My Mercury Cougar collection

"I fell in love with a '69 convertible I saw at the Beenleigh showgrounds nearly 20 years ago and I said 'I must have one of those one day'. I've been working on that ever since."

His half-dozen 1969 and 1970 Cougars are in various stages of restoration in his workshop and a mate's garage. These are the first-generation American Cougars based on the Ford Mustang pony car but slightly longer, with bigger sheet metal panels and a massive grille, referred to as the electric shaver grille. Flanagan bought his first Cougar about 10 years ago for $6000 and still has it.

Although Flanagan only likes the '69 and '70 models, he next bought a 1973 model which he says is "rather big and not real pretty".

"I did it up and used it as a stepping stone to get to where I wanted to be," he says. It certainly paid off, costing just $2000 and selling three years later for $18,000 after about $9000 worth of restoration work. It financed his next Cougar purchase.

"After I sold the '73, I happened to hear about a fire sale. A guy that I knew was going through a divorce and needed money and he had a shed full of Cougars," he says. "I ended up with three so now I had four. I paid $24,000 for the three but with that came about $15,000 worth of spare parts. The cars were all buckets of bolts."

But the "disease" still had hold of Flanagan. "After that, I heard of another one down the coast two years ago. It was a bit of a basketcase - a bucket of bolts so to speak - but I could see its potential. I bought it for $2000 and it will probably be used mainly for parts." That made five Cougars in Flanagan's shed.

"About 12 months ago I bought another one - the one that I was after in the first place. A 1969 Cougar convertible," he says. "I bought it for $6000 and it's a goer. It's in left-hand drive and I could almost register it right now. And that makes six. The purse has now been closed, so I don't think there'll be a seventh. Besides, I have no more room to store them. I already have one stored at a mate's place."

Of the initial four, his 1970 blue convertible is registered and on the road and he has almost completed the second one, a red 1970 coupe. "I've done all the resto except for the painting," he says. "The intention is to keep a few, but it depends on how things go financially. I'll sell the red one. It's worth about $25-$27,000. I'm more of a '69 freak."

His Cougars are powered by 351 (5.7-litre) Windsor or Cleveland engines with one featuring a Ford FE 390 (6.4-litre) block. "They're all standard but fully reconditioned," he says. "There's no need to modify them at all. They're all big V8s and will go as hard as you would ever want to go. When you have a show car you don't need to look for speed."

Not that Flanagan is into showing the cars, although the one and only time he did, he won a trophy for his blue 1970 convertible. "I just love cruising in old cars," he says. "I haven't grown up yet and I don't intend to either. I suppose you could call it posing." Or a disease.