We know that the first and second generation Cougars were fraternal (albeit more refined) twins of the Ford Mustang. The 3rd generation Cougar severed that relationship and used the Ford Torino/Mercury Montego platform as its basis. I know it doesn’t quite match up with our timeline here, because the 3rd generation Cougar started with 1974, but to give you a visual, here are some pictures that I just happen to have from owning the car of a Mercury Montego from 1972 .
Jump ahead to the 4th generation Cougar, and we find that yet another rift has taken place in the family.. The 1977-79 Cougar shed some of the girth it gained from its Torino/Montego days and shared its platform with the Ford Thunderbird.
Fifth Generation Cougars (1980-82) represented another passing of the Cougar to a new platform. This time, the Cougar was based on the Ford Fairmont/Mercury Zephyr platform (confusing a bit here because Zephyr is also a Lincoln that has since been renamed the “MKZ”, but is essentially an upfitted and fancy-pants Ford Fusion.. This renaming to alphabetical designations lunacy was done in a fit of wannabeism on Lincoln’s part while the company was trying to mimic the naming practices of import luxury cars -oh, but I’ll spare you the Lincoln rant once again). But it’s not like the Thunderbird tie was totally severed.. The Fox platform was one shared by all four cars.
The Sixth generation Cougar maintained its common bond with big sis, the Thunderbird, and Mercury did away with some of the craziness that had been happening in the previously mentioned generations -like offering the Cougar as a bloody station wagon! Cougars are not grocery-getters. Back to being more like the 67, offered only in coupe form, these Cougars had some unique styling that included odd, triangular shaped rear quarter windows that cut upward at a diagonal toward the roofline from the lower rear corner where it met with the door glass, and a pretty severe notchback roofline. I have a distinct childhood memory from the early 1980’s of seeing one of these Cougars in red parked in the Pamida parking lot with a lady sitting in it with the window rolled down. She was smoking a cigarette and ashing it against the side view mirror mount as she dangled her arm out the window. I recall she had really big hair and was wearing big sunglasses to match. In retrospect, I realize now that what I was seeing was the quintessential 1980’s Cougar… both the car and its driver. At the time, I was most struck and fascinated by the odd design of that rear quarter glass, though. I wish I had spied one of these cars to show you, but alas, I do not have the photo.
This brings us at last to the 7th generation Cougar (1989-1997). Still twins with the Thunderbird… and here she is.
Okay, for being considerably younger than her cougar sisters that were featured previously, this one is looking rather battered. Looks like she’s packed some rough living into her time. Even though age-wise, she’s only 18, those years have not been kind, and she’s definitely looking worse for wear. But before we dismiss this Cougar as one whose been ridden hard and put away wet a few too many times, let’s take some time to explore what she’s got to offer.
All cougars (up to and including this generation, anyway) are rear wheel drive cars, but what none of them had before this generation is an independent rear suspension -something even a brand new Mustang doesn’t have to this day! This Cougar could be had with a 4.6L V8 that whipped up 210 HP, which wasn‘t too shabby for ‘95.. Also kind of a big deal at the time was the inclusion of anti-lock brakes and an adjustable sport tuned suspension. In terms of function, this was perhaps the best equipped Cougar of all, though not the most powerful or prettiest.
You may have noticed the Landau top on this Cougar. Well, keep in mind that after the 2nd generation, Cougars became less about being somewhat refined pony cars and started to define the name as a “personal luxury car”. To some, a vinyl top epitomizes the notion of a elegance… to others, it just looks cheesy and sleazy… to each their own, I guess.
This is a Mercury Cougar XR-7, but it’s also wearing another badge. That emblem tells us this is a “Bostonian” edition Cougar. All that means is that Mercury cooked up a marketing ploy to sell their cars with special, geographically named packages in the hope that people who perhaps liked Boston, but felt ambivalent about Cougars would find it in their hearts to buy a Cougar anyway. Usually, Cougars with these special geographic appearance packages were offered for sale in relative close proximity to the areas their badges denote, so there's probably a story somewhere in this car's history of how it came to Minnesota from the Boston area.
When I was in high school, my family had a next door neighbor from Boston; a guy named Norbert -or, as he pronounced it, "Noahhhbut".. or sometimes, just "NoaahB". He used to pal around with my dad a lot, and would come to the door saying "I'm he-ahhh ta twolk ta tha Boahhss", and by "boss", I think he meant my dad, though around our house, my mom was the one in charge. So when I asked "you mean, my mom?" he gave me this really confused look and said "You know who I mean." ...But I digress. If this Bostonian Cougar could talk, she'd probably tell us that she "pahtied to haahd back in tha day". I've always been fascinated by the notion of inanimate objects absorbing memory or some type of signature of the times and events they were part of or present for, and I think cars would probably have the most fascinating stories to tell if inanimate witnesses and participants could only speak. I bet this Cougar would have a thing or two to say about how it washed up in the fresh trade row looking like this.
In addition to the Bostonian, there was also a Coloradan, a San Antonian, a Houstonian, and a Pittsburgh -they didn’t even try to stick an “ian” on the end of that one. Not really a whole lotta love for the central states, is there? Note the distinct lack of an “Iowanian”, an “Omahaian”, a “St Paulian” or a “Sheboyganian” appearance package. Costal elitism rears its ugly head once again, it seems. Boston gets a Landau top, special badges, pin striping and faux-chrome appliqués, and the Midwest can’t even get a hood ornament or a decorative door sill insert to show for our existence? …Mope and pout!
But enough feeling sorry for ourselves in the Midwest. If this is what a Bostonian package looks like, do we really want to see what a “Des Moinesian” package would feature? Lets not get hung up on the principal of this thing, because perhaps the automotive snub is actually for the best. As Cougars go, this one -even if it were in showroom condition, is not what I consider a beautiful car, particularly when compared to her older sisters we met in the past couple days. In the 95’s defense, it had some great mechanical features for its time. Sadly, this young Cougar is probably already cycling through the auto auction limbo with a good chance she’ll end up at the crusher. If, however, one could lay hands on a similar year Cougar XR-7 that’s not dressed up in a vinyl top and silly looking chrome strips, one would be in possession of a great starting point for building a street sleeper that nobody would see coming. An engine swap and some upgrades would result in a creature car that, like a real Cougar, could sneak up on and take down its prey before they even sense the threat.
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