(first posted 11/5/2014) After a recent week of Ford Thunderbirds with a healthy dose of the intermediate-sized 1977-79 generation, a profile of the Mercury Cougar XR7 of the same years will create feelings of déjà vu. The 1977-79 Cougar XR7 shared the chassis, body and most of the styling of the contemporary Thunderbird, differing mostly in lacking the Thunderbird’s most distinctive details, its hidden headlights and basket handle B-pillar with inset opera window.
Far removed from the Cougar’s luxury pony car origins in 1967, this mid-size offering of Ford’s middle division suffered from classic middle-child syndrome, which continues to afflict it today, starved for attention among Ford personal luxury cars between the Thunderbird and the top-of-the-line Lincoln Mark V. This sighting of a well preserved example, which I believe is the same car that I saw regularly in the same parking lot over 30 years ago, prompted this look back at a largely forgotten Mercury.
In 1977 Mercury changed the Cougar’s purpose in its model lineup, applying the name to its entire lineup of intermediates and creating a Cougar XR7 with some distinguishing styling features to fill the personal luxury car role of the Thunderbird and the previous generation Cougar. Thus in 1977-79 the sedans, coupes, and station wagons formerly badged as Montegos became the Cougar sedan, Cougar coupe, and Cougar Villager. They were Mercury’s version of the Ford LTD II, which similarly took a formerly upmarket name and applied it to a full lineup of ordinary intermediates on the old Torino chassis. The Cougar XR7, like the Thunderbird, was the higher positioned personal luxury car version of the Cougar/LTD II.
Mercury gave the Cougar XR7 some unique styling details to separate it from the ordinary Cougar coupe, but unlike the Thunderbird’s distinctive basket handle B-pillar, the Cougar XR7’s were barely noticeable from most angles and seem to highlight Mercury’s muddled position among Ford’s divisions more than they identify the car as a distinct product. A half vinyl roof with simulated louvers at the front edge of the rear opera windows was an XR7-only feature that only the most fanatical car spotters would have noticed.
Quite noticeable but also quite questionable was the trapezoidal simulated spare tire hump on the trunk lid, added to rear styling that otherwise was reminiscent of the contemporary Mercury Marquis. Obviously derived from the “Continental” simulated spare tire humps on Lincolns, it no doubt seemed to be a good idea to the marketing department, but it said heavy-handedly that the car was trying to be like a Lincoln, but was not quite one.
Mercury further highlighted the trunk lid hump in 1978-79 with the Midnight/Chamois Decor Option, which covered the hump with Chamois colored padded vinyl and continued the color scheme on the half vinyl roof, wheels, and side moldings, with the interior also in Midnight Blue and Chamois. “Broughamois” has not entered into car lexicon yet (not even in Francophone Canada), having exactly zero Google hits as of 12:00 AM today, but if this option package had become more popular, it might have.
The interior of the Cougar XR7 imitated the Thunderbird closely, with the same instrument panels and corporate Ford steering wheel. The same sport instrument package that included a large speedometer and tachometer and five small dials for fuel and engine monitoring gauges was an option. (This photograph is not of the featured car, whose interior was entirely dark green.)
Under the hood, the base engine in 1977 was a 302 2 barrel with 134 horsepower, with a 351 two barrel with 149 horsepower and a 400 two barrel with 173 horsepower as options. In 1979, the 400 was dropped, leaving only the 302 and 351. Although none of these choices was especially exciting, whatever was under the hood, on top of it the driver got to look at one of the greatest hood ornaments of all time.
Although not widely or well remembered today, the 1977-79 Cougar XR7 was by far the best selling car to bear the Cougar name. Mercury sold 124,799 Cougar XR7s and 70,024 “regular” Cougars in 1977, with Cougar XR7 sales alone being 50% higher than for the 1976 Cougar. Cougar XR7 sales leaped even higher in 1978-79 while sales of lesser Cougars collapsed, with XR7 sales of 166,508 in 1978 and 163,716 in 1979, and others at only 46,762 in 1978 and 8,436 in 1979. To put the success of the 1977-79 Cougar XR7 in perspective, its sales in 1978-79 exceeded the Cougar’s previous high of 150,893 in its debut year of 1967, which fell to 113,720 in 1968 and 100,060 in 1969.
Much like the 1977-79 Thunderbird, which sold an average of over 300,000 per year in 1977-79, the 1977-79 Cougar XR7 clearly hit a sweet spot as a personal luxury car that was decently styled and not too bloated for an era of high gas prices. It was not the luxury pony car that the highly regarded first generation had been, but it was a successful personal luxury car and the best selling Cougar of all time.
The ensuing downsized generation caused the popularity of the Cougar to fall off a cliff, with sales plunging to only 58,028 in 1980 and averaging approximately 74,250 in 1980-82. The aerodynamic 1983 restyling revived the model’s popularity, which sold over 100,000 per year during the mid to late 1980s and peaked at 135,904 in 1986, approaching but not quite equaling the sales figures of 1977-79.
The featured Cougar XR7 is a well preserved survivor of the approximately 455,000 sold in 1977-79, and it is likely the same car that I saw parked on a regular basis during the 1980s in the same parking lot near a Washington, DC area Exxon station. At the time, a pastel colored American luxury barge seemed like a dinosaur among the sensibly sized and mostly black, white, or silver Japanese and European cars that were taking over suburban driveways and streets, so this car has remained stuck in my memory of this place ever since then. This cougar probably has been chasing this beagle since the 1980s.
At least 35 years after it was new, with the benefit of hindsight and more knowledge, the same car appears in a different light. Its “intermediate” size makes it a bit shorter than full size personal luxury cars such as the pre-1980 Lincoln Mark series or pre-1979 Eldorado/Riviera/Toronado; its styling is cleaner than that of the contemporary Chevrolet Monte Carlo and Pontiac Grand Prix; and arguably it has aged better, even with the trapezoidal Continental hump as a rather forced styling element. Most likely its presumed long-term owner no doubt finds it to be a satisfying sunny day cruiser, with a quiet and relaxing ride and powertrain, regardless of its lack of acceleration or driving dynamics. I am glad to see it still driving to the same place that it has for over 30 years, instead of cruising around Stockholm or Berlin.
Related reading:
1977 Mercury Cougar Villager – Classic Wagon Capsule
1977 Ford LTD II Brougham – The Thunderbird’s Less Successful Brother
1971-73 Mercury Cougar – The Brougham Pony Car (And Mom’s First Ride)
1969 Mercury Cougar – Premium Ponycar
1968 Mercury Cougar – Mercury’s Only Greatest Hit
Could the ThunderCats cartoon of the 1980’s have cribbed the 1977-1979 Mercury Cougar logo?
You be the judge
It’s a nice car, but IMHO, all cars of this type, from all manufacturers, was blown away by the ’77-’79 Thunderbird. I never understood why the Thunderbird only lasted 3 years. Ford hit the nail on the head with that design, and I think it should have stayed around for many more years.
Many things happened to conspire to cause Ford to kill off that T-Bird/Cougar in favor of the Fairmont based version.
Chief among them was the increase in CAFE gas mileage levels but also the fact that GM downsized their car lines in that same period. Ford reportedly laughed at GM in 1977 when the downsized B Bodies rolled off the line and printed up adds proclaiming that Ford was still selling real full size models. Ford was not laughing long as GM could not make enough 1977 B Body cars and Ford’s full size models stayed on the lot unsold. So Ford decided that boxy smaller cars were the way and ditched all their 70’s discomobiles in favor of smaller cars also.
When I was 15, my friend’s 17 year-old sister drove a 76 Cougar XR7. Red with white vinyl landau roof. Occasionally she would drive us. She was gorgeous!
So, yes, the 76 Cougar was a great car in the early 80s!
And, it looked at lot better than the angular 77 that replaced it.
Nice article Robert. Was the Cougar cheaper or dearer than the Thunderbird at this time? The changing position/platforms of the various T-bird/Cougar/Marks takes some understanding, it brings into question what Fords overall plan was in those days. No wonder Mercury ended up being irrelevant when from this time it was just a restyled Ford. I wonder if continuing things like the extra wheelbase would have made a difference. The same applies to current day Lincolns.
During the ’77-’79 era, Cougar XR-7 and Thunderbird pricing would generally have been pretty similar for similarly equipped cars. A fully loaded Thunderbird Landau might have technically been the very top car by price.
Wheelbase differential was not very important for these cars during the ’70s and ’80s. The big problem Ford sometimes had with Mercury at various times was a failure to use unique sheetmetal and interior components. Ford made a passable effort with the Cougar / XR-7 most years during the ’74 – ’97 mid-size era as the Cougar was typically a decent seller (with a few well noted exceptions) and was important to the brand. But, Ford’s effort was usually nowhere close to as good as GM, but generally far superior to Chrysler.
Thanks Dave.
Honestly, I think the rationale for the “Thunder Cat” Cougars was mostly that Lincoln-Mercury dearly wanted their own Thunderbird and weren’t overly concerned with differentiating it. The four-seat Thunderbird had been positioned right in the middle of Lincoln-Mercury’s turf in price and prestige and was enormously profitable at a time when Lincoln-Mercury was still struggling to justify its continued existence.
That’s the thing about multiple divisions and divisional hierarchies: As long as each division has any autonomy at all, they (and their dealers) will want their own version of pretty much any product that’s popular and profitable. For the most part, the corporation will let them have it as long as they stand to make more money than it costs to add the additional version. Sometimes, the corporation will force other divisions to take a product as a way of spreading out the development costs of some platform or technology, even if the division isn’t all that interested.
As much as corporations and pundits go on about brands, realistically, the sanctity of a particular brand is honored more in the breach…
Probably due to their high production, I still see Cougars of this generation relatively often, even in my climate. I love this color cat though!
Where in MA have you seen any of this generation? I’d love to find one of these or a Thunderbird but haven’t seen one in the steel in 15 years.
Mercury sure milked that Continental front-end a long time, retaining it in the 1st Panther Marquis as well, which BTW I consider more attractive than its LTD counterpart.
That transmission hump looks less intrusive than the tunnel in many modern FWD cars.
Mine been sitting for 38 years. She had a fresh 460 cid swapped many years ago.
The subject car is a very rare color, I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen it before. I would not have chosen the color back in the day, but it’s kinda cool now.
While the wheel covers look nice, this could be the 5th of about a dozen years that Mercury put these covers on various cars. They really belong on a Grand Marquis, and Ford’s laziness with wheel covers at all three brands in the ’70s and ’80s is hard to understand.
The black Cougar in the brochure page is very much a car I considered buying around 1982, except the interior was red. The car belonged to the store director at the grocery store I worked at. Those guys were reported to earn six figures back then, and he traded off nice cars on a regular basis. His car was not quite as loaded up as I had hoped, and my brain was pretty focused on finding the perfect ’76-’77 era Cutlass Supreme, so I passed and found my Cutlass within a few weeks.
These wheelcovers started life on the 70 or 71 Thunderbird. They were never my favorites.
Furd Australia used ’em too into the late 70’s On their take on the LTD, no relation to the North American one.
Good Lord JP, you are right. I recognize these as T-Bird covers but never connected the dots. That could make for right about 20 years if they made it all the way through the box Panther era. But, I think they might have been discontinued with the ’88 refresh. They had a new base cover that I recall seeing occasionally.
Chris, archeologists will find these on 7 continents and probably floating among space junk! Your late ’70s LTD is also wearing the ’71 US LTD door handles. Yours is a rather handsome car.
Did the door handles break as often as they did here?
The Maryland license plate without the http://www.maryland.gov at the bottom denotes that the current owner could be the original owner of the car or at the least the current owner of the car has owned it for at least 10 years. The last time the non http://www.maryland.gov maryland license plate was issued was back in 2004. If it is owned by the original owner he/she would have had to get 3 sets of plates due to MD changing the plate design 3 times from 77-87.
When these were new in 77, they looked especially fresh. The new square headlights were just coming in and they looked great! I remember the boys in the neighborhood checking out the “XR7” at the local hardware store…for the 10 speed bike brigade, these were cool…
Great article, but it should at least mention that the Cougar migrated to the Torino/Montego platform for 1974 (only as a coupe, though) three years before the T-bird.
Somehow the ’77-79 Cougar looks a bit more modern than the LTD II and T’bird of the same years, maybe because they reused the Cougar grille/headlight/signal arrangement for the Town Car.
An unabashed Thundercat fan, here. This is probably my second choice Cougar of all, beat out only by the first one. When this came out, I thought this car nailed the current styling trends, and was a very good looking car. Of everything Ford built on this platform during the 70s, this car would be my top pick. Paul N is no doubt right here with me. 🙂 Well, maybe not.
The tire hump always reminded me a bit of Chrysler’s take on it with the 64-66 Imperial. My only gripe with the car is that it used the same generic Ford interior that everything else used in the 70s. One shape dash, choice of round or square instruments. It may have looked nice in 1972, but by 1977-79, any appeal it had was long gone.
“arguably it has aged better”
Arguably….very very very very arguably.
Uglier than a Grand Prix/Monte Carlo in 1977 and still uglier than those 2 in 2014.
Sorry.
I did say “arguably.” My personal opinion is that the Grand Prix and Monte Carlo started great but did not look right with rectangular headlights in the late 1970s. The Cougar was designed for rectangular headlights and, while much more conservative with its square lines, looks less contrived and dated than the Monte Carlo with its pontoon fenders and the Grand Prix with its side, hood and rear deck sculpting. All of this is subjective, as is styling generally.
As I mentioned in the other XR-7 post, I really like these Cougars, at least looks wise. I think the hand me down Lincoln cues work well, they are not identical but enough to suggest to the prospective purchaser that the car was “almost a Lincoln”.
That is a positively fantastic color scheme! Love, love, love the light green and the bright white vinyl roof and moldings offset it perfectly. It is a good-looking car overal for its time, but wow–those colors really make it.
Both these Cougars and the contemporary LTD II are pretty much exitnct around here, and I’ve probably only seen one ’77-’79 Thunderbird in the past few years. Odd given how well they sold when new, especially considering road salt around here is only an occasional occurrence so they shouldn’t have all rusted away.
I distinctly remember two Cougars from this generation from my childhood, and the funny trait they both shared in common.
One was an all black, fully loaded (including moonroof) 1979 XR-7 that belonged to the mother of one of my friends. I remember riding in it and thought it was a sweet car, though the back seat was shockingly small given its overall size. The other was a triple gold 1977 XR-7, also loaded except for the moonroof, that belonged to my 7th grade science teacher. The trait that both cars shared? The owners were total Cougars themselves–divorced, very good looking middle-aged women who were definitely on the prowl for men (younger or otherwise). The cars were an oh-so-appropriate accompaniment to that mission, screaming 1970s “swinging style” all the way.
Only 18 comments?! Hey you guys, this is a genuine find!
I like it–especially the colors–Wintergreen Luxury Group! Great find Robert.
Well, we did have nine posts today, so that does tend to dilute commenting a bit. But here’s mine! 🙂
Glad to know what to call this Cougar’s color! Wintergreen is a color that I cannot imagine on any car built in the last 20 years, but on a 1970s car, it looks totally right.
Actually I was joking about the Wintergreen Luxury Group… 🙂
The color is Medium Jade, and was a 1978-only color for Cougars. It was shown in the brochure that year. So “your” car is a ’78.
Plus there was the XR-7 before and after shrinking article not long ago.
Well, I’m impressed with the dash and gauge package, and the clock seems to have a seconds hand-analogue clocks look cheap without them in lux cars. Beats having to stare at all that faux wood, which is restrained in this one.
Most non truck Ford product of that era had only speed and gas, I would have never guessed it was offered. I wonder if it had a redline indicator, Ford had a period of tachs without redlines with auto trans. Sure, that 4.9 six could rev to 8000.
Funny how the color of a car can bring back memories. In 1980 on Thanksgiving Day, my Aunt’s house caught fire. She had a 1978 Cougar XR-7 in this color except hers had a dark green roof and interior. The garage was attached to the house, and her Cougar was destroyed. She replaced it with a loaded 1981 Oldsmobile 98 Regency and never ever spoke about that Cougar again.
I owned a 77 Cougar, black with white interior and roof.
The best feature was the 8-way power bench seat. Great for the drive-in!
Eventually the front bumper rusted right off.
Re: the awesome hood ornament, does anyone else remember those being sold as pendants, or was my brain in a parallel universe back then?
Cleaner styling that the Grand Prix or Monte Carlo. I sure hope that was in reference to the 1973-1977 versions. The downsized 1978-80 and 81-88 A/G body cars were far cleaner and more sensible looking than these rather larger, heavy and fussy styled fat cats of the 77-79 era. Even the rear hump, especially with that silly vinyl treatment was just plain tacky!
I wasn’t a big fan of most of the vehicles Ford was putting out during this era but my favorite Ford/Mercury’s built during the 1975-79 period my favorites were the Mercury Marquis (up to 1978), 1977-79 Ford Thunderbird and the 1977-79 Mercury Cougar XR7, also is it just me or does the 1977-79 Mercury Cougar’s front end resemble a mid 1970’s full sized Pontiac? I always think of Pontiac every time I see the front end of the Cougar’s of this generation
Great article…I’m glad to see these wonderful cars finally getting noticed over the monte’s and grand prix.I own a 1977 xr7 currently with 29K on the clock mostly orignal survior since 1979.With the help of a 1977 Lincoln Mark 5 donor vehicle .My xr-7 spiritly cruises with a 10.3 to 1 460 c.i.d. C-6 and a 9 inch posi.3.55 gear. No experienced people noticed it’s a transplant because it’s very stock appearance.Mercury should have offered the 460 option.I’ve stored the original drivetrain but have no intrest reinstalling it as this is how it should perform.Thanks all…
Like the community, just bought my second 77 XR7. Nice to see so many other people sharing my love for these cars!
Wanted to know how many1977-1979 Cougar XR7 s had T tops installed
9
Nice car
The older these cars get, the more alien they appear. The giant front end, the giant long hood, the upright grille, the humped trunk lid, the padded vinyl roof, all of these styling elements are attractive, yet no longer seen often today. You expect something as amazing inside, but – you got a plebeian Torino instead. The Fox body Cougar XRT had an upscale interior that hid its Fairmont/Zephyr roots.
Mercury kept that hood ornament for a few more generations, and yes – it is a beautiful design. I kept looking at it when I drove a Cougar decades ago. It got to become a nuisance, but fortunately, it could be turned 180, so that I couldn’t stare at it all day while I drove. It was the only car I ever drove with a hood ornament that hypnotized me.
In my opinion, the Mercury Cougar XRT was one of the best looking Brougham rides of the era, alongside the first Cordoba with Jaguar-like round headlights, the Lincoln Mark IV and V, the 1973/74 Grand Prix, the 1976 Thunderbird, and the 1971 Monte Carlo.
They should have just killed the Cougar in 1971. Just move along, Nothing here to see.
Eh, I like 71-73s, and my 94 for that matter 😉
It’s interesting to me how much the Cougar committed to that Mark IIIesque front end design from 71 though, it carried on to 74s, remained on these 77-79s but with rectangular headlights, was somewhat revised for the 83 in an aero form and again on the 89-90 MN12. It was such an overused theme on 70s Ford products yet the Cougar of all cars, which had one of the most distinct and recognizable front ends in the 60s, owned it more than any of them
I like the front end of the Cougar much better than the Lincoln imitating Thunderbird and it’s sad single round headlights below the wide doors, but it’s body design really is basically a camouflage job of the base Cougar/LTD coupe. I used to think these had a unique roofline sheetmetal like the Thunderbird, albeit in a much more conventional manner did but as I have further observed the different shape of the quarter glass is likely just the effect of the vinyl top sitting on top of the triangular cutout and making it more of a rectangular parallelogram shape, and the opera window is the same piece optional on base bodystyles with the shape effectively altered by the vestigial louvers on the front. It’s fairly effective(for me) but it bust be particularly ugly below the vinyl top cap on the XR7 than average. The rear end design seems to be doing its best imitation of the Mark IV rear end it can with the low mounted small horizontal taillights and continental hump, it’s a wonder the Cougar didn’t use the Tbird front end and vice versa to complete the look… or maybe that would have been too on the nose, so to speak.
Personally, it goes against my better judgment but I like these. 60s muscle cars used to be called dinosaurs by just about everyone for a time, but history ended up softening up them due to their styling aging extremely well and performance no longer being excessive but predictive (and even modest) to what we have now in mainstream cars. These big 70s PLCs on the other hand truly remain dinosaurs however, they’re not easy for your average person to ever see the appeal of, but as someone interested in just about any old car I sure do, not every dinosaur proved to be as cool as the T. rex, but that’s part of the fascination with the Jurassic era, people won’t be putting the fossils of these Cougars together for a museum, so I try to enjoy them for what they were while I can.
Very nice mint-green with almost-wide whites & shiny wheel-covers.
I’m all for those shiny objects.
But I wouldn’t exactly call this a Thundercat.
More of a Lap Cat.
I like that late 70s(?) Oldsmobile parked in background.
It’s an Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser wagon from the 1980s. It’s wearing the exterior sheet metal that Oldsmobile adopted for its 1980 full-size cars.
When I was a kid in the 80s, I thought the name XR7 debuted with the Aerocat. It seemed so 80s to me. I was actually surprised to see a bloatcat labeled XR7, kind of diluted the cool factor (80s me thought a white Cougar XR7 with the gold turbine wheels from the Mustang GT was very cool). It was easy for me to imagine cool people like Falco or Mr T buying “an XR7” based on the name.
The 80s made it a “sporty” package, mirroring either the Tbird Turbo coupe and Tbird Sport, prior to that it was a luxury package or simply a way to denote the “real” Cougar from the cutlassization years.
“At the sign of the cat”. Grrrr!
I worked for Hertz (’77 and ’78) as a transporter when these were new, and Hertz being a Ford house back then, and though we drove more LTDII and Thunderbirds, there were also these Cougars, including the controversial wagon. Mercury did overuse the Cougar name, and these were little more than Montegos (my Uncle had a ’74 Montego which was much like the Cougar, though his was a 4 door), and the LTDII was just a Torino (as was the Thunderbird). But other makes like Mopar were doing the same, with the Cordoba, and it was a big hit.
These weren’t great cars, and might have continued a bit longer, but for the CAFE rules. They didn’t drive great but were pretty solid cars otherwise. I used to drive across the US/Canada border many times driving one of these or a Thunderbird and always had to open my (empty) trunk to have them inspect the contents, as I was a 19 year old with a new car (and fit their profile).
I saw the 1977 Cougar XR-7 at the Detroit Auto Show and loved it! I soon ordered an all black exterior with chamois color interior and pin stripes to match. Paid $6,500 for it.. As soon as I took delivery four weeks later, I received a job offer in Memphis, Tennessee. That black XR-7 got looks I couldn’t believe since there where very few black cars in the South at the time. I felt like a celebrity driving it around Memphis! The two problems I had were the 351’s serpentine belt broke and the polycast wheel center caps kept flying off until I glued them in place with silicone. The speed limit on interstates was only 55 MPH and strictly enforced so I got a few tickets. It was a great car to drive in 1977 – 1979! To me it was like having a baby Continental Mark V!
The Black and Gold 1977 Mercury Cougar was a classic beauty. By Gregg L. Friedman MD