In 1980 the oldest Cougar was just 13 years old, hardly an old car. But Tom Jacobellis knew they were special and so were their owners. In March of that year he sent out a letter to see if there were other Cougar owners that wanted to band together to support each other. The Cougar Club of America was born.
It is with great sadness that I report that Tom passed away on Monday, January 30th, 2017. All Cougar enthusiast owe him a debt of gratitude for his contributions to our hobby. I will be posting more about Tom as it becomes available.
Randy Christian and Charlie Brown of the Mid America Classic Cougar Club wrote the following article about Tom.
#1
By Randy Christian #9216 &
Charlie Brown #8693
Have you ever wondered when and how Cougar Club of America got started and who was the driving force behind it? How many of you know that Edsel B. Ford II is an honorary member of Cougar Club of America? Did you know that an NYPD officer from the Bronx, NY way back in 1980, started CCOA?
As the Mid America Classic Cougar Club show committee started planning for the Mercury Cougar 50th Anniversary National show in Tulsa, we wanted to try and incorporate as much Mercury Cougar and Cougar Club of America history into the show. We contacted Rob Merritt, CCOA Membership Services Director, and asked him if he could provide contact information for CCOA members with a membership number under 200. As it turns out, there are twelve CCOA members that are still active with these low CCOA numbers. We reached out to each of them inviting them to the Tulsa show and asking them to share their Cougar stories with the Cougar community. We have heard from several of them, including Mr. Tom Jacobellis – CCOA founder and CCOA member #1.
It all started in early 1980 when Tom purchased a 1970 Mercury Cougar convertible. Tom and his wife, Irene, were living in the Bronx and Tom was an NYPD police officer. Tom realized early on after talking with other Cougar owners and working on his 1970 CAT that there was a void for all Cougar owners throughout the world that needed to be filled. He knew it was very hard and expensive to find Cougar parts. Tom sent out the first organizational letter for CCOA on March 19, 1980. His main goal for CCOA was to help all Cougar owners with locating needed parts at reasonable prices. He hoped that sometime in the future CCOA would be big enough to reproduce the parts needed by its members - a very lofty goal to say the least.
By the time June 1980 rolled around, Tom’s Cougar collection had grown substantially. It now consisted of:
1969 XR-7 hardtop, 428CJ-Ram Air and 4 speed with 29,000 original miles.
1970 XR-7 Convertible – 351C-FMX one owner fully equipped with 63,000 original miles.
1970 XR-7 Convertible – fully equipped and needed a total restoration.
1970 XR-7 Hardtop 351C – 4 speed parts car.
Tom’s everyday driver during this time was a 1966 Falcon Sport Coupe with 64,000 original miles and he was looking to buy a 1969 Boss 429 Cougar - a very rare CAT.
In December 1981, Tom wrote a letter to Edsel B. Ford II inviting him to become an honorary member of Cougar Club of America. Edsel responded back in a letter dated December 15, 1981 telling Tom it would be a privilege to become an honorary member of CCOA and accepted Tom’s invitation. Tom actually sent me the original letter from Mr. Ford, along with many other historical items that will be on display at the Tulsa show in April. We cannot thank Tom enough for passing these items on.
After Tom left the NYPD, he and Irene moved to Spring Hill, Florida in 1986. They still reside there today. He sold all of his Cougars after his 1968 Cougar was stolen. The police found it and returned, but it had been stripped. As Tom said, “It was just a hunk of metal and too far-gone to restore.”
In his later years, Tom remained enthusiastic about Mercury Cougars and the Cougar world. There were several long time Cougar friends that Tom stayed in touch with over the years. Barrie Dixon (CCOA #156) from England visited him on a regular basis on his trips to the United States. We must thank Barrie as he has provided a lot of information and history on Tom.
It is with a very heavy heart that as I was writing this article, I received word from Barrie that Tom Jacobellis, the founder of Cougar Club of America and #1 passed away on January 30, 2017. It is so ironic that #1 passed away in 2017, the 50th Anniversary year of the Mercury Cougar.
It was close to 30. 
