Model History: Mercury Cougar

A look at the progression of the Mercury Cougar from 1967 to 2002.

[@wilpotocki2453]

My second car was a 1969 Cougar. I loved that car. I especially loved the sequential rear tail lights and the hidden headlights. It was so fun to drive on the open road.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

A very cool car.

[@solice8844]

Mine was a 68 XR7 390 Marauder GT 335 HP, the most beautiful car I’ve ever owned. I miss it so much.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

They were beautiful cars.

[@Irishfan]

I had two Cougars. A 1976 XR7, and 2000 XR7. I liked both cars, but yhey were different cars. The 76 was a luxury personal car. The 2000 was a sports car. I was not really thinking about buying a Sports car when I went looking at cars in 2000, I was more interested in a personal luxury car, but when I popped the hod on that Cougar and saw that 24 valve DOHC Duratec V6 stamp on the valve cover, I kind of drifted back to my high school days remembering looking over the first generation Cougars. I was sold immediately on that car. It probably should be considered the best car I owned. I bought it new and kept the car 17 years. Most of the equipment under the hood was original for the first 15 years. Only the battery, brake pads, and oil filter changed in that time. I really wanted one of the Cougars from the first three years, most preferably a 69 Convertible. I was a high school kid then with a part time job and parents that did well to raise four children, but didn't have money to spare and buy me a brand new car. I did well on my part time job to own a 63 Falcon Convertible in 69.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

Very different cars indeed. But variety is the spice of life. Glad you enjoyed them.

[@buddywayne1]

I owned a '79 XR7, black with a gold landau top, and velour interior. LOVED that car. It only had the 302 so it was slow as molasses, but I still loved her.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

I can relate to that.

[@jimlubinski4731]

My first car was a used '68 Cougar. I was looking at Pintos, but my father thought it was immoral for one's firs car to be a used car. He foolishly sent me shopping with my mother (who did not like boring cars), so I ended up with the Cougar. I loved, but what college kid wouldn't at that time? I have another one now. I also owned a 1980 Silver Anniversary Thunderbird. I know people love to hate the Fox body T-Bird and Cougar, but I loved mine so much that I have another one of those now, too!

[@thehopelesscarguy]

Nice. Some of my favorite cars have been less than popular models. I hope to acquire a 67 Cougar at some point. It is easily my favorite Ford.

[@gunlakepaddlesports]

Well done! Your facts help make sense of a most difficult time in the car business. Glad I was there.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed.

[@rafaelmeneses5066]

I have 3 1967 cougars and while they don’t get the notoriety of the mustang I still like them better.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

Me too.

[@jeffjack542]

Thanks for the great history! I have a 79 xr7 green inside and out. I love that car and I was curious why they seemed to jump platform's every new body style. Thanks!

[@thehopelesscarguy]

Glad to be of service.

[@gene978]

Always a Cougar Fan. My First Brand New Car in 1980 at age 18 was the XR-7 as shown in this Video at 6 min. 11 sec. Same exact color and trim. Little did I know it was a Fox body. I traded a 1973 Fleetwood Brougham with 80K miles in great shape. They gave me $3000 for the trade in a time Large Luxo Cars were all called GAS HOGS. My 4.2 Litre XR-7 wasn’t much better MPG and was sluggish compared to cars I was use to driving. But it was New and it was mine. I would of been better off taking a LOADED left over ‘79 XR-7 then the Fox body Cheap Plastic car. I went alone knowing it all haha went to look at the new T-Birds and entered the wrong side of the Dealership and the first Sales Manager brought me right over to the car I bought. I said I wanted to look at Tbirds. He said Same Car but Better and I can get you a Great deal and I listened. The next lot down the street I was suppose to check out the new Cutlass, and Grand Prix. Never made it.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

Great story. It wasn't a bad looking car for the period.

[@chrismoody1342]

My first wife took over her fathers 68 XR7 w/390 ci. I really like the car, but the wife traded it for a Prelude. Wish she had kept it. It is a rare car today.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

In the late 80s I knew a guy that traded his 69 Daytona he purchased new, for a new Thunderbird. I questioned it then, before Daytona values shot through the roof.

[@cartoonfoxxx]

I have a yellow 1973 cougar XR7 convertible and im in love ❤

[@thehopelesscarguy]

Sweet.

[@anonymousm9113]

I drove my Mom's '92 Cougar quite a bit in the late '90s. When I worked at the Cadillac dealership in around '98 they had a V8 Cougar on the lot I wanted to get but never did. Decent enough car, but like many of its generation the '92 started falling apart after 100k miles.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

90s cars in general are not know for being durable.

[@chrisfreemesser5707]

My aunt had a '78 Cougar XR7 that she was going to give to me in '87 or so to be my first car. It was comfy and (as I recall) had pretty decent pickup. Unfortunately somebody hit the car and it got totaled before it became mine, so my grandfather's rotted out '77 Monarch became my first car instead 😭

[@thehopelesscarguy]

A Monarch wouldn't have been as cool or as nicely equipped as a XR-7, but depending on its condition, it could have been a better first car, as far as size and mileage.

[@CaylorsReptilesAquatics]

Wish some time had been spent on interiors, especially the first few years as a mercury.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

I understand.

[@michaellovely6601]

I miss the Mercury division of Ford.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

Like Ford, but with class.

[@growingup4487]

@@thehopelesscarguy Lincoln does it now

[@colibri1]

We had neighbors in the late sixties-early seventies who had a red 1968 Mercury Cougar with black vinyl roof and black interior, a really nice car. And the Cougar was for years the best known Mercury, the car everyone immediately thought of when they heard the name Mercury. I can still hear in my head one of the advertising jingles from mid-seventies Cougar TV commercials: "Cougar, it's like nobody else's car," followed by a real cougar's scream. And in my opinion, those downsized 1980 Cougars XR-7s and Thunderbirds were some of the ugliest and most awkward-looking of the downsizing era. They tried to superimpose seventies luxury trim like padded landau roofs, opera windows, and padded vinyl moldings onto those boxy, geometric shapes and it just made the cars look disproportionate and really threw off the natural lines of the new shape.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

I once knew two brothers, the older of which owned a beautiful black 68 Cougar with a vinyl top. The younger brother wrecked it. The older brother used the insurance money to buy a black 67 Cougar with red pin stripes, and the younger brother bought the 68 and restored it. I would have loved to have had either one.

[@crankychris2]

Sadly, after 1970 the Cougar was a 2 ton behemoth, power disappeared quicker than an 8 ball on Sat night. By 1975, Ford had nothing for the performance driver, it was the malaise era for American cars. Running aging 60's musclecars on 87 octane wasn't working out very well either.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

Buying octane boost and lead additive certainly didn't encourage people to drive their older cars.

[@jamessawyer8889]

I've always thought that the Cougar was a very cool looking sports car especially since it was in a league of it's own, the XR7 was like a grand touring car, the addition of the ragtop was just as classy, yes back in the seventies horsepower did shrink because of the feds, & the car market was also changing, today the car industry is no longer a car industry, it's an SUV industry that's completely changed everything, too bad we can't have the niche markets like we did, not to mention the price brackets cars used to be in, but that's why everything is so overpriced, & the next wave coming are EV'S, can't we have some fun cars anymore instead of what's taken over the industry??

[@thehopelesscarguy]

The cougar is kind of a study in changing trends. I'm sure if Mercury was still around it would be similar to a Mach-E. EV's can be fun, and "skateboard" platforms with a raised floor make more sense with a SUV, but they are overpriced, impractical and disposable.

[@toddbonin6926]

I remember the first ones when I was a little boy. To me, they were the ultimate car … and they stayed that way through 1978. Afterwards, FoMoCo just ruined them.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

One could argue that most American Cars were ruined about that time.

[@Focusembedded]

Minor nitpick... The Cougar was not Mercury's first and last Car of the Year. I still have all the "Car of the Year" advertising materials that went with my 1972 Mercury Montego.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

Interesting. I can't find a reference to that.

[@dj33036]

The '67 and '68s were gorgeous, after that not so much.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

Hard to argue with that.

[@Primus54]

I owned a ‘67 XR7 that I purchased right out of high school in ‘72. My mother always said it was her favorite-looking car of all time (she started driving at age 14 in 1931!). My only complaint with the looks was that the headlight covers never quite matched the adjacent grill’s dimensions which were very noticeable because of the vertical “electric shaver” design, even when perfectly aligned. I miss that car… wish I still owned it!

[@dj33036]

@@Primus54 Kind of a long story but here goes. I was 20 years old and working for a small privately owned company. While in the warehouse working, about a hundred feet or so away from me, the owner of the company and the head foreman were having a huge argument. The owner picked up a huge crescent wrench and hurled it across the room missing hitting me in the head by inches. It scared me so bad I just went to the parking lot got in my old Volkswagen and went home. An hour later the owner pulled into my driveway, I thought for sure he was going to kill me but instead he came to apologize to me. He then told me that one of his sales reps had recently given notice and had returned his company car. It was a beautiful red '67 Cougar with a black interior. He told me I could have it for the remainder of the lease, which was almost 6 months. I was in heaven. I drove the car until my enlistment into the U.S. Navy a few months later. To this day one of my all time favorite cars.

[@solice8844]

Yes, 67 and 68 were the best models ever. The 69 and 70 changes were sub-standard-I didn’t like the concave rear tail lights nor the side curved lines. Personally, I think Ford should bring back the 68 model (best year) as a classic remake today.

[@luvr381]

I had a cougar, but she was just a fling.

[@thehopelesscarguy]

Fun

[@user-rr7kl9jz9o]

I would love to own a cougar w the 390 and 4 speed

[@thehopelesscarguy]

It's on my wish list.