Great car, terrific story. My mom worked at a Mercury (Shepherd Lincoln Mercury in Danville, IL-been closed for years) dealer just after college and missed out on buying an Eliminator by something like a couple of minutes, and ended up “settling” for a '71 Cyclone GT (429 Thunder jet auto). She always talked about wanting that cougar.
To me the eliminator is “bad ass” personified. Beautiful example with my favorite small block.