU842 · 16-05-2005, 01:28 PM

Looking at a run down Berry (from Sydney) way this Sunday (22/5). A few details to be sorted yet but keep an eye on http://forums.probetalk.com/showthread.php?t=1701139993
Happy for any stry Cougars to meet up as well.

Discovery · 16-05-2005, 01:55 PM

Ooh, I just found this part of the forum! I too am a Probe owner. Great little car.

A pic of it is in my avatar. Sadly I am thinking I may have to sell it in the near future as my kids are growing and the car isn't! Any ideas on how much a '96 build, first reg '97 Probe with 98000km on the dial would go for? Oh, and it's manual.

murcod · 18-05-2005, 10:43 PM

For Cougar power upgrades and turbo kits check out the forums at www.contour.org - it's a US based site for the Ford Contour (USA model Mondeo); but the Cougar and Contour/Mondeo run the same engine/ drivetrain and the engine bay is exactly the same.

A few guys are running single turbos on their 2.5 V6's and last time I looked there was an off the shelf turbo kit was available. Quaife make an LSD to suit as well.

DRU842 · 19-05-2005, 04:15 PM

Just a brief update on the run to Berry on Sunday 22/5. Idea is to meet at Berry, in the park on the Sydney side of town at 11:00am. We have 3 confirmed & 2 maybe Probes; anyone else is welcome!

Dshibi · 19-05-2005, 05:36 PM

Would love to come along, but afraid I have other plans for Sunday. Keep us posted of any other cruises in future tho. Maybe when I'm out of uni I'll have more time

Abraxas

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRU842

Just a brief update on the run to Berry on Sunday 22/5. Idea is to meet at Berry, in the park on the Sydney side of town at 11:00am. We have 3 confirmed & 2 maybe Probes; anyone else is welcome!

professorsabre · 19-05-2005, 10:20 PM

If I was in Syd I'd be there... have a good cruise. Hell am I the only SA Cougar onwer.