In that ad, they look just like they do on crappy craigslist ads that promote them as "classic" and "collectible". '73 was not a good year for Mercury.

Sweet! my dad traded his all white 1973 Mark iv for a 1974 golden anniversary mark iv!!!

Bummer, no '73 Mercury Monterey. I would have loved a flashback to my high school days cruising around town in my 2-door land yacht. Loved that car, miss that car, will thankfully never have to drive another car that gets that mileage and brakes so poorly ever again.

I'd buy them if they came with real panther.

"1973 cars must meet Federal Emissions Standards before sale"

Were they leaving that up to the dealer to take care of or something?

We were a Ford/Merc family and went through the 60s and 70s with Country Sedans and Montereys and then moved up i the 70s to the Lincoln (Cartier) and Grand Marquis--so these look like home to me.

They look pretty classy. Definetely not "collectable" or "classic", but perfect for someone who wants a nice cruiser.

Metallic Shit Brown was such a classy color....

One year off from my Parent's fleet of cars... 72 Cougar XR-7 Convertable w/ 351C 4BBV, 72 Lincoln Mark 4 (460?), 72 Ford Ranchero that was built from 3 of them. They also had a 72 Formula Thunderbird Boat that I practically grew up on. All gone now. Well the fate of the Ranchero is unknown, it was last seen in Yucca Valley, CA. The other vehicles, the Cougar ended up wrecked by my father's drunk-driving employees, the Lincoln succombed to rust (In So. Cal?!?) and got cut up for it's engine and the boat ended up becoming the property of the storage yard it was kept at.

I love the creepiness and sense of foreboding that permeates mid-Seventies ads like these. The arid desert setting, the voiceover narrator, and the music, they all sound so ominous. It's as if they're saying, "You better buy of the new '73 Mercurys TOMORROW. Or you'll get eaten by a wild cougar."

"The Continentals. Mercury Continental Mk IV and Lincoln Continental."

What're they doing advertising Lincolns in a Mercury ad? Acknowledging that they are actually one-in-the-same?

Hmm...well, my parents had a 1994 Sable and the transmission sure loved to hunt!

Man... those hoods are looooong.

was there even a difference between Montego and Cougar then? if there was, you sure couldn't tell from that ad...

Lots of fat-ass cougars in a field? Hey, it's Lilith Fair!

Sex panthers these are not...

These cars all need more Cheryl Tiegs.

@boosted-lego-wagon:
LOL... You mean like this:
[i77.photobucket.com]

But it's not like all the guys looked hot either:
[www.osgoodhotel.com]

how dare you ? i lost my virginity in the back of a '73 montego, and i can attest to the competence of the car...at least, in that regard.

@Mokers:

Yup!

Where are the big natural breasted girls in short skirts and long boots??

@abgwin: Yes there was a difference in the Cougar and the Montego for 1973. You see, the 73 Cougar was on it's last year of the Mustang Platform, and the Montego was the intermediate that shared to Torino Platform.
Here's a 73 Cougar Convertible (Last year, shared with Mustang)

And now here's the 1974 Cougar, shared with the Montego and Torino Platforms.

Makes me want to shout "BOOK'EM, DAN-O!!!!"

@DannyBN:

I think Detroit built them so badly back then that they had to pass an emissions inspection when they were NEW - before they left the dealer's lot!

A good friend of mine drove a '73 Mk IV to high school...this is '84'-'85.

That poor machine knew nothing other than full-throttle and 7 MPG. More than it deserved, honestly.

To this day, I still like a loooong hood. Especially if it has a large ornament at the end of it.

Let the innuendos begin! It's been a slow day for me, humor-wise.

Now, the object of this exercise is for the big cat to determine which trunk in the group contains Roy Horn and 50 lbs. of steak tenderloin...

@campionelancia: But 60% of the time, they start every time.

Gotta love how with every car, the camera focuses in the front crash bumper, new for '73 and the ugliest feature of these cars -- using a wide angle lens to make the bumper overhang seem even bigger . . .

@MadHungarian: I've gotta agree, all the '73 models had that godawful bloated bumper, industry-wide. 5 Mph crash ratings, the stupid air-pump on the engines, then in '74 the dreaded catalytic converter. Everything went to hell right about then.

it's like a scene from close encounters of the third kind...except these are all of the things humans didn't want back from the mother ship