New registrations closed

[BuckeyeSVT]

Over the past year or so I've noticed the Facebook group well outpacing the website in actual usage. I mean like 100-1 in most cases, and since the spammers are out in the wild taking advantage of any quiet forums I've decided that since the bulk majority are using the Facebook group instead of the actual forums that this is going to spell the eventual wind down of these forums. Let's face it folks, the cars are almost 20+ years old and they aren't considered collectible. People drove most of these into the ground and they really don't even show up in scrap yards anymore because they are just dwindling in numbers. The fact that the car was only made 5 model years doesn't help.... But aside from that, the actual participation of the members has been non-existant in years meaning that probably over 3/4 of the actual members don't even own these cars anymore. And that's over 7,000 members we have.  Everything has a cost, and sometimes you have to know when to let a failing investment go. That time is coming... I will deliberate on this further but for the time being all registrations have been closed (Due to our Russian/Chinese spam artists unwelcome signups and sales/ad posts...). Any current member that sees this can reply and I will read it. But I believe that this year is that this site gets relegated to history.

 

-Dominic

[CJ Bouma]

Totally get it. I have thought about posting links to the forums for any Facebook posts. But other than that, it's hard to get people to come back.

I personally prefer the forums over FB. 

In terms of ownership, I still have 2 of these and hope to keep them for a very long time. 

[GrooveNerd]

I'm not on Facebook, and I definitely prefer forums to FB.  It was really disappointing to see everyone go over there and basically desert the forums a number of years ago.  It was nice to not have to join and deal with FB to be a part of the Contour community when everyone was on the forums. Now I only hear about local meets from other owners who are on FB.  Also, any new discoveries, information and knowledge is only available to people who are members there, which also prevents general internet searches from finding them.

 

Unfortunately, it has been a long time since I've signed into either Contour site, but I've had a recent Contour (and Cougar) resurgence.  In the last couple of weeks I purchased a nice locally-owned 1999 SVT and a couple of months before that I picked up a 1999 Cougar 2.5L MTX with only 105k on it.  I've been hitting the internet a lot lately looking for info on installing SVT parts on the Cougar and have come across a number of related posts on this site.  I need to replace the fuel pump on the '99 SVT and have been researching that as well.

 

I still have the 1998 Contour SVT that I purchased new in 1997.  The dealer placed a change order for me (silver to black, add moonroof) and my car was the second CSVT that the dealership received.  I drove it to Spring Zing in 2007 (at least I'm pretty sure it was 2007!) and got the award for driving the longest distance to SZ that year.   

 

In 2013 or so I bought a 1998 SVT from a co-worker for $400.  The dealership his mom worked at said it needed new head gaskets because it had overheated.  Turned out that the water pump idler had seized and shredded the belt.  I replaced the pump, belt, idler and a couple of temperature sensors and it's been running strong since!

 

So yes, I currently own four Contour SVTs and a Cougar!  And a couple Focus SVTs. 

 

I hope you're able to keep the site up longer as it is a valuable resource for owners of these (and related) vehicles.  Let me know if you would like a donation for hosting fees or anything.  It's a bummer that so many pictures are no longer available on posts in different forums, but it's even more of a bummer when you click on a link and the whole forum is 404.

 

Thank you for keeping the site up as long as you have!!

 

Marty

 

 

Edited April 27 by GrooveNerd
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