Cougar is a name plate that probably won’t be revived anytime soon. First, because Mercury is no longer, having gone the way of Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Saturn just recently. Mercury is a nameplate that used to be in the Ford family. My mother was a fan of the brand and owned several Mercs throughout the years. My dad used to always say “A Mercury is a Ford with the bolts tightened”. I don’t know about the bolt thing, but in recent decades anyway, a Mercury was a Ford with slightly different styling. Perhaps what killed off the brand was that very thing. It had become superfluous to have a lineup of cars that were just rebadged versions of vehicles that already existed. It’s kind of what Ford is doing now with Lincoln, only the distinction there is that Lincolns have some functional and comfort upgrades that Fords don’t, and they’re offered with larger and more powerful engine options than their Ford counterparts. I have a whole rant/“this is what would happen if I was in charge” spiel about the Lincoln brand name, but that’s for another post, I suppose.
Mercury though… A few years ago when rumors of dissolving Mercury were swirling about, I had kind of hoped that Ford would shift the brand name to a new function as their Hybrid/alternative fuel and technologies division/nameplate. That didn’t happen. You know who did do that very thing though? Toyota -they totally stole my idea! Prius is no longer just a model designation under the Toyota brand. It’s an entire lineup of hybrids, like its own brand now. Granted, Prius was not about to go under, and the shift was made from a position of power rather than desperation, but I think that strategy may have worked out for Mercury. And anyway, it’s always sad to say goodbye to cars with names that are actual, real words, and not some made up crap that some marketing firm had to pull out of thin air because everything else was already licensed and trademarked. Well, I’m just a peon who likes cars but isn’t actually part of the industry any longer. Nobody is going to ask my opinion on the matter, so it is what it is.. Which is to say that it’s not -Mercury is gone.
But even if Mercury was still around, I don’t think we’d be seeing a car called the Cougar these days. Cougar, which actually used to be what would spring to mind when Mercury was mentioned (in fact, ads for these cars used to feature beautiful models walking around with pumas on leashes -one has to wonder if anybody was mauled while promoting this car) has taken on a meaning that is different from a fierce and nimble mountain lion.
Nowadays, “cougar” is a term that one uses to signify an older woman on the prowl for younger men. Here’s what the Urban Dictionary has to say about it: “A cougar… will not play the usual games that women in their early 20’s participate in. End state, she will be going for the kill… associated with MILFS” and “The cougar can frequently be seen in a padded bra, cleavage exposed, propped up against a swanky bar, waiting, watching, calculating, gearing up to sink her claws into an innocent, young, and strapping buck.” So, a cougar is a sexually experienced older woman who unapologetically takes what she wants for herself. Doesn’t sound too bad to be a cougar if you ask me. Still, the connotations would limit the car’s appeal, so for the time being, the cougar badge is kaput. That said, lets meet one of the ladies.
First up, we have one of the first generation Cougars. This one has a white vinyl hard top, and it used to be at Ellingson Classic Cars, but it’s not there any longer, so she must have found her young buck and run off with him. The outward appearance of this Cougar tells us that it dates back to somewhere between 1967-70, so she’s between 43-46 years old… Actually, this is most likely a 1967 judging from the front fascia, so 46 is more accurate. This is a higher end Cougar than just the base model. This old gal is an XR-7.
This generation didn’t believe a lady ought to drop her top for just anybody, so she and her sisters were only available as 2 door hard tops (this is essentially a coupe, but the hardtop designation tells you that there’s no B pillar running from the floor of the car to the roof behind the front passengers). Also, there’s a pretty steep slope from the top rear of the roof line to the trunk line, so this style of roofline is called a “Notchback”, though there are certainly more severe examples of notchbacks to be seen in the automotive world, and even in the Cougar as it aged.
This Cougar had a twin brother called the Ford Mustang, and she borrowed some of her outfits (styling cues) from their older sibling, the Ford Thunderbird. Thus, the Cougar represented an elegant interpretation of the Pony car craze. There was an effort to give the Cougar some European flare, as well as some stylish appeal. So, in an XR-7 model, you’re going to see things like wood appliqué incorporated in the dash, gauges in the place of dummy lights, and toggle switches like what you would have seen in a Jaguar of the day. Throw in those cool sequential tail lights (a trick she learned from big sis, the T-bird), and concealed headlamps (she may be a Cougar, but she’s modest), and the look is complete. Brand new back in 1967, I’d guess one could be had for right around $3,500.
If this car were to flash her goodies at us, we’d see one of three things under her hood: a 4.7L (289 cu in) V8 with a 2 barrel carburetor that whips out 200 HP, the same engine with the addition of a 4 barrel carburetor and dual exhaust system changed the game to 225 HP and was called a “Super 289”, or a 4 barrel big block 6.4L (390 cu in) V8 with 320 HP available as part of a GT performance package. This engine was used in other Merc products and was called the Maurader 390 GT (if you’ve been keeping up on your reading, you may remember mention of a Mercury Marauder in the post about the Lincoln LS deal, BTW).
Since this one is a XR-7, we know that it has at least the Super 289 under its skirt, so this kitty likes to scratch. My photos are rather crappy, so it’s hard to see the badges on the car, but that little metallic thing that you can see on the C pillar of the white vinyl top is going to be an XR-7 badge. I don’t see anything that looks like a GT badge -which would be on the fenders right behind the wheel wells, so I think this gal is packin’ a Super 289 rather than the big guns. Still, back in her day, and heck, even today, she’s got plenty of power to give her driver some thrills, and unlike her more uncouth brother, the ‘67 Mustang, this Cougar can be a lady about it. She came with a suspension adjusted for a smoother fling, and extra sound-deadening material to make for a soft purr instead of a roar inside the passenger compartment. The ‘67 cougar was a slick car, and these days, harder to find than a Mustang of the same era.
Say what you want about Cougars, the cars or the people, but I’ll say this: I’m not technically in the appropriate age range to be a cougar, but hells bells, I’d love to drive one!
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