Does anyone know the whereabouts of the El Gato concept car or any lore towards its current disposition? I would love to own a vehicle of such importance or at least know of its fate.
Thanks,Justin
There’s a good chance it was destroyed, like most concept cars 
I hope that’s not the case, but I haven’t heard otherwise. Would be awesome if it was still in existence.
I haven’t heard of any rumors that it is still around and didn’t get destroyed. A guy I know who has several concept cars and some special ones as well would most likely be the owner of this one if it had survived. He has never said this is in his collection, so I doubt it survived, but you never know what might turn up in someones collection.
Was this car a Vert?
No, based off the 69 Cougar turn into a fastback. You will see alot of Torino styling ques.
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2010/02/17/el-gato-spanish-for-the-cat/
It would be cool to find out who the two people were in the front seat, to hear there view point on the car.
There is a lot of Torino, but I also see some Mopar in one of the B&W profile shots.
← too easily distracted by shiny things…
http://www.mercurycougar.net/forums/showthread.php?36036-1970-El-Gato
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/12/1970-mercury-el-gato-concept-car.html
http://www.carstyling.ru/en/cars.1970_Mercury_El%20Gato.html
^be sure to read the comment from wxnjxn (waxin’ jackson?)…
All this drooling leads me to wonder about the current status of the '69 Eliminator prototype. I understand that one still existed a while back and was in private hands, “unrestored”.
According to “M Lander” comment just below says he has been working on making one. If “wxnjxn” actually worked on the car, it would be cool to contact him and pick his brain a little more on the concept. It really is a great looking car, especially the front. George Barris is still alive, I wonder if he would be willing to talk?
I sent an email to Phil Parcells to see if he has any info on El Gato. Figured I’d start there before sending an inquiry to Mr. Barris.
Thanks guys hopefully it didn’t get sent to the crusher with all the other concepts. I haven’t seen a lot of varying info, just the same stuff repeated over and over. That eliminator concept is pretty unique too. Now I have two Cougar concepts on my radar.
More then likely it was Dean Jeffries that did ELGato. But, I’m sure Barris took credit for it. Jeffries just past away this last spring.
Im sure Barris keeps record of all the passed cars. He may not even know all that he has in his records. I think it was a show “American pickers” that went there to see what they could get and it didn’t look to organized, but that doesn’t mean the info isn’t there.
Do you think he actually was notified of the cars fate? I thought that ford/mercury owned the car at that point so it’s location wouldn’t necessarily be revealed. It would be great if he did though.
Jefferies was the man behind Barris which took credit for his work. Here is a good article on Jefferies especially read the last paragraph. He also did the very first Cougar. Ford Cougar 406. Dean Jeffries - Kustomrama
Interesting read, I can see why Barris wouldn’t be a good source to go to. Too bad he just passed away.
I think George Barris is still alive.
Steven
Barris is alive, but Jeffries passes away. Recently too, iirc.
George Barris is still alive. He attends the Plunkett auto show near me just outside of London Ontario every year. He signs posters and what ever you want to bring for him to sign. I brought him some 45 year old Bubble gum cards of the cars he built. His comment was, Wow, it’s been a while since I have seen these!.He does need help getting around though and I think it’s his daughter that helps him. He sure likes to get his picture taken with good looking ladies:)
Here is a link to when he was at the Plunkett show in 2010.
Speaking of El Gato - some “new” photos have recently been uncovered in the Ford Motor Company Archives, thanks to Ford employee and XR7-G owner Mark Kulwik.
As far as the origins of El Gato’s construction and design, I’d like to throw out Mike Alexander of the famed custom car builders “Alexander Brothers” as a possibility.
The Alexander Brothers also did work for Ford and ultimately Mike (the other brother was Larry) went to work for Ford around 1968, managing the Kar-Kraft Design Center, Fords “in house” concept-car shop.
If you look at some of the Larry and Mike’s work, the Dodge Deora being the most famous, you can see some similar design elements.
Tho I agree with Brian, El Gato also reminds me of Dean Jeffries’ (the Monkee Mobile) work.
Such a cool Cougar - would be awesome if it was discovered!
- Phillip
