More Group II stuff

Cougar Community
1

I almost forgot to mention that I was out at the Shelby museum yesterday, and they have “a” group II car. I took a bunch of pictures of the car, and really enjoyed seeing one in person. But, does any one know, or have some solid info on how many of the cars were actually built by Bud Moore? Was it 3, or was it 4? I had it in my mind that there were 6, but I think I was thinking of the Daytona Cobra coupes…
This article may have been where I got the idea from-
“The way it really happened, as explained to me by Team Cougar driver, Ed Leslie, five or six stock plain Jane standards were pulled off the assembly line and shipped to Bud Moore’s shop down in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Then the cars were rebuilt from the ground up, receiving the “factory” equipment described in the Form of Recognition.”
https://fordmercurycougarxr7.com/homologating_the_transam

2 Likes
2

Here is another thread where some of that stuff was discussed.

At one point I hand drew out a flow chart trying to trace the history of each BME Cougar. I need to dig that out, spruce it up and post it.

  • Phillip
1 Like
3

David Tom’s book on the Trans-Am series cars is fantastic. Lot of Cougar specific information. I highly recommend it for details on this classic race series.

https://www.amazon.com/Cars-Trans-Am-Racing-1966-1972/dp/1613252692

4

It is, and I have it- he did a really nice write up on the Cougar, especially as it had such a short racing history.

5

I wouldn’t say the Cougars had a short racing history. That initial group of BME Cougars were campaigned in Trans-Am and NASCAR from 1967 into the early to mid '70s.

A pretty long run for what was basically a 1967 chassis in the ever evolving and constant development that race cars go through.

If anything their often successful racing history has been buried somewhat - partially due to Ford’s efforts to push them aside in order to concentrate on the Mustang.

6

Another good book is Dave Friedman’s “Trans-Am, the Pony Car Wars 1966-1972”. It is mostly incredible vintage photographs (Friedman was a professional photographer and in fact was Shelby American’s official photographer for a while) but it is pricey now as it has been out of print for awhile.

If you can find them, Vintage Motorsport magazine did a terrific series of issues on the classic years of the Trans-Am. Those came out in the mid '90s.

But the absolute best way to get the real story is to pick up the magazines and newspapers and racing programs that were being published and reporting on the races at the time.

Besides the well-known mags like Motor Trend and Road & Track, magazines like Sports Car Graphic and Stock Car Racing had great coverage. Original racing programs have become VERY expensive but are about as cool as it gets - at least to me.

7

Cool vintage ad I scanned from one of my original racing programs.

8

I appreciate your input Phillip, you always have something new to share when this topic comes up! I had never heard of these magazines, and now am on the hunt…

9

I’m always excited when a see a thread on here discussing the BME Cougars!

I got interested in them in the early '80s when info was hard to come by. On the other hand, old magazines and racing programs were cheap back then and now I have boxes and boxes of them.

I’m slowly making nice scans of the photos and articles. Some great stuff that I’m happy to share.

1 Like