The 1st Generation Mercury Cougar Its History, Models, and Features

First car was a red ‘68 with a 302. Also had a ‘76 xr7 with a 351W. Much bigger car.

My dad had a 1970 convertible 2 door candy apple red cougar. He bought and sold several mustangs but i liked the merc!

Did that model sit in her car and pet a Real Cougar?

some friends of mine had a 68 & 70 back in the 80s.i loved them.a touch more comfortable than the mustangs of that era.the 70 with the 4bbl. cleveland was a nice combo.

Had a seafoam green 67 for a hundred bucks fixed it up. Put car in brother's backyard he left windows open racoon moved in, ate visors ripped up seats had babies his wife gave car away to ? 😢

I had a 67 390 GT 3 speed. It had the 6.5 liter badge in front 1/4 panel. In this video it mentions Ed that on the 68. Could mine have been a late
67 production that carried the 6.5 liter badge?

Im a Mustang fanatic. My first car was a 70 Mach 1. I’ve owned 10 different Mustangs over the years and yes it is. It is a better classier car than the Mustang. 67 is my favorite year. I hope to own one of those

The 67-70 Mercury Cougars will always be my favorite.

Had Mercury made a retro style Cougar in 2005 just Ford did with the Retro Mustang of that same year then it would've not only sold like hotcakes like the Mustang but it would've also saved the Mercury brand as well (even the Grand Marquis was the only reason Mercury was still alive at that point).

I find it interesting that Mercury heavily marketed the Cougar as “a Man’s Car” for its first few years but then switched to marketing it to females starting in 1968, per the magazine advertisements shown. (Granted, Cougars still came in “male-oriented” performance versions.) This jibes with my memory of Cougars from that era, when it seemed that more women than men drove Cougars. Guys preferred Mustangs (less ornate, “soft”, etc.) for their performance aspects.

My 1st car back in 1976 was a 1970 Cougar XR7 green with black interior powered by the 351W and FMX transmission, I still have the car today, turning it into a Eliminator "Tribute".

I do love the electric shaver grille, clip lights and would appreciate the luxury seats.

My first car,in highschool 77,78 was a 67 Cougar GT 390 C6 auto. Man I would love to still have it. Sold it in 79 and bought a 69 Plymouth Roadrunner. Ahh, those were the days for street racing.

No 2 barrel carb was available on any Eliminator. All 4 barrels, only. The Boss 302 engine was available in the Eliminator as well in either year. Performance first? Cougars always had a V8 as a base motor. The Mustang base engine is a 6 cylinder.

Mustang Thunderbird Cougar/ Ford ? 👍

Cougars All the Way !!!!! 🤠

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

I always liked these Cougars.

If only those Ford/Mercury interiors weren't so hideous. Only AMC was worse in the 70's.

It's the same car they just put different front ends and other external changes..... It's really Sally that they do this

I had many Cougars and Mustangs back in the early 80s but the oddest ford i had was a 1968 Ford XL. Bought it for $200 working and drove it home. It was the 80s. But the guy said It had a 400 in it. I knew it was a 390 I was like huh but didn't question him because i didn't wanna tell him what i saw. It was pale gold with black stripes and of course it had hidden headlights and crosses in the tail lights and a fastback with a bench seat and an auto. It also had those racing checker emblems on the lower front fenders. But my confusion sets in because it said on the air cleaner 390 High Performance 2V. Didn't say 4V. To this day that throws me off. Yes it was a 2V engine all original, you can tell. I never heard of a high performance 2V big block and to this day i still wonder what the deal was with that.

My favorite Muscle car! When I was a teen I bought two used 1973 Mercury Capri's with 2.6 V6 engines and both had a four speed manual trans. I LOVED those cars! They were actually built on Europe (Germany) and imported by Ford or Mercury for sale in the American and Canadian markets. One of my cars had a VERY souped up V6 with racing pistons and cam, High rise manifold and four barrel carb Hooker headers with dual exhaust! It was a BEAST and sounded like the angriest Bees ever! I so much wish I sill had it! The other one which was all stock I used to do amateur rally racing and I loved that too! They were the reason I always wanted to have a manual trans with rear wheel drive in a small car package! So I fell in love with BMW's after than because the cars of the 80's and 90's were almost all front wheel drive if they were small. Or they were fairly bulky like the Vega or the Probe and Mustang etc. Everything was not what I wanted except those European cars. I own two now and seem to have fallen for the same type of set up in that one is built and made for straight line luxury Speed the other is an E46 M3 which I Love and is great for hanging my rear end out at any time LOL.

I guess they called the rear wing a "Spoiler".

Great video. I am lucky enough to have bought a 1970 Cougar XR7 Convertible. I have had it over eight years now. I found out after buying it and ordering the Marti Report, it is 1 of 56 with four barrel carb, 351 C M code and four speed manual trans. It gets driven every week year round. Fun to drive, and a lots of thumbs up from other cars. Take care.

When I was a child I remember my gym teacher had a 1969 or 70 Cougar XR-7? in what I believe was competition orange. Needless to say I thought he was the coolest gym teacher in the world.

What is this color? you said rare but didn’t say the name of the color.

Parts were always a problem for cougars as they were heavy duty compared to mustangs standard duty. As mustang parts were used up cougar parts were sourced, then mustang parts started to be reproduced but cougar parts weren't. I pulled my 73 off the road for lack of parts even though I had a spare part car over 40 years ago.

Whatever performance was list is made up for with gorgeous looks. No competition, the cougar is best. Sequential tail lights had me as a younun and never let go. Cougar and Barracuda were my childhood favorites and still now. You could probably throw the super Bird in there as well, i cant lie.

Cougars are better !!!! I love my 68xr-7

IMO, the Cougar is better looking, and they gave the extra 3” to the driver. Even my wife says it’s a man’s car. The Dan Gurney special was mentioned, but the XR-7 G was snubbed. 819 G’s were built in 68, mine has the G package with power sunroof and swing away tilt wheel.

Love my '99 9-3. One of the best cars I've ever owned.

Do note that prototypes for the Cougar began in 1962, Iacoca changed the itinerary to push out the Mustang mid year. Had there not been the prototype for Cougar the Mustang would not exist. Thank you.

Great car, far better than the mustang in ride, handling, comfortable on long drives. To this day I always thought the 289 cubic inch engine was great. Saw one a few years ago with mechanical fuel injection

Well done

I had a 69 Cougar base model with the standard 351 W engine .

Sorry to say but after 70. that was the last year I didn"t like them after that. Kind of pushed them into a different type of car, not sporty but more for comfort I guess.

My first car was a 1970 Mercury Cougar, she was just a plain Jane. Bright Canary yellow with black vinyl top. I wish I still had her.

Beautiful cars !

The 1st generation Cougar was a beautiful car, better looking than the Mustang in my opinion !

Always loved the Cougar. Currently have a '68 and a '95.

I had a '67 cougar, had a 289 with a 4bbl carb. Automatic, It was a medium blue with black interior... Loved that car, ps pb and no a/c. But the New Jersey winters finally took its toll on it...😢

I would of got one but babies are not allowed to drive.

These cars and the era were great, we had no idea how lucky we were in high school to drive muscle cats, many were family hand me downs.

These cars and the era were great, we had no idea how lucky we were in high school to drive muscle cats, many were family hand me downs.

going to look at a 71 convertable tomorrow. ill let you know if i pick it up

The only value of the "Car of The Year" award was the advertising it brought to the magazine.

Thanks for this detailed explanation of the Cougar. I've owned my 68 for 9 years now, and I'm still learning aspects of the Cougar market that set it apart from the Mustang crowd. I love Mustangs, but I am one of those that wants a little more space and luxury out of my pony car. Mine is complete, but I also bought a parts car and completely disassembled it for the extra parts. That's what a restoration will take, and you nailed it. Thanks for a great video.

Great video, Tony. The 1st generation Mustangs include 1971-1973. Why aren’t those years part of the 1st gen Cougar?