Lucky 7 is a One-of-None!
One-of-none Cougars are the ones we wish the Factory had built, but didn’t. Perhaps the most obvious of all is the first generation Cougar convertible. April 2017 Ride of the Month winner Brett Pavlov is the lucky owner of one of these very desirable Cougars.
It seems that one of the first questions asked by first time classic Cougar owners is; “What interchanges with the Mustang?” The hope of course, is that you can use a bunch of lower cost Mustang parts to fix your Cougar. Then the longer you own your Cougar the more convinced you become that the real answer is: Not much! Nothing can possibly drive that point home more precisely than the conversion process of turning a first generation Cougar into a convertible. Pretty much nothing from the Mustang fits.
You can make a pretty good case that Kevin Marti, long before he became famous for his Marti Reports, may have done the first convertible conversion of a Cougar. Back then he was able to buy the convertible top assembly from a wrecked convertible Mustang and then modify it to make it fit. Or at least that was the plan. As it turns out, Kevin was the first to learn that it would be far more involved than it seemed. His first clue was that after he cut off the top, the doors would no longer open. Kevin is a mechanical engineer so in the end he was able to succeed with the conversion, but he has never signed up to do another one.
Our April Ride of the Month is another very early conversion and this one set the mark for others to follow. Keith Meredith had a vision of the Cougar of his dreams: a '68 in dove gray, with black interior and accents, and a black convertible top. He already had a '68 standard so he disassembled it and took the body to Sherwood Automotive Restoration in Windsor Ontario Canada and they performed the conversion. They must have studied the '69 convertibles because they installed '69 style reinforced inner rocker panels and underbody reinforcements to keep the doors opening and closing and to keep the body from twisting. The mustang coupe has a much more upright rear window than the Cougar and the transition from the body to the C-pillars is also very different. If that were not enough the rear quarter windows are also very different from Mustang to Cougar.
It was left to Lucky Auto and Boat Works in Muskegon Michigan to find a way to make it all work. They used a top frame from a '71 Mustang to recreate the Cougar coupe rear window angle. Then they spliced in a '67 Mustang roof that could match up with the windshield header, also from a '67 Mustang. Ultimately the windshield moldings, top latch down, and the rear quarter window garnish was all borrowed from a Mustang and then modified to fit. We know all of this because Keith shared the details with Phil Parcells who wrote about it in the June 2011 issue of the Cougar Club of America At The Sign of the Cat newsletter.
Keith never entered the Cougar convertible in a show but he did make quite a stir when he drove through the CCOA National Show at Ford World Headquarter in Dearborn. He didn’t stop and for years there was speculation that his car was “one of two executive cars built” Phil was finally able to clear up that mystery.
All of this was unknown to Brett Pavlov. All Brett knew, as he surfed the ebay ads, was that he loved Cougars and this one looked pretty good. Many years before he had dreamt about converting the '68 Cougar he owed at the time. He never followed up on it, and life went on. But here he was looking at one. It made sense to him that someone would have made one by now. Bret describes it like this: “The price was fair and the car appeared to need little work. Most of which I could handle on my own. I showed the auction to my fiancé and she told me to get it if I could.”
Brett goes on to tell us how it became his car: “My fiancé told me to get it if I could. It would be her wedding gift to me. I made the owner an offer and he accepted with a small mark up. I’m glad I got it when I did. Another buyer made a bigger offer while I was still ironing out the details. Whew! That was a close one. The car has low mileage, just over 60,000. I really like the pearlescent paint that really gleams in the sunlight.”
This would not be Brett’s first Cougar. "I have loved the Mercury Cougar since before I got my driver’s license. When I was 15, I got into buying muscle car magazines. I knew that I would be driving soon and I began researching what kind of car that suited me. I bought Hot Rod, Car Craft, Mustang Monthly, etc. I read about all the hot muscle from the big three and even AMC. I liked the curves of Javelin and AMX. From Mopar; the Barracuda, Challenger, Charger, Road Runner, Coronet and GTX. From General Motors; the Camaro, Chevelle, El Camino, GTO, Firebird, Skylark and GS. Of course from Ford; the Mustang and Thunderbird. I read about all these cars for quite some time before I even knew what a Cougar was.
One day, I was reading the latest issue from Car Craft and I came upon an article for a 1968 Mercury Cougar. To my astonishment, I knew nothing about this make and model. This was some rare car. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t even know what a Cyclone Spoiler was for even longer. In any case, I instantly fell in love with the styling. Similar to the Mustang but more luxurious and tough looking. Hideaway headlights. Sequential turn signals. I had found my future car!
Once I turned 16, I was on the lookout for an elusive Cougar. A family friend mentioned seeing an old Cougar convertible for sale for $500. I went to go look at the car and discovered that the car was actually a 1971 standard convertible. I was disappointed because this was not at all the car that I envisioned. Wow, a 1968 Cougar looked a lot different than a 1971 model! Nonetheless, it was a convertible with the awesome sequential turn signals and my Mother was willing to help me buy it. So, I bought it and after a few months quickly realized that this wasn’t the car for me.
I kept searching for the Cougar I wanted and came across a standard 1967 for sale. I struck up a deal with the owner for a straight up trade. Once my step father got wind of the pending deal though, he promptly took the car away. I wasn’t going to give up that easily though. I made a deal with the owner of the 1967. I saved up and bought the car with my own cash.
Since then and through the years, I have owned a total of seven Cougars. The 1971 convertible, four 1967s and two 1968s. Two of the 1967s were parts cars. One of which was a Canadian 390 car but the motor was long gone and rust took most of the rest. I was able to get a good dash pad and center console out of that car though. The other parts car gave an entire interior and other much needed parts to the 1968 that I owned. It is rather ironic that both of the 1968 Cougars I have owned, had 1967 door panels and seats.
I have to tell a story about the fastest of all my Cougars, my first 1968. A friend of mine sold me a built 289 from a 65/66 Mustang GT that had worked 302 heads. The engine had a 4 barrel off of a 429. Hooker headers with Thrush header muffles took care of the exhaust. I don’t know what kind of cam was in that engine, but at dead stop the car would slowly shake due to the firing of the pistons. Man, did it sound awesome.
When I first got the engine, it seemed quick but not as fast as it sounded. I worked at a burger joint and my boss, Jay, had a late 80s Z-28 Camaro. He wanted to race. So we out to the highway and he promptly blew my doors off. I was like something can’t be right.
My next door neighbor, Dave, owned a GTO. I walked over to his house and told him about me getting dusted. He said that can’t be right either. Anyway, he came over and was playing with the engine. All of a sudden I heard something I had never heard before. Bewildered, I asked Dave what it was. He flatly said that my problem was simply that my 4 barrel wasn’t kicking in. He said that linkage was apparently missing some parts. He said he would help me more but that he had to go to work. I was too impatient to wait. I began to play with the carb and discovered the linkage was missing something fairly small. I put a simple screw where it needed to be and presto! Instant 4 barrel!
Now, I don’t know how long it had been since that second set of barrels had been disengaged but that was one sticky throttle. The throttle stuck wide open and I thought I was going to blow the motor. A quick trip up to the parts store for a can of carb cleaner and I was in business. I could hardly keep the car on the road after that. The car was now wicked fast.
Now where was Jay? The next time I saw Jay I calmly requested a rematch. He said he had no problem blowing me away so more. I giggled to myself. Jay didn’t have any idea of what he was in for. We went out to the highway. I smoked Jay so bad that it wasn’t even funny. He wasn’t happy either. He claimed he going to get his fuel injectors cleaned and he was gonna beat me. I said anytime. We never raced again.
I never lost a race in that car ever again. I had a guy come up to me on the highway one time and motion to race. He got what he wanted and I floored it. I let off after the needle on the speedometer had been facing directly south for a few moments. About 15 minutes later, the same guy finally caught back up. He nodded in approval. I could go on with other crazy stories. Ahh, the good ol’ days."
Brett’s home town is Chapel Hill, North Carolina (GO TARHEELS!!!). He has been working in the IT industry for the past 15 years following an 8 year stint in the US Navy including a 4 year ride on the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) and four years of shore duty in Norfolk Virginia. These days he calls Arnold Missouri, just south of St. Louis home.
He has plans for the Cougar that he describes this way: “The car is in very good driving condition and only needs some tweaking here and there. It is in no way restored and is getting minor repairs where I find the car needs it. The car is not a show car and you can’t eat off the engine like one of those Barrett-Jackson rides. This car gets driven and enjoyed. I do avoid rain though. There was an XR-7G trunk lock cover on the trunk when I got the car. That has been replaced. Also, there were 69/70 XR-7 hubcaps on the car. I replaced those with a very nice set of 1968 “turbine style” caps that I was able to get in trade from Don Rush at WCCC. WCCC also got me a very nice dash face pad. I have also replaced a cracked taillight lens and other various trunk area parts. John Baumann at JCC, has provided me with parts too. He set me up with an original working rear backup light, console wiring, trunk lock base and other various parts. Whatever I can’t get from one, I get from the other. I have a replacement passenger bucket coming soon, so the tears visible in the photos will be gone within a matter of weeks. Also, I have boxes of parts already acquired and will be working on the car a lot this summer.”
In closing Brett told us: “I’m very fortunate that my wonderful wife-to-be gave me such a spectacular wedding gift. 20 years ago when I sold my 1967 XR-7, I never thought that I would own a muscle car ever again. Let alone another Cougar. I thought I was done with old cars. Well, not any more. I’m back! I’m also grateful to be a part of the CCOA and CATS. We look forward to celebrating 50 years of the Mercury Cougar at the June event in Dearborn and putting together some names and faces of those that have welcomed us to the Cougar Community. I also wish to thank all those that voted my 68 vert the April 2017 Ride of the Month on the Classic Cougar Community Forum.”
Thanks Brett and we look forward to meeting you in Dearborn!
Very nice!
very nice car and great story 
