1970 Cougar Boss 302 - Competition Orange

07-22-1969: Marti report indicates this car was ordered by the dealer as a STOCK order – the definition was "a dealer orders a vehicle to have available for display at his/her location". This means the car was NOT ordered by a customer and was “bought” by the dealer up front. The dealer is motivated to sell – the quicker the better.

Some history of the dealership is known based on the search of public records and newspapers. The dealership name was Farmer Motor Company and they were located at 480 East Main in Lexington Kentucky. Based on articles located from The Lexington Herald in the late 1960’s Ralph Farmer was a pretty good-sized Lincoln Mercury dealer in Lexington. Some searches of public records and Facebook mentions Ralph Farmer and Frank Farmer as active in the business. The story below is going to start BEFORE the production of this car as I believe it could be related.

07-19-1969: Advertisement (#1) by Farmer Lincoln Mercury that they were having an inventory reduction sale. The new models would be coming in on September 19 and they needed to move those 1969 stock. I find it interesting that they list 6 Sports Specials and 2 XR-7 models. Other ads also indicate the sister models like Montego and Cyclone as “Sports Special” models.

7-22-1969: Car order was received at Dearborn – Ralph is already thinking about those 1970 models.

8-15-1969: More advertising (#2) to get those 1969 models off the showroom floor. Advertising mentions again that the 1970 models would be showing up on September 19, 1969. There are still a lot of Sports Specials to move.

9-04-1969: Sept 19th is getting closer and they still have to get some of these 1969 models out of the way. The ad (#3) states they have 14 models left to move – come on down and for $2995 you can get a Cougar.

9-19-1969: It is interesting and just a coincidence that on September 19, 1969 Farmer Lincoln Mercury posts their big ad (#4) announcing the 1970 model year using the “Passwords for Action” tag line. The Cougar that is highlighted is the 1970 XR-7 model. The Cyclone GT gets top billing in this ad. This happens to be the same day that the 1970 boss 302 to be known as 0F91G508823 is scheduled for build.

9-19-1969: Car was scheduled for build based on the Marti report

09-30-1969: Car was actually built based on the Marti report

10-02-1969: Car was released based on the Marti report

10-09-1969: Side note – article (#5) appears in the local paper titled “Super Cars Cause More Accidents”. Dean Jeffers the President of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. announced at a Senate hearing that his firm is increasing by 50% the insurance rates on these cars to discourage their appeal. He calls them “motorized missiles”. Among the cars listed under Nationwide’s superpower category by Jeffers are Corvette, Mustang Mach 1, Oldsmobile 442, Pontiac GTO, Plymouth Road Runner, Dodge Charger 500, AMX, Malibu SS 396 and the Mercury Cougar Eliminator. We all know the movement was starting to swing the public opinion that these cars should not be made. 

10-29-1969: Big day potentially for the Boss 302. An ad (#6) is listed by Farmer inviting people to come down to the dealership for a “Special Performance Car” showing. The ad goes on to state that on Oct 29, 30 and 31 for three days you can come down to see the Cyclone Spoiler, Cyclone GT, Cyclone and Cougar Eliminator. I would have to believe that 0F91G508823 was taken out during those 3 days for a spin by potential customers.

12-30-1969: Car was sold based on the Marti report. Perhaps that buyer looking for a “Year End” special walks into the dealership and takes home 0F91G508823.

I went ahead and searched the next 15 years of records in Lexington to see if I could find any other history on this car. The only possibility is below.

6-18-1971: Almost 18 months have passed since the Boss 302 was sold. Paul Miller Ford was the big brother in town selling Fords and always ran used car advertisements (#7). On this day they list over at their #2 lot a 1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator Boss 302 4 speed for sale at $3295. No color is mentioned but with the Cougar Boss 302 production so low (323 units in 1970) perhaps this is 0F91G508823 being sold as the result of a trade-in? Over the next month and half this car is listed several times. The salesman listed in the ad for this location are Hank England, Jim Lawrence and Manager Jerry Atwood. I will search for these folks using Facebook.

08-06-1971: This is the last advertisement (#8) for the 1970 Boss 302 mentioned above. By now it’s still over at lot #2 but has lost top billing in the ad space to a 1970 Mustang. The price has been dropped to $2995. Perhaps that’s what was needed – the car does not show up again in the used car section @ Paul Miller Ford. There’s a lot of lost history as the next entry takes place over 2 ½  decades later but we know the car only goes about 70 miles to its next known location.

March 1996: Entry from CCOA database lists Chris Eaton as the owner (CCOA #6246) with his address listed at 1140 Kentucky Street Bowling Green KY. The car is for sale “Hurst 4-speed close ratio, rear defogger, engine is blown, for sale $6K, pics available.”

08-02-1996: Receipt from Mustang Connections @ 4500 Poplar Level Road Louisville KY 40213 – items purchased totaled $40.83 and include 2 clips, knob, gear and cable - paid with check #1142

09-12-1996: Certificate of Registration for Kentucky listing as new first-time registration to an owner Chris Eaton located at 2200 Meadowbrook Drive in Lagrange Kentucky 40031.

02-24-1997: Application for Title and Registration is filled out by David Burrows. He is listed at 3102 Hwy 153 in Pendleton Kentucky. We have some pictures of the car from when David owned it.

04-14-2018: This is the day I went to Pendleton Kentucky and saw 0F91G508823 for the first time in a barn- covered with dirt and critter clutter. The car had been “off” the road for some time and had some damage to the right door and rear roof pillar area from an accident where a car rolled into the shed it was stored in and damaged it. The car is also missing some key components like the Boss 302 motor and the correct top loader 4 speed. It has had a hard life – most body panels have plenty of bondo and filler-it’s in rough shape.

October 2019: Research indicates a Christopher Lee Eaton – @ address: 4712 Northridge Dr. Crestwood KY 40014.

11-13-2019: I have spoken with Chris Eaton AND received pictures of the car when he owned it - He picked it up from a farmer (see pics of car almost entirely stripped). Gentleman said his son had the car, hooked up a big amp to the stereo and burned the wire harness up - so it sat - and the son never fixed it - so the parts were sold off the car until Chris Eaton went to buy some Mustang parts and picked the Boss 302 up - he then restored the car and put a 351W in it. Chris said at one time that he had the original owners card for the car along with a photo album full of pictures etc. - when the car is complete I want to take it to him and see if he would part with some of the items he has.

2/20/2023: Work continues on the car- I had it at my house and removed the cowl panel - both top and bottom. We have decided to replace this component since it rusted pretty badly.

02/07/2026: The car is coming out of enclosed car trailer jail – sent to N.C. (Chris Richardson) for a cowl panel replacement and work on the left rear quarter (driver side). Chris will work on the metal replacement and then we can move to the next phase – body and paint prep

Notes: Based on the pictures retained from Chris Eaton when he found the car it was missing its original passenger door, deck lid, rear turn signals, rear bumper, entire front grill assembly and hood. Chris mentioned that  he sourced many NOS parts to return the Cougar back to the road. We did replace the front core support from the shock tower forward. We are trying to retain as much of the original sheet metal (unibody) that we can.

Today: The car is being restored cosmetically and will have most if not all of its correct engine and transmission components installed to return it to its closest original form.