EliminatorMike

Wow, that looks great! The Bahama Blue looks like a close enough match to the factory Bright Blue Metallic paint color! Great work! Mike B. Cougar Club of America #9557

Ok, try these pics and see how they work for you. This is a '70 Boss 302 Eliminator that sold at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale in January. Top notch restoration. Also found a nice pic of the black camera case dash panel, so folks can get an idea of the texture of it. Not that I would expect you to reproduce that :-) But it is one of those things that gets asked... "what does camera-case dash mean?"

Here are some pics. Let me know if these will work for you. One is an SCJ, the other "merely" a CJ (but a factory AC car).

Yessir, SCJ oil cooler / horn setup are the same as the Mustang, as you said. The '70 Cougars used two different styles of interior, with multiple color options available for each: The "Standard" interior had a simple door panel stitching and small cougar emblem. Seats were high-back with vinyl seat surfaces. White standard interior pic below. Note that this car has the optional console, which has a wood-grain insert for all model Cougars for '70. This pic also shows a speaker grille in the door, which is correct for cars with AM/FM or AM/8-Track radio options. AM radio cars had no door speakers. The only noticable difference in the high-back bucket seats between '69 and '70 is that the '69 had the seat back release mounted about half-way up the side of the seat, while the '70 release was down at the bottom. Hurst T-handle shifter was the norm for 4-speed Cougars in '70. The guage pod in the console is not factory (I believe only the Shelby's came with those originally). The steering wheel in the standard interior was a 2-spoke center horn pad version, similar to that seen on the mustang, but with a cougar emblem in the center instead of a pony. The "Decor" interior had a more decorative door panel stitching with a wooden cougar plaque. Seats were high-back, with "comfortweave" material - except for the houndstooth, which were cloth. Pics below show a Black Decor Interior. Rear seats followed the same seating material as the front seats, and the panel stitching also mimic'd the front door panels. (this orange car was originally an AM radio car and had an AM/8-Track added later, which explains why no door speakers) Decor interior cars received the 3-spoke "rim-blow" steering wheel, which had wood grain trim and a cougar emblem. Also notice the Eliminator dash in this pic. Eliminators featured black "camera case" finished instrument panels (XR-7 and Standard Cougars had wood grain panels). Also, Eliminators had a block off plate in the top center of the dash, which replaced the toggle switches seen in the XR-7. A few other notes... Headliner colors were black for black interior cars (including houndstooth), and white for white interior cars. Dash pad was black for all Eliminators. I've included some pictures of the "black and white houndstooth checked cloth decor interior" as well (this is considered the "holy grail" combination with competition green). Door panels were the same as the black decor pics.

Great detail on the undercarriage! Very cool! So it sounds like you're an old hand at restoration details - that probably makes it easy scaling everything down :-) As for the red oxide on the Cougars, they were built at several plants, and they all used different practices. Eliminators were all built at Dearborn and should have had a slop gray underside. But... there are plenty of them out there that have been restored with red oxide. I doubt anyone will question it :-) Here is a picture of a '70 Cougar SCJ / 4-speed driveshaft, for reference. Transmission yoke ends had purple markings, driveshaft end yokes were a red-orange. The white stripe went toward the front and an orange stripe toward the rear. The three in the middle are correct colors, but in the wrong order - they should be blue / red / green, front to back (oops). I'll get some interior sample pics posted for you tomorrow. In the mean time, does the interior you have use the high back buckets? In '70 all of the Cougar interiors included high back buckets, so those would be fine for a '70 Eliminator.

Very cool! But then again I'm biased :-) Good choice on the floor pans. Those look to be pretty correct, as far as ribbing and drain plugs go. Don't forget, all Eliminators have a "slop gray" underside paint color. This was typical for Cougars and Mustangs built in Dearborn, MI at the time. For those who are unaware, "slop gray" was basically a slate / black-ish paint Ford used on various parts and major unseen areas of the cars. Actual color varied because it was made up from all the waste-paint put into one vat. So some cars will show metallic flake, others have a greenish tinge to the "gray". I've attached a pic of the original underside of a competition orange '70 Boss Eliminator. You clearly see the factory orange overspray (no, it's not rust), as well as the "slop gray" / black underside paint. The slop gray extends up to the firewall and basically ends at the end of the transmission tunnel. Slop gray was also used on the shock tower support struts (connect between the shock tower and firewall). Engine compartment is semi-gloss black (which over time tends to flatten out with heat / age). Shock tower caps are "natural" - a dark steel color. Another thing to mention is that they blacked out the pinch weld area at the bottom of the rockers (blue pic below). Difficult to tell on your model, but the side marker lights are different between a '69 & '70 as well. '69 style was sort of flush mounted with the sheet metal, while the '70 side markers were recessed ('70 pics attached). Also the transmission cross member on your model is styled to resemble the one used on an automatic transmission. Attached a pic of the 4-speed cross member for '69 / '70. Hmm... one more quick tip: Mercury referred to it as Competition Green, while Ford used the name Grabber Green. Otherwise they are the same color :-) Good luck Sir! Can't wait to see how you progress, and what the interior will look like! If you need pics for detail items feel free to message me.