The Unforgettable 1967 Mercury Cougar
The 1967 Mercury Cougar is a classic muscle car that was popular for its time and rivaled other muscle cars.
Written by Serena Aburahma
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Classic cars
are not only good-looking cars that are beloved by collectors and enthusiasts, but they can also be a way to look back in time. In terms of the now-dead brand, Mercury, one of this automaker's best cars
was the classic 1967 Mercury Cougar. Here's a look at the classic 1967 Mercury Cougar and how it holds up today. The 1967 Mercury Cougar was a muscle car that rivaled others
Like
Road and Track
said, when Mercury unveiled the Cougar, the brand was not in a good place. Mercury, which was owned by Ford, simply seemed to release mildly different Fords with a different name. That was until the Cougar came along. Off the bat, the Cougar was definitely based on the Mustang. However, since the
1966 Mustang
was a classic in its own right, the Cougar had a very good base to build on.It was different from the Mustang in a couple of ways, but one of the most apparent was its looks. It seemed to be a more elegant version of the Mustang, and that made folks actually interested in it.
How successful was the 1967 Mercury Cougar?
Since Mercury was supposed to be the middle tier of Ford brands, with Ford being the bottom tier and Lincoln being the top tier, the Cougar was more expensive than the Mustang. The standard Cougar cost about $23,000 in today's dollars, which was over $2,000 more expensive than the regular Mustang.
Despite that, however, the Cougar sold extremely well. In its debut model year, the Cougar sold over 150,000 units. In fact, in that same year, Mercury's four other full-size cars, the Marquis, Monterey, Montclair, and Park Lane, only sold a combined 122,000 units.
Those sales numbers were helped by the fact that Mercury put the Cougar on the racetracks. The Mercury, just like the Mustang, performed well in races, too. The Cougar became so popular that there was a cougar growl at the end of every Mercury ad.
This old classic Mercury still holds up well today
Unfortunately, however, the Cougar was not able to save the Mercury brand. Mercury made a lot of cars that
people didn't like
, and Mercury also put the Cougar name on a lot of bad cars. The Cougar lived on until 2002, and Ford killed off the Mercury brand in 2011.In any case, the Cougar, especially ones from the 60s, still hold up well today. It was a muscle car, so it had a lot of power. The 1967 Cougar, in particular, started with a 4.7-liter V-8 that got up to 225 horsepower. Folks could even get a 6.4-liter V-8 that got 320 horsepower instead.
That being said, the main difference between the Cougar and the Mustang was in their interior. While the Cougar didn't have any advanced features, it did provide a more comfortable ride than the Mustang did.
And, in terms of looks, the 1967 Cougar was a good-looking car. As such, the 1967 Cougar is considered a classic, though it's probably less well-known than the Mustang or the Corvette.
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