There are a few Cougars that stand out from all of the rest. They are the best of the breed. Not all of them rolled off the assembly line to greatness. Some were factory one offs, like the XR7-S and others went on to be modified like the BOSS 429 racing Cougars. Some became great on the race track. They are all unique and all special.
These great cars deserve a place to be recognized.
This is the place to nominate those very very special Cougars. Each Nomination has to seconded, by someone other then the person making the nomination. If you think a car is special and has been over looked, you can post as much material as you like to fortify your nomination.
Once we have the first ten nominations I will create a poll where you can vote for more than one car, but only once for any particular car. To make the Hall of Fame, a car will need to get 50 votes. Once a car reaches that point it is moved from the pool into a new hall of fame thread devoted to that particular car. The other nominees stay in the list for 120 days. New cars will be added in the order that they were nominated, as cars are voted into the hall of fame. Cars that don’t make the 120 day cut can be renominated for another try. Since I am making this up as I go along, there will probably be changes. Suggestions and ideas are always welcome and appreciated.
I nominate the XR7S that you pictured Bill. It’s on the Car of The year Motor Trend. I like the hood, GTE style grille bars and moldings (I guess I should say GTE’s have XR7S bars and moldings). Placement of the racing mirrors and the 428 engine. A complete package for 1967 to bad they never made it to production except for Henry Ford II’s car. I hope one day it will be made public for all to enjoy. It’s a beautiful car.
Steven
I think you guys can understand this… As it turns out, most of the people we meet are not Cougar enthusiasts. And eventually it always comes around to me explaining that I am a Cougar fan. You may have even seen that look… you do what?.. Occasionally there is some connection, but even with people who are into cars, they just don’t get it. So I start trying to educate them. I ask them did you ever notice how race car drivers always shake up that bottle of champagne and then spray everybody? Well, a driver named Dan Gurney started that tradition. He did it in 1967 at Le mans, you know the very first time an American car company won the race out right? To this day it was the sole all American victory. Well, that same Dan Gurney was busy in 1967, as he was also driving Mercury Cougars in Trans Am. I can go on for a looooong time.
Our car have this great history, but it is preserved nowhere. I hope you guys like the idea of the Hall of Fame.
^^^ It’s a great idea Bill, and a lot of fun. Plus, it gets you thinking.
Ah, yes. I know exactly what you are talking about, regarding Cougar history. I remember the pre-interweb days well. Misinformation abounded (it actually still does, but at least on a forum you can address it immediately). Sometime in the '70s I read a magazine article stating that Dan Gurney never won a TA race in his Cougar. Not long after that I found an old Road & Track Racing Annual from 1968 that listed the statistics of all the various racing series from the previous year. I was surprised to not only see that Gurney had won (at Green Valley), but how well the Cougars did and that they barely lost the championship to Shelby (coming in second to the champion is the toughest loss in sports). From that point on I scoured junk shops and swap meets for vintage racing programs and magazines in my quest to learn and compile all that I could about the Mercury Cougar’s racing history. What I found was that the Cougars were every bit as good a race cars as the Mustangs, but Ford did not want a luxury car to beat it’s favorite son and cash cow and did what they could to prevent it. In his book, “Speed With Style” TA Cougar driver Peter Revson stated that “Although Lincoln-Mercury Division’s Cougar was essentially the same car as it’s sister the Mustang, put out by Ford Division, and both divisions were integral parts of the same company, it is important to understand that the rivalry between the two was-and is- intense. They are treated almost as separate companies, and it is not Chevrolet that the Ford people hate… it is Mercury.”
So,until forums like this, the Cougar’s racing history was all but buried. In large part by the Ford Mustang marketing/promotion machine.
That’s interesting stuff…wonder if that caused the shift from Mustang based, to T-bird based, on the Cougar? (Or is that common knowledge that I’ve missed so far?)
^^^ Hard to say - while they moved the Cougar upscale and had it share the T-bird underpinnings (and sales went up) the Mercury Capri started sharing the Mustang platform.
I do think it was Ford’s indifference towards Mercury that ultimately led to it’s demise.
At any rate, here is a not often seen color pic of the XR7-S
My first thought is the first time the Cougar name was used, but as a Ford. That is where the design process began to develop the Mercury Cougar. Remember what the Mustang “was” going to be named… So lets throw the “1962 Ford Cougar 406” into the mix.
In 1990, a full 22 years ago, Roush had a Cougar team. And they kicked major butt. It may classify as Classic now. Either way, that cat has an all but forgotten place in the history of the Cougar name, though it brought the pain on the track and brought the win. 1990 12 Hours of Sebring by URY914, on Flickr
I don’t have a picture, but what about that black GTE that Roush has and I believe his daughter Susan had it at Carlisle in 1998… the first and last time I’ve gone there. It won best of show in the Cougar class IIRC.
The color photo that I posted is from the April 1967 issue of “Hi-Performance Car” magazine.
Looks like Ford/Mercury took the XR7S to a photo studio had some nice color and b/w pics taken of it. Hopefully, “Fordimages” will get around to releasing those.
Oh, and I second the Roush TA Cougars! Love those!!
