Car Life was suitable impressed with the newly released 1967 Mercury Cougar, calling it a ‘finished product… done with subtle discernment.’ Testers praised the model, as it had an identity of its own; offering more refinement than its corporate sibling, the Mustang.
Much of the appeal relied in the multiple Cougar personalities available; from cuddling feline companion, to aggressive pavement pounder. With ample room in-between. On the platform itself, Mercury had done its homework: a 3 inc. wheelbase increase over the Mustang’s, which added some needed cabin space. Full length had gone up 6.7 in. total, providing a bit more of road presence. Meanwhile, interior noise was kept at bay thanks to 123.5 lb. of sound deadening material. It all added to a more upscale feel on the model.
Attending said luxury intentions, the Cougar came standard with Nylon carpeting, courtesy lights, bucket seats and a floor mounted shift lever. Beyond that, the option list was extensive: from A/C, to either AM and or AM/FM radio, to tinted glass, and more. No electric windows were available at all, though (The Cougar’s thin doors precluded that). As the review notes, ‘the option listing permits the owner to develop a factory assembled car to his taste.’
Depending on the type of feline you wanted, at launch 3 engine options were available, all V-8s. The standard was the 289, with 9.3:1 compression and 2- barrel carburetion. The alternatives were the 289 with higher 9.8:1 compression, and the 390 with 10.5:1; these two with 4-barrel carburetion. Besides the standard 3-speed, a four-speed manual was available; as well as Power-assisted drums or discs, and optional power steering.
Staying in the performance area, a GT Performance Group package improved handling. For the committed, the one to order was the Performance Handling Package; it came with higher rate springs, larger anti-roll bar, heavy-duty shock absorbers and quicker steering.
Car Life mentions a last and more exotic route; to purchase a plain-Jane Cougar, and then check out Shelby’s catalogue. In Car Life’s words, a simple Cougar was ‘a tent to cover many different sorts of automobiles, fancy, cool, cushy and competitive.’
Car Life’s reviewers had little time to test the 289 3-speed automatic and 390 3-speed manual, providing just general impressions. Not surprisingly, the 289 automatic was the choice for daily driving; ‘not physically demanding, yet brisk and flexible… for freeway maneuvering.’ Winding roads were another matter though, with the car ‘not well-suited’ for the task.
On the 390 GT, the Ford 3-speed got some quibbles under usage. Besides that, its suspension was referred to as ‘very stiff,’ with peculiar handling quirks. It got the nickname ‘rear axle steering,’ the result of the powerful mill coupled to a live axle on leaf springs.
Car Life spent more time behind the wheel of the 289 4-speed, which suited better those who wished for a comfortable cruiser. Against the 390 3-speed, the 289 lacked in acceleration and handling, but on a turnpike drive, the Cougar was appreciated: ‘It would travel at 75mph, at a relaxed… 2700 rpm, yet deliver smooth, air-conditioned ride…’
To sum it up, there were many permutations of the Cougar: ‘If a buyer exercises a much finesse in making his purchase… he’ll own a car that, like a well-tailored suit, fits perfectly.’
The XR-7 version would debut in early ’67, and by year’s end, the Cougar would comprise about half of Lincoln-Mercury’s total sales.
Further reading:
Curbside Classic: 1968 Mercury Cougar- Mercury’s Greatest (Only?) Hit
From an era of so many beautifully-styled cars, the electric shaver grille treatment, and sequential taillights, really dazzled me as a kid. Such creative and memorable features, it was always a treat to spot these. An overall outstanding job, differentiating the Cougar from the Mustang.
As Canadians were generally not as affluent as Americans, the relative rarity of these, made them even more special.
Most of the early Cougars I see, do seem to ride low in the rear. They perhaps went with one fewer leaf spring, to soften the ride?
One of Ford’s best ideas of the ’60s.
(I’m quite impressed by the clean design and layout of Car Life. All this paste-up work, charts, and illustrations, was done by hand. Including so many drop caps, was impressive back then.)
Most unit body Fords do sit lower in the rear. I read (somewhere, but I don’t recall where) that actually was part of the design as it made the cars appear to be accelerating, therefore the ideology of speed.
You seem to know your copy work. What is a drop cap, and what other things do you discern?
A ‘drop cap’ is the initial enlarged letter at the start of a sentence, usually scaled to a height of 2 or 3 lines of text. They are employed to make columns of text more attractive, and enticing to read. Often used, to visually break up large areas of body text.
Early in my career, I worked at a newspaper in the 1980s, and learned much about publishing and the production process. Also, designed magazines back then.
Mercury hit very few grand slam home runs during its life, but the 1967 Cougar was one of them. The car’s styling was almost perfect. Though it was almost a complete mechanical twin to the Mustang, it forged a unique identity – and did so far better than any other “twin” ponycar did from Dodge or Pontiac.
A close friend in high school owned a 68 Cougar. It was 9-10 years old and suffered from the terrible rust that afflicted Cougars more than it did Mustangs. It was a low-trim model with the small 2 bbl V8/automatic and was fairly well worn. He got rear-ended, and he was able to get it repaired with new rear quarter panels – it was a beautiful car again after that – for awhile.
I would argue that this Cougar was the *last* Mercury that was both great and unique (i.e. not just a tarted up Ford).
Sure, there was the Australian Capri and the Tracer that was a Mazda and not just an Escort clone, and the CDW27-based Cougar but none of those were, in my opinion, truly great cars.
Have always loved full size MERCURY. Cougar never took my fancy until 1977 larger edition (especially XR7). Actually tried to buy one but dealer had no interest in negotiating. Those were gorgeous cars. But was fortunate enough to get the last new 77 Monte Carlo. Drove that black beauty for 5 years and 134,000 miles.
I have a 1973 cougar XR7 FOR SALE. All original and matching numbers garage kept. Blue white top convertible. 505-620-3293
Another one of the cars that I have driven, in the Cougar’s case just a few hundred yards, and had completely forgotten about. Thought it was almost 50 years ago. My overarching memory was a very high dashboard that sloped up towards the steering wheel, that made seeing out feel awkward though visibility wasn’t awful. I’d probably driven a few Mustangs by then, though never a ‘67-68, but I don’t remember that feeling in the Ford version. Perhaps the dash height really was different. But the exterior styling was pretty sharp, and I recall thinking that the TransAm race versions seemed very special, during it out with more ordinary cars like Fords, Chevies, Dodges on the track.
I remembered that Dan Gurney ran that race team, but had forgotten that another driver was Ed Leslie. He was a local (to where I live now) driver who had trained at Ford in Detroit, worked in car sales, and opened a dealership in Monterey which sold Cobra’s and a few imports. He became one of the first Toyota dealers in the US in 1965. A smart business move, I suspect.
Everyone raves about Iacocca’s instincts, but Henry Ford II had some good ideas of his own, and his desire to make the Mustang a ‘mini-Thunderbird’ came to fruition with the 1967 Cougar. It could be said that it was the first, small personal luxury car, and then with a solid (but not overwhelming) European flavor. In short, the Cougar had Henry Ford II written all over it. It really was an upscale Mustang, not the least of which were the hidden-headlight razor grille and sequential turn signals (troublesome as both might be).
DeLorean over at Pontiac followed with his ‘Sprint’ OHC-6 in the new f-body Firebird. Both cars were ahead of their time and who knows how well they might have sold if they hadn’t been conceived and built during the height of the go-go big-block musclecar era. The Pontiac OHC-6 wouldn’t last but a few more years, as well as the Cougar getting overweight and graduating to the larger, intermediate class PLC.
I’ve always heard that there was a strong contingent of Mercury and Lincoln-Mercury dealers who were miffed when Ford turned the T-Bird into a 4-seater. They felt it was taking sales away from them and that T-Bird buyers would otherwise buy a full-sized Mercury. And they really wanted a T-Bird of their own. Supposedly, the first chance they got to get a product that was like the T-Bird was the Cougar and the dealers really like it.
The dual articulated strut rod was an early Cougar only thing, but ironically 22 years later was revised for the 1989-97 MN12 platform Cougars and Thunderbirds. Not a lot of original 67 Cougars still have that setup, as bushings were long obsolete, and had standard Mustang(or Falcon) type solid strut rods retrofitted at the expense of some of the plushy ride quality these originally had. Mercury quickly did away with them themselves.
That two-page “C OUGAR” spread reminds me of an exchange in the old Seinfeld show when George complains to his lazy boss, Kruger, that the ‘r’ on the building of his business has fallen off and it now says, “K uger”, to which Kruger responds, “that sounds like an old car horn…K – OOGER!”.
One of my favorite cars, air shocks were a popular option to get the rear end up wear it belongs, never cared for the dragging butt look. I own a 68 Cougar. As mentioned the car was didn’t carry any of the Mustang look which was good. Loved beating other cars with mine. Most Cougars were not loaded for performance. My 428 surprised more then a few people.
My dad bought one “almost” new. Through work he could buy Ford or GM company cars. They were only a few months old, and were significantly discounted. It was kind of out of character for my dad as he was a no nonsense engineer and not taken to buying style, nor buying the first year of a new model. It replaced a 61 Olds Dynamic 88. Quite a change. What I really remember was how quiet it was inside. The other family car was a 66 Corvair, which was not the quietest. Unfortunately my dad died about 6 months after it was delivered, so my mother sold it.
I had this Matchbox version as a kid. Matchbox must have thought that little boys couldn’t relate to cars without head lights, as this and their Dodge Charger models always had the lights cast into the front.
I like the nose in the air stance that Fords had back in the day, with the straight lines along the top of the doors and front fenders combined with the long hood / short deck it gives a more athletic look. To me anyway.
I often dislike a forward rake, to me it makes a car look nose heavy and clumsy, at least it should be level.
My older brother had a blue ’67 Cougar with the base V8 and 3 speed on the floor. I learned how to drive a 3 speed on that car. Once he got married, it went…..one of his major regrets in life!!
I’m biased so I must recluse myself
My first car, in 1978, was a ’67 Cougar; it was Starlight blue with white pinstriping. A farmer had bought it, used, in 1969 as a high school graduation present for his son, who joined the Army a year later. The car would be stored in the farmer’s barn for the next 9 years, never driven and seldom even started. When I discovered it, caked with 8 years of bird poop, it had 13,000 original miles, and the farmer – who, along with his wife, was selling it for their son – was asking $800 for the car.
Naturally, I had fallen completely in love with it, bird poop notwithstanding, and the farmer’s wife realized it immediately, perhaps recalling her son, and how he had also loved the car. “Oh, no!” she chided her husband. “That’s too much!” He turned, and murmured something I didn’t quite catch. Turning back, he went on. “I start her up, three or four times a year,” he said, obviously trying to convince me the car was well cared for. Behind him, the wife caught my eye, smirked and shook her head, then mouthed the words “maybe once?” with a shrug, while raising a single index finger.
The farmer went on, “…and it’s got a new battery,” a claim his wife seemed to find utterly hilarious. She laughed silently, shaking her head in mirthful disbelief. Finally, he stopped his sales pitch. “So, what do you say, kid?” The wife gave me a knowing nod, and grinned wickedly. “Would you take $600 cash?” I asked as politely as possible, as $600 was all the cash I had.
Before the farmer could answer, his wife interjected. “We’ll take $400, and not a penny more!” Startled, he turned again, and before he could react, she added, “And Frank will go to town, and get that new battery.” The farmer’s shoulders seemed to go limp; it was clear who really ran things on this farm. “Frank will go buy that new battery – and he’ll do a wash job, too, right here in the yard.” Amazed at this unexpected turn of events, I quickly peeled four $100 bills from the wad of bills I’d stuffed in my pocket, and stepped toward her. She raised her hands as if to wave me off. “No, no; Frank will take the cash. You come back out tomorrow afternoon, and we’ll have it all ready for you. How’s that sound?”
It sounded great; no doubt about it. I turned and handed the bills to her husband, who grumbled slightly and looked away as he accepted the cash, and jammed the folded bills into the chest pocket of his overalls. Then he stalked off toward the barn as I turned to go. “We’ll see you tomorrow then,” the wife said. A little uncertain, I asked if her husband was angry; would he be all right?
She laughed softly at my question. “Oh sure; he’ll be fine. He’s been wanting that old car out of his hay barn for the longest time. He knows it’s not worth $800. Heck, we’re tickled we even got four.”
As it turned out, 9 years of neglect in a dusty hay barn took its toll. The finish was badly pitted as a result of the bird poop, and though the engine seemed none the worse for wear, the same can’t be said for the body, chassis, and undercarriage. It became a squeaky, creaking rustbucket, well before its time.
A buddy and myself convinced my girlfriend to buy a used 67 Cougar with the 390-3sp. She didn’t know how to drive a stick, but we taught her. pretty easy with all that power. Of course he and I were out racing the streets of Dundalk Md. at night. What a fantastic car it was. Previous owner took all the badging off the car. so it was quite a good looking car. White with blue guts. Sadly I wrecked it when someone ran a stop sign. Car was never right after the accident. We got married, had a child and purchased a 4door Caddy.
Funny thing about the first Cougar is how its fuselage styling makes it look bigger than it actually is. It almost obscures its Mustang roots, though a quick look at the interior gives them away again.
For me, the ’67 and ’68 were perfect, the ’69 ok, the ’70 a little less ok with that strange nose, but they put an even stranger nose on the ’71. Ironically, the styling fit the larger Mustang platform well enough. But then they made an intermediate out of it and lost the concept.
The 289 with a 2-barrel is OK (for the time) up to 60 then it just dies, taking an additional 30 seconds to get to 100. Hell of a way to get just 15 mpg. Better pop for the 4 barrel at least. If you’re going to burn a lot of gas, you might as well have some fun doing it.
I always liked the original Cougars. The look was a winner not just for Mercury, but for Ford. The fuselage styling made it look significantly bigger than the Mustang it was based on.
For me, the ’67’s and ’68’s were the best, the ’69 was still OK, the ’70 had that weird nose and the ’71 was a step backward. Interestingly enough, sales of the nameplate peaked when it was extended to all of Mercury’s intermediates. It went back to being a personal coupe with the first Fox-bodied model in 1980. With the Mustang also Fox-based, it sort of returned to its roots.
The final rear-drive MN12 Cougars were probably the best cars, but the first Cougars were the prettiest.