Mark and Karla Eaton's XR7-G

     
    "THE GREAT DETECTIVE"
    by Royce Peterson 

          I first noticed the '68 XR7-G while buying some parts from Lone Star Cougars.  It looked pitiful with no hood, no rear axle, pushed in grille and flat front tires.  Brian Porter, who owns the business explained to me what it was and finished by saying "that's one special Cougar". 
          The car had been abandoned in an apartment complex and towed.  A wrecking yard in Ft. Worth, Texas on Elliot Reeder Road put it up for sale as a whole car.  Someone climbed the fence and stole the hood, console, and wheels. 
          Sometime later, Brian Porter and Tony Stinson purchased the car.  During their ownership, the dash pad and tilt-away steering column disappeared.  I purchased the car in April, 1992.  It took 2 days to install a rear axle (to make the car able to roll on to a trailer) and steering column.  The engine was rusted solid from neglect.  Tony Stinson was there the day I loaded the car up, and it was he who handed me the "owner card".  This is a laminated plastic card with an embossed plastic credit card glued to the front.  The purchaser of a new Ford or Lincoln-Mercury product was supposed to present the card to the dealer whenever the warranty service was required.   On the credit card portion was: 

      H. H. Hall
      835 Wooddriver 
      Dallas, TX 75232
      8F93J556084 W 22 098 
      65B-25C-5-W 22365
      05-23-68 IA 05-23-70 
          The signature on the laminated portion read:
      Helen Hope Hall
          It was fascinating to me to think that this hi-performance limited production expensive car was purchased new by a woman.  This was a pretty flashy vehicle when it was new and Mercury's advertising department used the slogan "COUGAR ... THE MAN'S CAR!"  I could picture a "60"s woman in her 20's wearing a bouffant haircut, vinyl miniskirt, and go-go boots, similar to the ones pictured in the COUGAR advertising.  Was that the person who bought my "G" new?
          The first month of ownership, I dedicated to resurrecting the almost dead COUGAR.  Front fenders, grille, and dash pad were found in Dallas.  I drove to Ken's Cougars in Oklahoma to purchase an original hood scoop.  Ken brought an original '68 tilt-away steering column from the Pate swap meet.
          During a business trip to Wisconsin, I learned that John Baumann had an XR7-G for sale in Michigan.  I purchased it and used the console and one original hubcap.  Pieces that eventually contributed to a Lucas fog light came from this car also.  The engine was rebuilt.  All parts in the brakes were replaced.  A rebuilt 9" Tractlon-Lok rear-end was installed.  Styled steel wheels were found a couple at a time.  Three more original hubcaps came from Jimmy Autrey in Ft. Worth.  The sunroof motor was replaced with one from a 1974 Cougar owned by Ray Bodensteiner.  The air-conditioning compressor came from a 1968 XR-7 parts car. 
          Which brings us up to October of 1993.  Still curious about Helen Hope Hall, I visited the J. Erik Johnsson public library in downtown Dallas.  On the sixth floor are Dallas history research archives.  The librarian advised me that Dallas phone books were available for my study, but they were too fragile to photocopy.  I started with the 1968 and 1969 books.  There was no listing for Helen.  I told the librarian what my mission was and she suggested the Dallas City Directory, reverse listing phone books and some credit customer listing books.  Here I was more successful.  Ms. Hall moved all over Dallas, with a different address almost every year.
          The most recent listing I found for her was in 1976.  This entry was in the City Directory:   Helen Hope Hall, Clerk--Delta Airlines, 1111 N. Edgefield, homeowner without telephone.  There were no references to Ms. Hall after 1976 in any of the sources.  I figured she had probably married and changed her name. The librarian suggested I try the social security computer.  This would tell me if anyone with her name had died.  If she was living, her social security information would be confidential.  After an hour wait and another hour reading death information on every person named Helen Hall born since 1900, I decided she was still around.  Back to the reverse directories.  The 1977 address-to-name directory told me that a J.N. Smith lived at the same address as Ms. Hall.  The 1992 directory showed that J.N. Smith still lived there.  A look at this year's phone book told me the number to call.  A lady's voice answered.  I introduced myself and asked if she could tell me the whereabouts of Helen Hope Hall.  She replied "that's my daughter".  Mrs. Smith remembered the yellow Cougar and thought her daughter would be delighted to hear from me.
          To say that Helen was surprised is probably an understatement.  She told me to hold on for a minute, and I heard her telling her husband "someone's restoring my yellow Cougar".  Helen remembered the day she bought it as her first new car.  It was the only XR7-G on the lot at Treadway Lincoln-Mercury.  The salesmen told her that "Dan Gurney had designed the cars and that Carroll Shelby had modified them to Dan's specifications".  According to her owner card, the date was May 23, 1968.  Ms. Hall further related that everyone loved the electric sunroof and that it was a lot of fun to drive.  After she and her husband married, they traded the "G" for a 1975 Buick.
          If all goes as planned, the "G" should be painted and if Helen wants to, a reunion will occur sometime in Spring, 1994.  I still need to ask about the miniskirt theory.


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