I’ve had it for a couple years now. I knew it was a special car because of the low Vin#. My mind has been more on family and the car thing is just a hobby. But it does show you can find pretty cool rides still. I also have a 68 Cougar 500 F code I found in SC. , a 68 Hertz G , some 67 4 spd 390 cars as well. I buy what I like when it’s possible.
Maybe we can find out how many of these pre production first year 67 Cougars even exist.
I sent you a PM pellets4fuel.
Front Bumper guards were standard in '67 so they would never be on the Marti Report.
Quite a list of Cougars you have there. Maybe you want to share one with a new friend 
Thanks for the message.
Where did you find the car at? No verbal history to research from the previous owner?
Found this 1967 General Tire Commercial, has a White 67 Cougar with the Early GT Emblems sporting the triple red striped GTR Tires.
There’s no way to prove it’s this car , but you never know.
How cool would it be if it was the “untamed elegance” brochure car? There’s probably no way to know for sure. That one didn’t have GT fender badges, but it’s possible those were added later. But wouldn’t it at least have had 6.5L badges, like Cougar 1? Anyway, lots of interesting possibilities for this car. Another one for Cascade Classics to restore, methinks…
This car was in Maryland when I got it. I also bought a Fairlane and 2 big block engines w/trans from him. The deal included cash and trading a 69 CJ rear and a complete S code engine and 4 speed trans ; still together never apart. Both all #s matching from an early 67 Fairlane GT , plus hauled out a 1980 F250 4x4 Camper Special built by his welder buddy , which is just plain azz cool old school .
The older guy I bought it from had some medical expenses was the reason for selling . But he still has a sweet Fsirlane and the car bug.
He in turn acquired the car from a very close friend of his who himself had health issues and then passed.
Completely missed this until now.
Just realized that this 11th 67 Cougar has tilt wheel , but it’s not on the Marti Report.
The Brochure car does not have the tilt wheel option.
That’s makes things very interesting.
I found some more info on the early cars in a Newsletter from The Cascade Cougar Club in 2006
Very well written articles.
On Page 5 it states Cougars 1-3 are clones ( all the same red, red, white Vinyl top ), Cougar 4 is Trafalgar Blue w Light Blue Int. , Cougar 5 is Sage Gold w/parchment, and Cougars 6-8 are Yellow w/saddle.
Also all these 8 cougars are Canada export DSO A1
Also all the articles I’ve read, keep stating that only the first 8 cougars got the special treatment ( Pre production show units ) smoothing of the door jams and trunk area’s. Cougar #11 is clearly of the same treatment , and it’s the only car that’s white w/Blue interior as the white Brochure car from Sept.1966. it also has the rare convience control panel and AC as does the Brochure car. The brochure car does not have tilt , and Cougar 11 does not have it on the Marti Report . But tilt was added and the GT emblems added as well.( most likely by the Ford Guys ) as the Car was an 84 DSO car at Mercury Division GO, ( Dearborn ) and not sent to Canada.
Now does anybody have the info for Cougars 9 and 10 , and maybe 12-15 ??
I emailed Marti and they say something about a pilot car but those cars wouldn’t be driveable from what i remember.
Cougar 11 Marti Report
Sure sounds like this may be the brochure car. When I worked with Ford there were two pilot builds the first consisted of 4 cars. The second was 12 to 16. As a supplier we had to supply typically 16 pieces in advance of the builds. Those pilot cars were used for testing up to and including crash testing. Lots of photography was done for both engineering and marketing. I suspect your car is a pilot production car, but I have not data to support that other than what you have provided… sorry I can’t help more.
Pilot cars were run down the assembly line to train employees on the initial build of the next year’s model, or a new model if it was introduced mid fiscal year. These cars would have been built slowly and carefully, with the line stopped many times, and with engineers, inspectors and supervisors closely scrutinizing everything as it happened. I’ve been told, but do not remember the exact number of how many cars it takes to fill up the line from end to end. All of those cars from the first time the line was implemented would be considered pilot cars. Maybe 25 - 30 cars I think.
Very interesting car. I would try to restore it as close to original as possible.
I emailed Marti Auto asking for any Info on cars 9 and 10 , and 12 to 15 or so. I got an email back stating that Cougar 11 being the same colors as the White Brochure car is just a coincidence. That all the Brochures were produced before any of the production cars were built. Then it says that Pilot cars were used to make the Brochures. I won’t use the Persons name but it wasn’t the owner.
Now just to clarify, the Introductory Show Units are pre production cars correct . So that statement about Cougar 11, in the return email is false.
I would really like to know the build info on the cars I asked Marti Auto about. I’ll wait for their next answer back.
I would not call it a Pre - production show unit. It is an Introductory show unit, built on the assembly line. The introductory show units were held to a much higher quality level, and received extra detailing with bodywork and paint, as in the extra leaded door jambs.
I wonder if the car that you have might have been used for magazine test articles, or in local auto shows? There might be evidence out there to find.
Pre- production units were built by hand in special engineering settings, and normally had this denoted in the VIN. They would have predated the assembly line built cars. One such car is a certain 1969 convertible, with the plant code “S”.
What cars were built first though , these Introductory Show units right , not the Pilot cars. Royce you say that Pilot cars are run down the assembly line to train the workers. That would make them built after the Show Units . Also the Introductory Show Units could be built as early as say July 4th. The early Vin cars ( say 1 to maybe 12 were not built on the assembly line ) that’s what I’ve read. I’m just tying to clarify the differences and get the facts.
I think that you should try Marti again. I think you got some bad information.
Comparing to Cougar 1
Both are Order Type Introductory Show Unit.
Both are July 4th 1966 Scheduled build date.
This indicates them to have both been stall built cars. This means that they didn’t go down an assembly line the way production vehicles were built.
Ford has engineering spaces where they set up and test the fixtures gigs and so on that will be used. Those sub assemblies including the chassis buck are wheeled into an assembly area where they are checked to see if they fit. The cars built this way are referred to as “stall built”. This is where the extra leading of seams and other show prep occurred. Most things are pretty well refined by this point. If you are in-charge of the hood assembly you will have been working with a stub chassis to verify fit well in advance of sending over your test parts. None of the parts are being mass produced at this point. Some parts will carry prototype tags, in some cases the final part number is not even finalized (the end of the number is blank or an X.) Parts may not have complete casting numbers.
Next looking at the Serialized and Actually built dates:
Cougar 1 was Serialized and Actually Built on 9/7/66
Cougar 11 was Serialized and Actually built on 9/8/66
These dates are common to all of the stall built cars. Even though they had been actually built well before this date, Ford had to wait until production officially began to count the vehicles. There were no 1966 Cougars, Cougars didn’t exist until the beginning of the 1967 Model year, starting in September of 1966. September 8th is regarded as the first day of actual assembly line production.
No one actually knows if Cougar 1 was really the first Cougar completed. It just happens to have been the first Cougar serialized.
While I have no direct evidence that this is the brochure car, it sure seems possible. The majority of stall built cars did not have AC because the AC made the under hood area look packed. But they would have had to have AC in a car for interior shots for the brochures. AC in combination with Convenience Control Panel is really rare. It would be interesting to see if the interior shots show these two items in conjunction and then to see how many early cars were built this way. I am betting damn few. If you can find interior shots I would scrutinized them very carefully looking for small details that are inconsistent with production: stitching patterns on seats, locations of screws in the dash, really anything little thing that could tie your car to a picture. Phil Parcel’s car can be tied to a period magazine picture by the distinctive wood grain pattern on the XR-7 dash.
On a related side note, what do you guys think this car is? Could it be a “pilot” car, or is it a fake clay model? It’s definitely early because it has the pre-lawsuit grille and trunk lock emblems. There are a lot of differences between this one and the final production version.
I don’t know which specific cars these interiors correspond to, but both of these are probably show units, as they both have A/C and the convenience control lights.
So… who wants to step up and order basic Marti reports for 7F91S500009 and 7F91S500010 and see what happens? 
Thanks Bill for your insight .
I would pay for that info , and I will . I think #11 deserves for it to be clarified. It’s an important car to still exist.
I need to find out the colors on the other cars , how many more pairs or sets of 3 , and how many are singles. Did they make at least one of every exterior color. That would be 17 possible exterior colors, and 7 possible interior colors.
Blitz as far as those pics , one of those could be cougar #4 Trafalgar Blue w/blue interior, has AC
As far as 390’s go
The info on #6-8 is that they were all 3, 289 cars with C4’s , Yellow w/ saddle
Another set of documents that should be bought for #11 is the Eminger, or factory invoice. I’m betting there will be more then 1. Call Kivin and get them coming.
Gotcha, so it’s a bit of a shot in the dark as to whether #9 and #10 were indeed S-codes. Not sure how you’d go about ordering reports for cars who’s VIN’s you’re unsure of, but we know everything but the engine codes for sure. Guess that’s the kind of thing you’d reach out and talk to someone at Marti about. Let us know what happens!
How much more detail can you get with the Eminger, and or Factory invoice.
I’ll put it on the list to get.
The “Eminger reports” begin in 1969 Model year so that’s not going to happen.
