Damn. The 70's were so bizzare. Just look at how small those wheels are. It looks like they're from a Pinto.

Still cooler than anything with a Mercury badge today.

You can sleep four on that hood.

Do I remember this ad because I'm damn old, or because it's so damn memorable?

I was the proud owner of a brand new '78 T-Bird, the brother (sister?) to the Cougar. My wife at the time picked it 'cuz she liked the color. Unquestionably the worst car I ever owned. The headlight covers never worked right, the cruise control worked intermittently, the passenger's side power window worked when it damned well wanted. We just never used it since we never knew if it would come up again. After 3 years of owning it, the rust began. After 4 years, we were out of the lease and moved on to her VW Jetta.
When I say unquestionably the worst car I ever owned, I don't include the '91 AND '93 Explorers since I guess they weren't really "CARS"!!

va va voom

Would be nice to restore such a car by today's standards (proper rust proofing, proper wiring...), and put a decent engine into it. Would make a damn cool car imho.

Possible Jalopnik T shirt... more Cougar, less filler.

the 460 is a decent engine! Just cut it loose from all that emissions crap! My fathers 56 f150 has a 460 in it putting out 400+ hp

Nice model, but I'm waiting for the Mercury Cougar station wagon.
Very sporty.
Meh.

Call me crazy, but I kinda like the styling of these cars. Everything 70s was so over-the-top gaudy and cush that these fit right in. My parents had 79 and 85 T-birds and we loved them (Yes, the 85 was a vastly better car in every way.) The output was good, considering how emissions-strangled everything was back then. For comparison, a 1979 Ferrari 308 had only 205HP. Farrah was about the hottest bombshell around back then. Old commercials are cool.

A cousin to my olde Gran Torino, they might look funny but if you had to make a 1,000 mile trip they beat the hell out of todays cars for comfort.

...and it's glove soft Vinyl... not leather. Imagine poor Farrah's cheeks on that during a 108 degree day... ooh.. gonna need a minute here...

@adidascrosscountry: I like the styling of Fords from this era too.

I grew up with a 1976 Gran Torino (351W engine had great off-the-line power and the automatic was robust, but the body was biodegradable) and later, an '82 Mercury Grand Marquis.

But the engines in the Torino aren't comparable to what you find in a 308. Yeah, the Ferrari only made 205HP... but it did that with only 3L (around 180ci) of displacement.
And it's a night and day difference between the sound and revvability between the Ford OHV V8 and Ferrari OHC V8.

Anyone who can afford the expensive maintenance would take the Ferrari any day.

I fell in love with Farah during this commercial. Later she guest'ed on $6,000,000 man and I found out her name, but that she was also married to Majors. By the time Charlie's Angels came out, I was excited. In 75, I was 12 and already thought these cars were dumb (for me), but I did like the Capri-black w/a manual.