Hi sonny here, I contacted Class Tech cars in Timberville VA. about the posibility of reproducing weatherstrip for 70s vintage Ford/Mercury wagons. Mine happens to be a 77 Cougar Villager, same as the Torino Montego and LTD II. After a brief discussion with I think his name was Chad I offered to send them my complete set of weatherstrip from my second wagon to use as patterns. He wants them all, and I mean all, doors, upper and lower, Tailgate all three, and beltlines to possibly build a complete kit. I told him that I know of lots of people who need tailgate weatherstrips for sure. I know of 7 Cougar wagons that need door uppers and tailgate. Heres the Challenge for the wagon master. Put a thread on the forums and as the word gets out lets see if we can give him a count of how many are needed. I replaced the front uppers on my wagon with aftermarket weatherstripping from Restoration Specialties. I glued the new weatherstrip to the molded ends and it seems to work Ok. Grand total of 35 bucks. You have to pull real had to get a dollar bill out when you close the door on it, I tore a couple in half. I am working on the back doors now. I can get the bottom and one top corner to seal tight but I haven't hit the right window adjustment to get both top corners sealed. I have found plenty of tailgate lower weatherstrip in the junk yards but have yet to find a compatible top part of the seal. I'm off to the junkyarg in the AM to hunt down more seals.
It's too bad that the Fairmont, Zephyr and Cougar wagons aren't very popular. I could use a complete set myself for my 82 Cougar. The rear hatch and opening window are impossible to find. I'm getting to the point of checking all mini-vans to see what I can come up with. The doors and window belt moldings are pretty easy at JC Whitney. Some cutting and gluing required. Let us know how things go with them.
I cleaned off the old, crusty trunklid weatherstrip from the 1978 2 Door Sedan and compared it to the Tailgate weatherstrip and they seem to have the same cross-section and 'hard-strip' profile. That 'hard-strip' is like a rubberised section of 9/16" staples all bonded together via the rubber. Anyway, it fits on my 1979 Squire. I got the weatherstrip adhesive (brush-on type), and it keeps the water out, and the gate closes without slamming. Weatherstrip adhesive will let you remove it for replacement or adjustment. Its called Proform PF 100, from any bodyshop materials supplier. http://www.proformproducts.com/en/products/detail/?id=6 You could probably use Elmers too: http://www.probond.com/homerepair/product_page.asp?pCode=E451 Their contact cement is permanent, so I wouldn't recommend it, because you'll chip the paint when you scrape it off, if you ever have to replace the weatherstrip.
