| You may well have thought that the | | | | metal the Cougar car was all Mustang, |
| Mercury Cougar auto that the origins of | | | | using the exact same Falcon front |
| the Mercury Cougar auto were nothing | | | | suspension and a solid rear axle with |
| more than a whale sized version of | | | | four-leaf springs. A base 289 cubic inch |
| simple Ford Thunderbird car. Yet many | | | | V-8 made 200 bhp (gross), but the real |
| are surprised that the history and | | | | action came in the guise of a 390 cubic |
| development of this classic American | | | | inch V-8 that made 320 bhp. A GT option |
| sportscar rather was that of the NASCAR | | | | included a performance handling package |
| legendary Mercury "Pony Car" , which | | | | and power disc brakes that replaced more |
| kicked nothing but but "Butt" on the | | | | standard front brake drums. Finally |
| Trans-Am Automobile racing circuit. | | | | special GT wheels rounded out the |
| Originally Lincoln- Mercury (considered | | | | package. It has been said that Lincoln |
| at the time to be the luxury end of Ford | | | | Mercury's chief designer had envisioned |
| Motor Corporation), had devised the idea | | | | the Cougar as an elegant European sports |
| of developing, designing and marketing a | | | | car, along the lines of the Jaguar Mark |
| small sized sports car. The germ of this | | | | 2. How was it that the Cougar went |
| idea had started as early as February | | | | racing? In 1967 Lincoln Mercury turned |
| 1963 with the idea in the works of this | | | | to Bud Moore to be the point man for a |
| smaller sports type vehicle to be sold | | | | shot at the SCCA Trans-Am Championship. |
| within the North American automobile | | | | Team Cougar made up of drivers, Dan |
| market. But it was the success of the | | | | Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Formula 1 driver |
| Ford Mustang product that finally put | | | | Peter Revson and NASCAR driver Dave |
| the pedal to the metal (or the design | | | | Pearson came in second in Ford Mustang's |
| and marketing staff's ok and budgeting | | | | team. In 1968 then under the aegis of |
| of departmental project funding). It is | | | | Moore, driver DeWayne "Tiny" Lund went |
| said that nothing drives a project the | | | | on to capture the NASCAR Grand Touring |
| automobile industry than the potential | | | | Championship. So where and how did the |
| of excellent sales figures and | | | | Cougar go wrong and in the end become a |
| profitability's. Even the name of the | | | | rather non defined wishy washy bloated |
| vehicle product "Cougar" is not totally | | | | luxo sort of sports car by the end of |
| unique. Cougar is in the same vein as | | | | its automobile production lifetime? What |
| "Mustang" - both being sleek fast racing | | | | proved to be this product and projects |
| animals. Although the Cougar was also | | | | undoing was the lack of true |
| built on a 111 inch wheelbase similar to | | | | comprehension from the direct Mercury as |
| the mustang auto sports car, the Cougar | | | | well as Ford staff and executives as to |
| was rather three inches and half inches | | | | what this car's clear and distinct |
| shorter than its cousin - the | | | | market was. It may be said that at the |
| Thunderbird. Underneath the elegant | | | | best they were disinterested and at the |
| sheet metal of the Cougar was a Mustang, | | | | worst clueless and greedy. This lack of |
| so to speak. In actuality the Cougar | | | | market focus, as well as not knowing and |
| shared with its cousins - the sporty | | | | perceiving the needs and desires of the |
| Mustang, and the dourer family vehicle - | | | | potential Cougar customer market proved |
| the Ford Falcon (which was also known in | | | | to be the Cougar's undoing. By the 1969 |
| the Canadian market as the Ford | | | | product introduction the Cougar was a |
| Frontenac product. The Ford Mustang had | | | | little longer and a little wider. From |
| the greatest fortune of being born from | | | | then on it was only a short decent into |
| the Ford Falcon product line. Mustang | | | | landau roofs as well as the opera window |
| enthusiasts owe a great debt of | | | | type styling and options of the day. |
| gratitude to a so called compact | | | | Once started this downward trend and |
| "Family" car. The Ford Falcon allowed | | | | spiral of the Cougar was inevitable. The |
| both the Mustang car project as well as | | | | halcyon years of the early Cougar - |
| the Cougar car product a quick to | | | | specifically the early Cougar model |
| develop, cheap to produce as well as a | | | | years of 1967 - 70 remain a time when |
| proven and durable base platform. Even | | | | the Cougar's roar boomed out of dual |
| the dash of the early Mustangs was a | | | | exhausts and the sign of a car that had |
| direct copy of the Falcons. Underneath | | | | some bite to it. |
| all of the glitter of its elegant sheet | | | | |