(first posted 2/13/2024) Today my hometown of New Orleans is celebrating Mardi Gras, replete with lavish parades, revelry and craziness in the streets, make-believe royalty plus lots of parties, including the very formal Mardi Gras Balls. For today at least, established boundaries will be stretched in surprising ways. So I thought it would be fitting to look at a rather wild automotive comparison between two very different cats: one an American arriviste with a bit of Continental flair, and the other epitomizing England’s “Olde Worlde” charms. Plus, one of these cars would be at the center of my parent’s Mardi Gras festivities some fifty years ago.
Actually Carnival has been underway for weeks, with parades and parties throughout New Orleans almost every day. Carnival Krewes are the clubs that put on the festivities, and range from neighborhood groups to large, well-funded operations with incredibly elaborate floats and lavish masquerade balls replete with Kings, Queens and royal courts.
Royalty is a central theme of Mardi Gras, with the city devouring King Cakes, startlingly decorated with green, gold and purple sugar and featuring a little plastic baby hidden inside, to be discovered by one lucky recipient—who then has to buy the next King Cake (unless you are a kid, in which case you just collect the babies).
Kids and adults alike enjoy the parades, where in addition to great music from marching bands and the spectacle of incredible floats (often with wry political and cultural themes), trinkets and tokens like Mardi Gras beads and doubloons are thrown in abundance from the fully-costumed Krewe members aboard each float, to be caught and collected. The net result is that most New Orleanians find other parades rather bit dull: “what do you mean they don’t throw anything?”
The festivities reach a fevered pitch on Mardi Gras Day—aka Fat Tuesday—which is always the last day before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. Dressing up in costume is the order of the day for almost everyone in the crowds, and two major parades with wildly outfitted Krewes—Zulu and Rex—make their way through the city on their way downtown. Once the parades are done the parties begin.
The crescendo of Mardi Gras comes late in the evening on Tuesday at the formal balls, including the “Meeting of the Courts” when the Krewes of Rex and Comus join together in an elaborate royal tableau in front of a crowd of formally attired revelers in balls gowns, white ties and tails.
The funny part of all this is that the “Kings” of carnival are New Orleans businessmen, doctors, lawyers, civic leaders and the like. In 2017, for example, The King of Rex, was a noted pediatrician while the King of Zulu was a prominent businessman. But for a brief magic moment each man was elevated to a whole new level of showmanship, and the transformation was remarkable.
The same could be said for the first Mercury Cougar. Based on the Ford Mustang, Mercury served up a wheelbase stretch, highly differentiated styling and posher interiors to take the Pony Car upmarket with the Cougar. The “European inspired” XR-7 model gilded the lily even more, and Car and Driver deemed that alluring cat as worthy of a comparison test with one of England’s upper-crust luxury performance sedans.
The Cougar performed remarkably well in the test, demonstrating that conventional Detroit engineering components could be massaged into a remarkably nice package with an attainable price tag. And that was key to the Cougar’s success, both in the comparison test and in the marketplace—as tested, the XR-7 listed for $4,708.26 ($35,280 adjusted), while the Jaguar’s price was far higher at $7,095 ($53,164 adjusted), a sum which would have brought home a well-equipped Cadillac Eldorado. Little wonder Mercury sold 150,893 Cougars in 1967, compared with 5,839 of the much more expensive Jaguars. So for a well-priced, right-sized, good performing and very stylish car, the Cougar was tough to beat.
That’s certainly what my parents thought some 50 years ago, when my Pop bought a 1968 Cougar XR-7 (one of 32,712 XR-7 models sold that year). His was finished in Augusta Green with the styled-steel road wheels like the car pictured above, though Pop’s didn’t have the vinyl top. Underhood, Pop’s XR-7 had the newly available 302 4V V8 (replacing the 289 V8) and Merc-O-Matic. With 230 horsepower and 310 lbs-feet of torque, his car would have had strong performance without the weight and handling penalty as seen with Car and Driver’s 390 V8-equipped ’67 test car.
The interior of Pop’s Cougar was Saddle like the one depicted in this brochure shot, though unless it was a Mardi Gras prop, his car never held a baby wildcat or a pick axe. But it did go to some Mardi Gras balls.
Here are my parents about to head out on Mardi Gras evening circa 1968. Their chariot for the ball was Pop’s brand-spanking-new Cougar XR-7, which made for a grand entrance on a magical night. To this day, my mother still refers to the Cougar as “such a sexy car” and she counts it at the top of her list of favorite cars she’s had (and that list includes some real Jaguar sedans with which she would ultimately indulge years later).
So, for a brief period of time, this Mercury could indeed be considered the belle of the ball. Soon the cat put on pounds and inches, becoming fatter and less nimble, thereby losing the sporty edge and style that had contributed to the Cougar’s early success. Mercury’s surprising flirtation with pseudo-European flair was soon abandoned. But the party sure was amazing while it lasted.
Happy Mardi Gras, y’all!
First gen – and the best – both Windsor and FE – for different reasons
Merc. Hands down. What a stunner, they never looked this good again. Add a G to the Jag and I’ll change my mind.
BTW, your mum has a strong resemblance to Natalie Wood.
Indeed she does!
I did a double take when viewing that picture.
I agree with Don’s note about your mother’s resemblance to Natalie Wood.
And your dad looks like a Jeremy Renner version of James Bond.
I love the way she is touching his arm.
Regarding the Cougar, I have always thought the 1968 XR7 was Ford’s way to make perfect the design and scale of the original Mustang (and its interior).
And that green was the best way to show that perfection.
I just talked to my mother, who is back from watching Rex go down St. Charles. I had her look at the post and the comments, and she loves the feedback about the picture (“your Pop was so handsome.”) Plus she’s flattered and tickled pink with the comparisons to Natalie Wood. Mom is almost 84 now (Pop would have been 90), and while she no longer drives, she still loves to “dress up.”
Cougar.
The Gen 1s are one of the best looking cars ever and unlike the Jag, you can be reasonably sure you will reach your destination without the assistance of a tow truck
I was going to vote for a Windsor Cougar and say to save the 390 FE for the F350 pulling the Jag…beat me to it!
This “Car & Driver” magazine’s thought provoking road test is yet another example of why “C&D” was the most relied on car magazine in my Dad’s house (and later on my house) from the early 1960’s thru today; our “Go To” automotive reference standard. Sadly, not so much today.
GN Father’s choice of car and engine would had been mine also. That heavy, boat anchor FE 390 was never one of my favorite engines. What little extra performance it gave came at a too high cost of handling, stopping and gas mileage for me.
And then there is the reliability factor. Although improved, Jaguar’s breakdown proclivity was well known and the butt of many rude jokes. (Lucas the Prince Of Darkness, British quality control and so on.) Having a Jaguar was the best excuse possible for also having a reliable American “back up car” in 1967.
The local factor comes into play here also when choosing between these two fine cars. As GN can attest to: New Orleans is the heat and humidity sinkhole of the USA during the eight or nine months we locals call “Summer”! Reliable, powerful, competent air conditioning, that can be used in traffic and highway settings without over-heating the car’s engine, is oh so desirable. My experiences with Jaguar’s air conditioners of this time period is not fit for tender ears. FoMoCo in dash A/C of this time period could make your ear lobes & nostrils hurt from the cold blast.
After spending my junior high, high school and college years in various marching band, my feet throb & swell at the undulating sounds of Mardi Gras drums & street music. I will view today’s MG celebration from the comfort of my sofa/recliner and big screen television.
Lassiez le bon temps rouler! Happy Mardi Gras to you and yours. In a ’67 Cougar XR7 mine certainly would had indeed occurred.
As much as I do like the Jaguars of this era, I’ll take the 1st Gen Cougar hands down. Your parents chose green and without the vinyl. That would have been my selection.
After all these years, I still melt a little when I look at an early Cougar. And the XR-7 package on those early cars really transformed them. Your parents’ car would have been stunning. And I love that picture of them too.
The 289/4V or 302/4V is really the way to go in the Cougar — the FE is kind of disastrous for balance and god help you if you need to change the plugs. The Cougar wasn’t a dragstrip kind of car anyway (GN might also have the Car Life test of the 427 version, which their editors judged kind of a hopeless mess).
Agree!
Just like Plymouth shoehorning the Big Block 383 V8 engine into the second generation Barracuda; shoving the FE 390 into the Cougar/Mustang was a stupidity-in-action that “looked good on paper” but was a “Real World” nightmare compromise to have to live with.
427 Cougar test here
http://wildaboutcarsonline.com/cgi-bin/pub9990262549620.cgi?categoryid=9920392499872
WRT to spark plug changes on the 390, a friend of dad’s back in the day had a 69 Cougar 390 non-AC, and with practice he got it down to 3 hours.
Spark plugs needed to be changed every 5 or 6 K during this time period; what with primitive points & condenser ignition, rich running carburetors and highly leaded gasoline.
Just imagine spending 3 or 4 hours, 3 times a year changing plugs in an FE Cougar or Mustang!
Not quite that bad, I (and most people) changed plugs at 10K-12K mile intervals on cars with points, usually once a year. (The “spring tune-up” was a regular ritual.) Making sure the plugs and other service items are accessible has always been part of my selection process when choosing a car.
Fascinating read you’ve linked there, roger. Seems a vastly more honest version than C & D’s. And even with 427, it’s SLOWER than C & D’s ringer! They said understeer remained dreadful, even with suspension options, and I believe them: this is, after all, just the Falcon platform, and that needs serious racecar tweaks (ie: huge negative camber) to overcome it’s poverty origins.
Crazy about a Mercury! To the point where it’s really no contest. It’s true that the Jaguar is obviously the better car for the long run, but if you’re trading in two years, as was the fashion of the times, the Cougar has most of the sizzle at half the price.
A couple of notes from the article that caught my attention – that BMW Tilux. I finally decoded it to be a “BMW Ti Lux.” I think.
The article also claims that Jaguar had solved their cooling and oil consumption problems. Hmmmm. The article then notes that the Cougar’s 390 was using “ a quart of oil every 500 Miles, double the Jaguar’s consumption.”
No wonder people thought we were going to run out of oil!
(Yes, I am mostly kidding…)
I would not have wanted to own a 1960s Jaguar sedan for longer than two years. The Cougar was more likely to be reliable over the long haul. And when something did break on the Cougar, it would have been cheaper to repair.
It called BMW 2000 Tilux, which means 2000cc engine, touring car, injection, luxury.
The Jag a better car for the long run? I don’t see many of those Jags around today or then either as pointed out. I see tons of Cougars come out at our summer show.
The Cougar, as a whole, was a very reliable car. Mine is the 302-4V J code with C4 auto. The first issue is in making sure you change out the transmission fluid every 30,000 miles. The second issue, with my car, was the new Autolite 4300 4 barrel carb replacing the 4100. Gave my father fits in the morning so I got to go out and start the car to warm it up before we took off.
The car, as it sits today, has an upgrade in the cam, and better flowing intake, headers, and a Autolite 4100 carb. The original heads have been rebuilt after I did some port work and eliminated the large hump in the way of the exhaust ports for better flow. I have a pair of 4300s on the shelf but since Jon passed away I can’t really use them effectively. He personally did the 4300 on my 410 Park Lane and it runs absolutely flawlessly. What he did I’m sure many would like to know as it is temperamental.
Whats up with the two different steering wheels on the Cat ?
The first looks like it’s on a 1967, the second a 1968. Maybe these are different brochures.
Exactly. Since the C&D article covered a ’67 Cougar XR-7, I used the ’67 brochure for the first image. My Pop’s XR-7 was a ’68, and the brochure that year featured his exact interior, so it was the shot to use.
The 1967 FoMoCo steering wheels with the super-large hub were odd looking–I think the more conventional safety padding on the ’68 wheel was far better.
The ’67 style wheel was used on all Fords that year, Ford got a one year exemption for a collapsible steering column by using this padded hub cover, required for 1967 model year cars.
Likewise, 1968 FoMoCo passenger cars shared essentially the same steering wheel hub design, be they Falcon, Mercury Monterey, or Lincoln. And, they’re not directly interchangeable with the 1967 corporate steering wheel design because, as noted earlier, the steering columns are differently designed(collapsible on the ’68 cars, not collapsible on ’67s).
Love the ’67-’68 Cougar XR-7. My choice would be 289/302 with a 4-speed, A/C, and no vinyl roof. One quirk on the ’67 was that engine vacuum was used to hold the headlight doors open – if there was a leak, then the doors could inconveniently close. This was switched to having the vacuum hold the doors closed for 1968.
The vacuum system had one advantage; as a kid, I found one could cycle them a couple times with the engine off since there was a valve under the hood for them, at least in our Country Squire.
I like the Jag more primarily because I hate 2-dr cars. However I don’t know if I could have lived with the car’s British quirkiness day in and day out.
Your parents were a very attractive and stylish couple.
I’ll happily claim the ‘cougar’ in pic #8! Looks like my idea of how to kick off a date night proper!!
The ‘67 Cougar is a favorite of mine, especially in XR-7 and Eliminatior guise. The seed was planted while watching the Gecko Brothers tear-assing around the southwest in From Dusk Til Dawn, but the reality is this is just a damned sexxy car. It’s just that tiny bit more refined than a comparable Mustang (providing its long on beef, short on gingerbread) but still a serious machine. LOVE IT.
I just noticed C&Ds 6.5 second 0-60 time. This article was obviously the source of a bone of contention on another Cougar post by forget whom, possibly Joseph Denis.
This smells.
Based on my experience of reading “Car & Driver”, “Road & Track” and “Motor Trend” magazines of this time period: I noticed that “C&D” quite often got faster zero to sixty times than the others did.
IDK if C&D had better test drivers, beat da hale outta their test cars or had more (or less) accurate instrumentation than the other car mags did?
C&D was, indeed, much more aggressive in their test driving than the other mags. Where the others would granny-shift and have a passenger with full test gear, C&D would employ every drag racing, drive-it-like-you’re-mad-at-it trick in the book (power shifting, torque-braking, etc.), no passenger, and minimal testing apparatus.
In short, C&D would beat the hell out of the press cars while the others were considerably more gentle. Combine that with the none-too-subtle practice of the manufacturers supplying ringers (GM was the worst) that were in far better tune than production cars and some not even available to the public, it’s no surprise at how the best results were invariably reported by C&D. It also explains how, after being subjected to such abuse, their cars would often experience mechanical problems, as well. I recall vividly how certain aftermarket Porsches were routinely sidelined by stuff like broken differential gears after experiencing a hard C&D dragstrip launch.
The other point, which I hadn’t registered until Mark Wan of AutoZine (www.autozine.org) pointed it out, is that C/D got into the habit of measuring acceleration times after a 1-foot rollout, which makes a significant difference in off-the-line acceleration. Of course, in this era, it was still a lot of stopwatch-and-smirk stuff.
One very interesting data point Car and Driver offered in the late ’80s and ’90s was the “street start,” which was a rolling 5–60 time. The street start factored out most of the influence of gentle vs. brutal launches. As I think Patrick Bedard explained at the time in a discussion of their procedures, cars with big, torquey normally aspirated engines generally didn’t show a big difference between 0–60 and 5–60 tests, but with cars with peakier engines, including a lot of contemporary turbos, would have a difference of a full second or more.
Good point. I doubt if I’ll ever understand why they would include rollout in a 0-60 time!
Somebody might have notice the diff death count and leaned on them.
I remember that too – I was always suspicious of C&D’s acceleration times compared to those from other mags.
Fun comparison, but the number of Americans that would have cross-shopped these two is exactly zero (to borrow a phrase from CC commenter Ingvar).
Perhaps GN’s Father & Mother would take issue with your hypothesis?
I was just on the phone with my mother (back from watching Rex) and so I asked her what other cars they considered back when they got the Cougar. By her recollection, the answer is “none”–they both really loved the Cougar styling and had started seeing them around town. Apparently the Cougar was an “it” car in NOLA at that time. I gather that their biggest decision was around the color choice, and it boiled down to the Augusta Green (which they bought) and what she called “a rich dark red” which I assume was Black Cherry.
Indeed, the first gen Cougar was an “it” car, here in New Orleans, in this time period.
I can vividly recall smearing the plate glass window of the local dealer, Marshall Brothers Lincoln-Mercury, on Sundays (dealers are closed on Sundays in this area), drooling over the silver with red interior XR7 they had front and center in the showroom, pleading with my Father to add a new Cougar to our driveway. The fact that my Father willingly drove me to the showroom was his quiet way of showing that he sympathized with my automotive lust.
Dad’s patient, calm explanation that he was still paying on Mom’s year old “Suburban Status Symbol” Ford station wagon and that the responsibility of feeding his four growing kids made this impossible fell on my deaf ears.
Almost every time I spotted a fist gen Cougar on the suburban streets, esp if those fabulous sequential turn signal lights were winking at me, would leave me stock still frozen with admiration and automotive lust.
I was quietly admiring and envious when my brother bought a used Cougar Eliminator around 1974. Although my Jaguar copy 1970 Datsun 240Z was another “it” car in that time period; I always admired his Cougar parked in front of my Z-car.
I showed this article and it’s pictures to my Mother yesterday. (Like GN’s Mother, failing health has ended her Mardi Gras street participation.) She slowly read the article, scrolled up and down over the pictures (after I refreshed her memory on how to do so), then quietly sighed and murmured “So Smooth” (her ultimate compliment for an attractive car)!
The interesting thing to me about the “improbable” C&D comparison tests (like this one and the infamous Pontiac GTO versus Ferrari GTO article) was that the editors wanted to make a point about the relative strengths and weaknesses of each car and challenge conventional notions about automotive performance. C&D’s editors well knew that these cars were for very different customers and wouldn’t likely be considered together, but I imagine the article helped sell both cars to their respective audiences.
For the Cougar prospect, the praise around the value and surprising competency (despite the less sophisticated mechanicals) would have help seal the deal—the Cougar was a “smart” stylish buy that could hold its own against far pricier, fancier machines. And that point would have reinforced the snob appeal for the Jaguar prospect: enabling them to think “well, money is NOT an object for me, so I CAN indulge since the Jaguar IS a thoroughbred.”
Car and Driver’s focus during this era seemed to be on praising, poking and prodding the manufacturers to build better cars. The “stretch” comparisons allowed them to jab at faults (cheap “bake-lite” steering wheel on the expensive Jag, poor steering on the Cougar) in the context of other companies that had a better solution, direct competitors or not. Likewise, C&D could point out areas of strength where the makers had done things right, with the encouragement for them to keep going in that direction.
What I find most intriguing is how the domestic brands during this era seemed to truly ignore the buff books and the customers they represented. Rather than building on all the “just right” aspects of the first Cougar, Ford made it fatter and clumsier and it fell into a netherworld—no longer a Pony Car and not quite a Personal Luxury car, with sales dropping year over year as a result. Meanwhile, the Mercury Capri soon arrived, earned buff book praise and sold very well—the “Sexy European” capturing ~100k American customers per year by ’72 and ’73 (well ahead of the Cougar at the time). So the market demand for smaller, nimbler but stylish and well trimmed cars was still very much there. That could have been Mercury’s dominion, if they had played their cards differently.
I understand. And it makes for good reading, on several levels. I just needed to point out that detail, for our younger readers.
Jaguar sedan sales were in a terrible slump at about this time. The 420 especially was ultra-rare. I can hardly remember ever seeing one, yet there were a lot of older MkIIs and a decent number of S Types around.
Jaguar had been the #1 premium import in the 50s, and their sedans sold very well then, but by this time Mercedes was completely eating their lunch.
The XJ6, which arrived a year or two later, started a slow but steady improvement in Jag sedan sales. But in 1967, only a handful of hard core Jag lovers would have gone for a 420. And they wouldn’t have given the Cougar a glance.
Meanwhile, Couger buyers would have been essentially oblivious to the 420’s existence. They would have thought “XK-E” if you said Jaguar in 1967; possibly a few knew of the 420G, but the 420 was a total wall flower. I wonder what the sales of it were at this time? Peanuts.
As to the Cougar, the same could be said about the Mustang. And sales steadily dropped for it too. A combination of the pony car fever subsiding and both getting big and fat.
The Jaguar 420 was always a rare sight. It’s the quintessential transitional model. Start with one big car (1961 Mark X) and a small one (1959 Mark 2), put the rear suspension + styling of the Mk X on the Mk 2 to make the 1963 S-Type, then put the front-end styling and engine of the Mk X on the S-Type and you get the 420 by 1966.
So Jaguar ended up with four saloons, which was a bit much. Fewer than 10,000 of the 420s were made until 1968, when the XJ6 essentially replaced the whole messy range.
There was also a Daimler version, the Sovereign. It was the first Daimler that was 100% Jaguar badge-engineered.
And few than 1000 were imported to the US of A!
The Mercury is sexy for the pony car/muscle car type. But the 420 is sexxxy and avant-garde. Which makes it COOL as EFF!
I can give you an idea in cross shopping using my father as an example. It is April 1968 and he is leaving Carnation along with his company car. He now has to buy his first owner car in the 60’s for himself. The car my mother drives deson’t count here.
I go with him and so I remember every car looked at and sat in each one of them. They were:
Porsche 912
Volvo P1800
Mercedes 280
Mustang GT-CS
Cougar
He bought the Cougar which ended up being mine when I turned 16 as his new job gave him his company car. His new company car, as a comparison to the Cougar, was a 1970 Olds 98 with the 455HO engine. That Olds was fast and am still awed by that particular year.
Was great reading this Jag/XR7 write up, friend had a ’68 XR7 in the same blue as test car, 390 automatic, no tilt, no AC but don’t recall if it was equipped or just inop. 6.5 0-60 and 14-9 1/4 sounds about right, the car was quite quick for the day, even in it’s well used condition by the time he got it in 1975. It was a gift from his cousin who replaced it with a Jag, although in his case it was a ’63 XKE convertible.
Don’t recall if the Cougar was equipped with LSD, but the driver and passengers often were! One memorable road trip from LA to Santa Barbara in the XR7 was with tires showing thread, after one tire blew out the equally worn spare did the same after a few more miles, true enough about the 10 MPG or less with his lead foot, gas was obtained with a stolen cut off garden hose and donor cars. LSD, bald tires, stealing gas, what could possibly go wrong? We did scrounge enough money for a used tire after the second flat. The things you get away with (sometimes) when young and stupid. He soon blew up the 390 during a 120 MPH run down the freeway, the junkyard 390 engine he replaced it with ran poorly, car was replaced with a new ’74 stripper 2.3 4 speed Pinto. That car lasted for 12 years and 150k miles under his abuse, tough little car.
I rode with his cousin in the XKE to a Humble Pie concert, of course it overheated in traffic, he pulled into a construction lane and left me in the car (with a cast on, broken ankle, ice skating is not my thing). Soon the construction crew got ready to leave and pulled the cones, a very unfriendly CHP officer ordered me behind the wheel so he could push the Jag with his cruiser off the freeway, my friend arrived with water just as the cop was pulling up to the delicate rear bumper with his Polaria’s push bar. He quickly filled the radiator as the cop bitched him out, and we made the concert.
You have some great looking parents who also had great taste in cars, thanks for the fun read.
This cover story, and it was the cover story that month, is what got me to buy my first issue of Car&Driver. Until then I had been buying/reading random HOT ROD type magazines.
As much as I liked the Mustang, as was usual for me I wanted something just a little bit different and the Cougar was what I was thinking of to fill the bill. I didn’t really know that much about Cougars, but after reading this road test I knew I wanted an XR7….still do.
GN, yet another stellar piece – the cars, the cultural elements, the history, the family tie-in. Happy Mardi Gras, and I’ll take the Cougar – one of my favorite designs of the late ’60s.
+1. Loved the post… and the car, when it was new. They were fairly rare in my ‘hood when they were new, but a knockout.
Cougar for me. The dark green one is exactly like my ex-sister in laws ’67 XR7. Hers was a 289-4V. Great car.
There’s a reason James Bond drove one of these instead of the Jag…Lucas must have been a plot by SPECTRE…
FYI: “Terry” aka “future and only Mrs. Bond” drove the ’69 Cougar in the chase scene, since it was her car.
To be fussy, it was “Tracy,” not “Terry.” (Teresa di Vicenzo.)
I was thinking the other day whilst reflecting on “a mopar fan lives here” that, from a styling-only standpoint, of all the original pony cars from the 60’s, the Mustang was pretty low on the list. But I didn’t think about the original Cougar. The Cougar goes right to the top of that list.
I have to agree. The early mustangs look very generic and boring to me, even more so than the first gen Camaro. Granted, part of that is over exposure which has made them dull background detail as time goes on, but taken on its own, its not that well designed or memorable. The Cougar is the opposite, I remember commenting on GN’s vintage review of the 1979 Mercury Marquis and how I’ve said when it came to Mercury vs Ford, I always liked the Mercury version of the Ford product more from a styling point. The Cougar is another example, its familiarity is clear, but the details and changes just form a more memorable and more well-designed shape than the first gen Mustang.
The Mercury cars had a more consistent styling theme over time, not unlike BMWs or Pontiacs here in the US. I grew up in a Mercury family. Since I could remember, my father had Mercurys, my oldest brother’s first new car and two of my new cars were Mercurys also.
We weren’t particularly wealthy growing up, but once most of our neighbors could afford something a little better than a Ford or Chevy, they got one. I kind of miss the middle market cars here in the US. The Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, Mercurys, Dodges, etc., were a bit nicer but still affordable. But the times and the markets change and these are no more.
When I first looked at this piece, i wondered what they were thinking.
But then I read the comparisons.
My first Cougar (’67, 289 3 spd manual, loud as hell with headers and glass packs) was NOTHING like a Jag.
My 2nd one (’68 XR-7) had all the fancy stuff in the interior, but never ran.
A better comparison would have been a XK E type 2+2 coupe against the Cougar. The E type was a GT /Sports car and a better match up. Comparing a sporty personal car to a sedan just isn’t legit. The E type would have been a much better performer, but the concept of the Cougar as a luxurious sporty GT car was a valid one. I think that a luxury trimmed Mustang would be viable today. When I bought my ’07 Mustang I told the salesman that they needed a higher line model. More sound deadening, better door panels and carpet, quality leather upholstery and a slightly more comfortable riding tuned suspension. I think that you could still build a pretty good road car out of an early Cougar XR7.
Anyone recall the scenes in “The Gumball Rally” movie of the E-type that refused to start, after many tries?
🙂
A better choice would have been a comparison between a Cougar and a E type 2+2 coupe. I think that the XR7 was credible GT car. I wish that there were still cars like the Cougar available new.
I just wanted to say thank you to all the readers and commenters on this post. It made our Mardi Gras! Even though my family is scattered across the country now, we still like to celebrate the day together in some ways. For example, we all have Red Beans and Rice for dinner, get on a group phone call and those still in NOLA (my mother and brother) provide the scoop on the parades. This year it was a big deal that my mother made it to see Rex. Her health is failing, so taking in the spectacle was a big effort for her, even though she was game to do it. But she had even more fun reading this CC and the comments. We all reminisced about Pop and the Cougar, and it brought back such great memories. My mother LOVED reading the comments and was so appreciative of the kind words (she’s still cooing about the compliments on their picture—and she’s thrilled at being likened to Natalie Wood), and of course the Cougar love. She felt it too—right before we got off the phone this evening, she remarked “God, I loved that car.” As Mark Reimer noted, “Laissez les bonne temps rouler”—let the good times roll—the Augusta Green Cougar XR-7 and Mardi Gras did that in 1968 for my parents, and CC has done that for me and my family today.
I didn’t get a chance to say it earlier, but it was a great post. It provides a lot of context when a car was a beloved family member. And let it be known: as jaded as I was back then, I was quite smitten by the original XR-7. It was hard to believe that one of the Big Three would go so far to capture the ambiance of a Jag. A sweet car.
Thanks for the post GN, just wonderful.
GN: You and your extended family are fine examples of what makes NOLA such a fine city; truly the “heart and soul” of our enduring community…much more than any lousy temporary public trough grazing politician or over-paid sports figure can ever do.
Even those New Orleanians who choose/are forced to move away will always have New Orleans in their heart.
I always love these retro reviews you post on here GN, next to Will Stopford’s articles, they’re probably my favorite part of this site.
To me, its not that much of a stretch to compare the Mercury and Jaguar, even though these cars do have diametrically opposed qualities. To me, I’ve always thought the first gen Cougar was more an American flavored grand tourer than a true muscle car. I mean, the Eliminator was a true muscle car, but for the original 67-68 models, especially in XR-7 trim, there was enough added accessories and special options added that made it more posh than was expected. It was too well equipped and refined to be a muscle car, but had a bit more emphasis on performance and handling to be a true personal luxury vehicle, and what is that if not a Grand Tourer? The only other car at the time that had that blend of performance and luxury was in fact Jaguar, so it’s not that much of a stretch to compare the two cars. Granted a 420 is more, what I might argue, an early version of a luxury sports sedan, but the line of thinking for a valid comparison still exists.
If I had to choose one though, I would say the Cougar.
Also, I did visit New Orleans one time and if I remember, my family was there when Mardi Gras was going on. I never got to experience it when we were there, but I do wish to see it just once. Besides, it’ll give me an excuse to go back to New Orleans, which is probably one of my favorite cities in America. Plus, New Orleans food, I can’t wait to go back for the great food you guys have.
Great post, for all the reasons stated above.
Gosh, those first Cougars are good-lookers. As an enthusiast, I rather underestimate the effect of styling on sales. It can be overwhelming. Your grandparents bought the “it” car of the time, as you say, perhaps without regards to it’s merits. I think I’d have fallen too.
Two questions. Is it me or does the text actually say the basic Cougar rides well, leaving this one (that handles) impliedly not? In other words, for ride/handling balance, you’d need two cars?
Second, the Jag has aircon nearly 10% of its price(!): where are the outlets?
Cougar for me, that surprised you didnt it, but one of these impressed me way back when they were new and that impression is still with me only the first model mind Cougars went downhill after that, I cannot imagine cross shopping a Cougar and a 420 an E type maybe but not a fat sedan model, ok C&D test shows they are remarkably close but not in my mind sorry.
I’ve related on here before that as a child, I was enamored with the original Mercury Cougar. My brother gave me the Matchbox rendition of one for my birthday one year, for Christmas I got a follow-up Custom Cougar from the Hot Wheels collection. When, in 1968 my father went to get a new car, I lobbied hard for a Mercury Cougar. However, as a five year old, I didn’t have much sway.
It’s interesting to read these articles now, as a child I’d always imagined this thing to be a supercar, not unlike a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. It’s something of a letdown to see contemporary articles describing in detail, the faults of these cars. It’s kind of like finding out Santa Claus or Batman isn’t real.
In a way, I guess that’s why I haven’t seriously pursued one as an adult. Like I found out with a couple of other cars that I had led myself to believe were going to be great, then weren’t, I hate to think that my childhood hero has flaws…
The Cougar was okay, and really highlights how ‘broughamification’ was well under way, even at the height of the musclecar era. Hank the Deuce wanted the Mustang to be a mini-Thunderbird, and he got it with the Cougar. It was only when Bunkie Knudson came on board did the Cougar veer off into musclecar territory with stuff like the Eliminator. Soon enough, Bunkie was gone and the Cougar was, for a time, full-on, mid-seventies personal luxury brougham.
I wonder if the Cougar might have paved the way for the smaller, more affordable, sporty, intermediate-sized personal luxury car market which really exploded with the success of Delorean’s 1969 Grand Prix.
Yep. And in reality those high performance Cougars were a blip in total Cougar sales, most were essentially mini broughams. The switch to intermediate PLC wasn’t necessarily out of step, it’s biggest sin in that switch was losing any disting body styling, as it was quite obviously a Montego with extra trim. With the luxury trimmed Mustang Grande and later Ghia as well as the Capri sold in Mercury showrooms the original 67 Cougar package really seemingly got squeezed out of being either a luxury ponycar or a sporty Mercury.
I too wonder if the Cougar influenced the Grand Prix but also vice versa – the 67 showed there was a market for a smaller personal luxury car than the Tbird’s, Rivs etc, and Pontiac created a “just right” rescaling of the Grand Prix to tap into it. After the Grand Prixs success Mercury followed suit and upsized the Cougar to intermediate. The styling similarities aren’t lost either, starting with the 71s, which no doubt Bunkie likely had a great influence on.
CC effect – I just saw this one the other day. Although I took this photo last year, the car still resides in this outdoor spot. However, the now deflated tires are a sign it is not on the road right now. Either a theft deterrent, or a sign of worn rubber, I hope this is back on the road come warmer weather in the spring.
As a kid, the Mercury Cougar was my absolute favourite Matchbox car (along with the Iso Grifo and the Mercury Commuter Station Wagon). Lesney Production #62:
I’ve owned this one just as long as I have owned my real one. Just look at it take that curve.
Cougar for me, obviously since I own a 68 XR7.
The Jag sedans were so frumpy looking. Grandma or grandpa’s car.
I couldn’t see myself owning one.
Jaguar ended when it was purchased by BMC in 1966. It went donwhill since.
“Jaguar ended when it was purchased by BMC in 1966. It went donwhill since”.
Objection ! The best came in autumn 1968 – the XJ. Finest sedan ever. Peak with the Mk III in my eyes.