http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jalopnik.com.png http://jalopnik.com/tag/mercury cougar http://jalopnik.com/tag/mercury cougar

Replica builders are an odd breed — as dedicated to their craft as those guys who once built ships in bottles. A Florida man built this "Bugatti Veyron" from a Mercury Cougar, and it can be yours for $89,000. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5821695&view=rss&microfeed=true

Neko Case isn't just one of our favorite musicians, she's also a gearhead with a philanthropic streak currently raffling off her '67 Mercury Cougar. She's here live, in the comments, answering your questions about the car, the music and the charity. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5777372&view=rss&microfeed=true

Singer Neko Case became a favorite 'round these parts when she posed on top of a 1967 Mercury Cougar for the cover of her "Middle Cyclone" album. Now she's raffling it off for charity, footprints and all. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5732658&view=rss&microfeed=true

Superstar commenter mytdawg was shopping for wheels over the weekend and spotted this gem of a jalopy: the hind-end of a Mercury Cougar mated to what look like Honda forks, all powered by a GM V8. Excellent. Details below More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5515286&view=rss&microfeed=true

After a few years of double-digit annual inflation in the late 1970s, Americans had become accustomed to Malaise Era interest rates. That's why Mercury's offer of a mere 12 percent APR sounded pretty good. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5509555&view=rss&microfeed=true

Malaise Era engine power numbers always provide entertainment, especially when you consider that the 134-horse 302 engine was the 1980 Mercury Cougar's optional V8. The standard 255 made 119 horsepower. Meow! More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5507851&view=rss&microfeed=true

The 1977 Mercury Cougar's a masterpiece of malaise-era bloated excess. What better way to improve upon perfection but by festooning an example with murals of cougars? The answer is there's no better way to improve a 1977 Cougar. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5502198&view=rss&microfeed=true

Sure, the 1968 Cougar was really a Mustang with 400 pounds of additional Mercury gingerbread, but just look at it! More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5482060&view=rss&microfeed=true

First generation Mercury Cougars, that is. With the electric shaver grille. That object on the side of the picture you’re currently not looking at. Hard to say, now, hard to say! More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5472203&view=rss&microfeed=true

I've been hitting the junkyards quite frequently of late, searching for interesting Cash For Clunkers victims, and some heartbreaking non-clunkers are showing up as well. For example, this Cougar. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5363126&view=rss&microfeed=true

You've seen the Cash For Clunkers numbers and maybe even endured some sodium silicate destructo videos, but have you thought about where those vehicles go after their engines get destroyed? That's right! More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5348319&view=rss&microfeed=true

One of our favorite albums this year is Neko Case's Middle Cyclone — and not just because of her booming voice. At 39, she's just barely a cougar, but what she's sitting on definitely is. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5249412&view=rss&microfeed=true

Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Everyone loves the Mercury Cougar, right? More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5207157&view=rss&microfeed=true

Like a bad omen or a disastrous Kilroy, our friend Jacques shows up in bad places with bad ideas. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5173801&view=rss&microfeed=true

Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. We've seen a few Alameda Cougars so far, including this '67 (which later turned up in the wrecking yard), this '68, this '73, and this '75. Now we're going to look at a first-gen Cougar that's lived in the same neighborhood since I was a kid.
More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5101724&view=rss&microfeed=true

It was mighty nice of Ford to wish GM a happy 100th birthday by strategic window-blind arrangement on their office building, but things weren't quite so friendly back in the days before the imports grabbed a huge slice of the car-sales pie. Back in '66, when the Mercury Division was gearing up to release the Cougar, they projected a huge Cougar ad… on the side of GM's Detroit headquarters! GM could have retaliated by using gasoline to burn a big Camaro ad into Henry Ford II's lawn, but they took the high road. Thanks to Mark for the tip. Image credit: CoolCats.net. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5051586&view=rss&microfeed=true

More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=397896&view=rss&microfeed=true

The cage door creeeeeaks open, (perhaps suggesting the rust that will soon assail most Malaise Lincolns and Mercuries), and the angry mountain lion struts out into a field full of parked cars. The Continental... the Marquis... Montego... Comet... Cougar... they're all here, and they're all packing more bloat and less power than ever before. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=387001&view=rss&microfeed=true

Whereas we like to think Jalopnik is a fairly safe and friendly place to express an opinion, niche forums can be brutal. Take the story of one young man and his last generation Mercury Cougar at the New Cougar forums. We know it can't be easy to be a Cougar owner — who do you have to look down on? Topaz owners? Nevertheless, these fan-boys soldier on and learn to squeeze every bit of love and performance out of their cars, which is something we can respect. But this guy's ride we can't respect. He's basically taken plywood and home theatre controls and shoved them in the backseat of his car (something you can do if you have no friends). The execution is so poor that it makes you start to appreciate the ridiculous import tuner crowd. But as harsh as we could be, our pithy comments are nothing compared to the ire directed at him by his fellow Cougar fan-boys. We've included a selection of said comments below the jump. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=380873&view=rss&microfeed=true

How is it that I've only had one Mercury Cougar in this series so far, and that a Malaisemobile? Even worse, we forgot about all about the 40th anniversary of the Cougar last, in spite of repeated reminders from the Colorado Cougar Club! Maybe the problem is that the bloat-o-riffic Farrah Fawcett Cougar managed to obscure our mental images of the sleek 60s cats. Anyway, I've photographed several of the sporty Mustang-based Cougars on the island and you'll be sure to see them in this series, starting with this '68. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=376475&view=rss&microfeed=true