Thanks to all involved in the planning of this event. Also to all that participated in whatever form.
It is something Heather and I will cherish in our memories.
Scott, it goes without saying that it was great seeing you and Heather again.
Whew!! What a show. Official count was 172 Cougars. I am exhausted, but in a good way.
It was incredible and the only upsetting thing is that one of the participants had a very serious wreck in their '68 on the ride home.
Preliminary reports are that they (husband and wife) are going to be ok. I sure hope so. As they say, “cars can be replaced, people can’t”.
I’ll post a couple of pictures from the show.
Another one in the books.
- Phillip
The gentleman in the grey Gurney t-shirt is Randy Hernandez, Mercury (and later Ford) racing boss Fran Hernandez’s son.
Randy and his brother Rick were our special guests. They brought out dozens of binders filled with photos, rare original print collateral and paperwork from their father’s files.
Randy showed me the announcement where Ford cancelled the Cougar Trans-Am effort because they were TOO successful and they wanted to stack the deck in the Mustang’s favor. So, they promoted their father to run Ford’s racing programs and this all actually happened DURING the 1967 Trans-Am season.
So at the last few races where the Cougar was competing, Fran Hernandez was in reality their representing Ford.
Several magazines noted at the time how the Cougars started to look a little more ragged toward the end of the season.
Great stuff -
- Phillip
Hi Scott,
Thanks to you and the other Pacific coast folks for making the tremendous trip to Pennsylvania. Thanks to everyone that made it out, whether you were from around the block or around the world. It was a great show at Carlisle with the amount of cars and very good weather too.
Mark Piechowski
MCCNE President
Hey Phillip,
Stu did the rear sticker and I did the front. HA!
^^^ I love it, the camouflage worked! Nobody from Carlisle told me to get the VW out’a there!
I’m going to keep them on until they fall off.
Thanks for all your help Mark, and for personally getting us to the 172 mark by bringing in 3 Cougars single handedly.
- Phillip
That picture is pretty good. I shaved this year! Stu can’t stop talking for even the second it takes to smile.
Awsome… great job and so happy you had a nice weather weekend for Carlisle. That sure helps on the Cougar turnout. Now lets keep the good weather and lots of Cougars for Dearborn. So far the weatherman is being nice to Dearborn with the only chance of rain is on Friday.
https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l/USMI0220:1:US
Even the humidity levels are going to be reasonable.
The baton is officially passed to the Dearborn Gang Brian!
I hope you guys have great weather and a great show and I sincerely hope you top 200 Cougars 
- Phillip
No problem Mark. The Pinkertons, Heather and I, and Steve Goulding had a great time. Exhausted! Sore! Don’t know what day it is! But we had a lot of fun meeting new people and renewing friendships and acquaintances at Carlisle.
We were making plans a few years ago to do a 50th anniversary trip with my G and I am so glad we were able to come to Carlisle (all 3,200 miles one way). Next up is Dearborn (the holy grail destination for Ford enthusiasts), another bucket list item.
Here’s Cliff telling another New York story:
Hotel Parking Lot:
Here is how I got 3 Cougars to the show. I drove the truck with the two 70’s while my wife drove the SS.
SS in building T:
Hard to believe I’ve owned this white 70 XR-7 for 22 years. The Turtle Jet 460 finally got replaced. Working until 3:15am I had finished off the rebuild of another 460 the day before Carlisle. It was finally hooked up and ready to break-in the cam a few hours before we planned to head to the show on Wednesday. Due to a stuck pressure regulator valve in the oil pump the first oil filter blew and I got hit in the face with oil while trying to set the timing. The 2nd oil filter just got bloated. Luckily it’s easy to drop the oil pan, so I got the pump swapped quickly. The 460 runs good now. We were planning to leave at 1pm on Wednesday, but finally left at 9:30pm. Drove through the night and took a couple hour nap to finally arrive at 9am on Thursday.
On Sunday before Carlisle ends I am looking forward to next year’s All-Ford show. The cars and the swap meet are awesome. What tops both of those is seeing a bunch of good friends all in the same place. Love this event.
“Turtle Jet 460” LOL!
I need to do a t-shirt!
Next year will be the 50th Anniversary for all the '68s, including the Cobra Jet, the GT-E and the XR7-G.
I am literally starting work on graphics for that stuff, in conjunction with Gavin and the CCOA, this week.
This year’s show was a proud moment for Cougar owners. Because of the robust pre-registration, Carlisle gave us a prime spot on the Show Field and an incredibly nice, incredibly BIG tent. Right in the middle of all the action. And the display Cougars like Mark’s SS, and Cougar 1 and Scott’s G (with those Raders!! 
).
This reminds everyone else, passing through the Cougar area to get to the late-model-yellow-Mustang area what a cool and unusual and beautiful car the Mercury Cougar is.
This benefits greatly everyone that owns a classic Cougar.
Add to all of this, the fact that representatives from the Historic Vehicle Association were there and inducted Cougar 1 to be forever preserved in the Library of Congress.
Hope to see this many Cougars at Carlisle next year.
- Phillip
Carlisle has posted their winners here:
http://www.carlisleevents.com/pdf/2017-Ford-Winners.pdf
We will post the winners of our 50th Cougar Show soon.
- Phillip
Phillip,
Any way of knowing who were the first 50 entries for Carlisle show?
CW
Hey there Carlton - great seeing you as always.
Stu and Carl handled that. Carlisle assigned numbers in the order that people registered, so Stu and Carl looked at those and placed the decals in the first 50 Cougars who registered.
I don’t know if they kept a list, I will ask and if they have that I’ll publish it here or on the DCC Facebook page. Stu is on his way to Dearborn now.
I do have the winners of our Popular Vote Awards. Stu’s wife Carol graciously went through all of the ballots and tallied everything up. I have her list but she did not put down the details of the precise model of Cougar that won the award, only the year. I remember some of them, so I will ad that to the list of winners, which is:
Mangy Cat - Mark Piechowski - 1970 Cougar Eliminator
Best Display - Melissa and Ray Shereda - 1968 Cougar Standard
Best Engine Bay - John Booze - 1967 Cougar Standard
Best Interior - Ken Keffer - 1970 XR-7
Best Paint - Steven Chernow - 1967
Best Modified - Victor Yarberry - 1967 Bud Moore Trans-Am Tribute
Best Stock - James Stickly - 1969
Best of Show - Charles Popenoe - 1970 XR-7 Convertible Custom
The Shereda’s are who had the serous accident on the way home. A tire blew on the highway and they flipped several times. Charles Popenoe’s '70 'vert is a gorgeous KTL custom job.
We also had 3 President’s picks. I got one, Mark got one and Stu got one. I picked Vic Yarberry’s TA Cougar tribute and I can’t remember who Stu and Mark picked. Maybe Mark will chime in and tell us his.
- Phillip
This is a “before and after” photo of the Shereda Cougar.
Word is they had a tire blow out suddenly on the highway, lost control and flipped.
Very, very upsetting - but so far it looks like they will be ok.
We are not sure what caused the blow out - apparently the tires were fairly new but it is a reminder that tires need to be checked and replaced every 6 or so years, regardless of how many miles are on them.
Hope everyone stays safe to and from all of the remaining 50th Anniversary shows.
- Phillip
The presidential pick from MCCNE was Phil and Nancy Elder’s Comp Yellow 70 Eliminator.
How many unrestored Cougars were there? Anyone have pics of them?
Thanks,
Ed