Mercury Cougar

[notwen]

Though I have posted the fleet in the Yank section I'm sure you don't all venture in there, so I thought I would post my favourite in here:

1969 Mercury Cougar XR7 390



There only a handfull of early Cougars in the UK and only 4 known 1969 convertibles.(inc one from James Bond "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" many people have never seen one
Cougars were made by Ford's Mercury division as a step up from the Mustang.
Mustangs & Cougars shared most of the running gear though the Cougar was slightly longer, all engines were V8 with no 6cyl available in the early years.
Being pegged slightly upmarket they are generally better specified than the more popular Mustang.
69 was the first year a convertible was available, the base engine for 1969 was a 351 (2bbl carb) V8 (options were 351 4bbl, 390 4bbl, 428 4bbl & Boss 302)
Mine was an early build within the first few weeks of 69 model year production, originally a dealer demonstrator and was well optioned with PAS, Servo, Vented Discs, Elec windows, Elec roof, A/C, Cruise, Tilt/Tilt a way column and XR7 package.
The optional 390 (6.5Ltr) were rated at 325 bhp and 425 Lb.Ft. Torque

Std Cougar equipment included the vacuum operated headlight doors & sequential rear indicators.

regards
Gareth

[forthright MC]

fantastic! i liked the pic of it in the other thread. it looks superb! i've always liked the Cougars, very understated compared to some other muscle cars, but a great car none the less! would love an original eliminator!

Edited by forthright MC on Thursday 12th April 22:11

[notwen]

forthright MC said:

fantastic! i think it looks superb! i've always liked the Cougars, very understated compared to some other muscle cars, but a great car none the less! would love an original eliminator!

And there lies a story.....
back in Nov 05 (I think) a Cougar turned up on Ebay that looked like an Eliminator



It was cheap and had enough Eliminator bits to convince me to buy it

When I got it home it turned out to be an ex Boss 302 Eliminator, the shell was very rusty and had other issues that made it beyond economical repair.
I sourced another Cougar in Cali and created an Eliminator clone:



I sold it late last year, now lives near Great Yarmouth

[forthright MC]

that does look good!, can't beat the real thing though IMO!

[Twin Turbo]

notwen said:

1969 Mercury Cougar XR7 390

Very very nice

[andybe]

Lovely !

[Luca1973]

Cool car

[That Daddy]

Very nice,my brother in law had one of these when i was a teenager a green one fitted with a 302 with four on the floor, lovely looking cars.

[bude david]

Always wanted a 67-69 RX7 Cougar hardtop after seeing one for sale in a local garage when I was at college in the 80's, and after seeing George Clooney's car in 'From Dawn to Dusk' or whatever it was called...

So much more mean looking than a mustang.

[OllieC]

Id give a kidney for one of those

i'll stick with my knackered capri then

[Xenocide]

How hard is it to park?

Quite hard judging by your choice of parking location .

[rimmer]

forthright MC said:

that looks great

[notwen]

Xenocide said:

How hard is it to park?

Quite hard judging by your choice of parking location .

It's not much bigger than the 98> Ford Cougar.
That picture was taken just after it had been unloaded off this: