(EXPANDED FROM 7/20/2022)
The 1967-74 Mercury Cougar is a tragic story of a classic design going to hell. The first-generation models, which were produced from 1967-68, were among the best-looking pony cars of the late-60s. Indeed, one could argue that these are the most iconic Mercurys of all time.
Few designs have fallen from grace with such speed. By 1971 the Cougar had become one of the ugliest cars of that era. Of course, some Indie Auto readers have strongly disagreed with that assessment (go here and here).
With all due respect, I don’t find their arguments very compelling. So let’s take a closer look at the Cougar’s swift descent into hell.
1967-68 Cougar: A paint-by-numbers classic
The original Cougar’s styling was exceptionally well done but also rather derivative. The car shared a kinship with the 1968-70 Dodge Charger, whose classic look also had a paint-by-numbers quality (go here for further discussion).
Like most other personal coupes in 1967, the Cougar had hidden headlights and full-width taillights. Meanwhile, its side styling was strikingly similar to the 1966 AMX and AMX II show cars. Both had chunky wheel cutouts and rounded side sheetmetal contours; the AMX II had a V-shaped front fender (Strohl, 2015).
The main design feature that made the Cougar distinctive was the front end. The pointed fender edges contrasted with an upright grille.
A ‘nightmare’ assignment was salvaged
Retired Ford designer Richard Schierloh told Collectible Automobile that the production Cougar was the result of Ford management deciding to mash together two different designs. Schierloh was given the job of integrating them. The hardest part was the front end.
“It was a nightmare for me trying to put that squared architectural over-and-under design together with the pointy nose of the ’67 Cougar. I always thought it was terrible. There was a big hole in the corner and I didn’t know what to stuff in it.” (Farrell, 2019, p. 82)
I would beg to differ with Schierloh. The tension between the vertical grille and the pointed sheetmetal corners gives the Cougar added visual interest. The contrast partly works because a gap between the top of the razor-like vertical grille echoes the corner holes. The grille looks like it is floating.
The Cougar’s animalistic nose plays a key role in integrating these elements. The way the sheetmetal tapers down to the base of the grille was exceptionally well done. The only problem was that Cougars (such as in the photo below) often have had headlight assemblies that were not well aligned with the rest of the grille.
The most interesting Cougar model was the XR-7, a top-end model that was most noteworthy for interior trim with a decidedly Jaguar vibe.
Descent into hell slowly begins with the 1969 Cougar
The second-best-looking Cougar was arguably the 1969 model. It retained the general look of the previous generation but was cleaned up a bit. For example, the “holes” in the corners of the grille were removed with a wrap-around grille. The result was tasteful but lacked the complex tension of the 1967-68 models.
A full width grille with horizontal bars served to erase the Cougar’s animalistic face. The car’s fascia now looked more like an electric shaver. It was nice enough but no longer iconic.
Meanwhile, the Cougar’s rear was pleasantly evolutionary. Vertically-ribbed taillights were kept but the shape shifted from convex to concave.
More problematic was the side styling. Why would you give a Mercury — and a pony car — a Buick-like sweepsphere?
1970 Cougar: One step forward, one step backward
Cougar designers apparently decided that the 1969 models stepped too far away from the original look. Thus, the 1970 Cougar shifted back to a waterfall grille and a nose made of sheetmetal. However, the pointed fender corners were shaved off, thereby ditching the grille’s corner holes. It sort-of works.
The thin-lined grille pattern on each side of the nose evoked the first generation while offering a fresh and appealing look. The same couldn’t be said of the nose’s grille, which was too wide, tall and squared off. The nose worked best on the Eliminator model, which had a hood stripe that wrapped into the top of the grille. Otherwise, it looked like a waffle iron.
1971 Cougar goes all the way to hell
In 1971 Cougar designers came up with one of the ugliest front ends of that era. An oddly-shaped radiator grille evoked the Edsel. I assume this reflected the taste of Ford President Semon “Bunkie” Knudsen. He reportedly pressed designers to use big-nosed front ends.
Fortunately, the Cougar did not look as outrageous as the 1970-71 Ford Thunderbird or the Mercury Cyclone (go here for further discussion).
Even without the weird nose, the Cougar’s front was too tall and boxy. This was partly because the bumpers were mounted low, like on a family car. The 1971-72 Cougar was the only pony car that did not use thin, high-mounted bumpers prior to the onset of federal standards in 1973-74.
We could spend a lot of time talking about how ugly the rest of the car looked. For example, the Cougar had one of the tallest, most squared-off decks of any U.S. car from that era. Richard M. Langworth described it as “large enough to land a helicopter” (1987, p. 290).
Was the goal to visually suggest that the Cougar’s trunk was roomier than the tiny ones in other pony cars? If so, designers went too far.
1973 Cougar attempts half-hearted escape from hell
The Cougar returned to older styling cues in 1973. In the front, designers shifted back to an all-vertical grille that had a richer look. Well, a more broughamy look, with lots of chrome.
Perhaps most importantly, the Cougar’s front received a hefty new bumper that met new crash-worthiness standards. This may have been the only U.S. car that looked better after it had been “federalized.” Although the bumper made the car’s front look even more massive, it also shrunk the nose.
Rear styling was slightly improved by ditching the horizontal taillights. Designers replaced them with nicely shaped lights with a vertical pattern. This gave the rear a slightly less massive look. Bonus points for better evoking the original Cougar.
1974 Cougar becomes something very else
In 1974 the Cougar became a mid-sized car, where it competed against the likes of Chevrolet’s Monte Carlo. Designers went full brougham.
In a way this move made sense because the mid-sized personal coupe market was booming and the Cougar was already sort-of a luxury personal coupe, albeit a notch smaller. Not surprisingly, sales improved.
The downside was that this wasn’t really a Cougar anymore. Indeed, the car used the Mercury Montego’s sheetmetal but was given fairly minor trim upgrades, such as opera windows and a more chrome-laden grille (go here for further discussion).
Would death with dignity have been more honorable?
Arguably so. Alas, Mercury management presumably thought it had invested too heavily in the Cougar nameplate to discontinue it. After all, Mercury advertising used the tagline, “At the sign of the cat.”
For 1974 Ford downsized the Mustang to a subcompact, but Mercury may not have followed suit because it already imported the Capri in that size category.
With the luxury of hindsight we know that exchange rates would prove to be financially unsustainable for the Capri. But even if that had not been the case, a more luxury-oriented Cougar could have potentially carved out a more interesting niche than a Montego coupe with a Cougar grille slapped on it.
My main caveat about this direction: The mediocre styling of the Mustang II makes me wonder whether a subcompact Cougar would have turned out very well.
At any rate, one could argue that the Cougar’s dignity had already been stripped away. Congratulations, Ford management, for sending one of your biggest classics to hell in a remarkably short amount of time.
NOTES:
This is an expanded version of a story originally posted July 3, 2020; expanded on July 9, 2021; and updated on July 2, 2022; and expanded on October 9, 2025.
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- Farrell, Jim; 2019. “Richard Schierloh: The Art of Car Design.” Collectible Automobile. December, pp. 76-84.
- Langworth, Richard M. and the auto editors of Consumer Guide; 1987. The Complete History of Ford Motor Company. Beekman House, NY.
- Strohl, Daniel; 2015. “From A to X – all the different cars that could have, and did, become the AMX.” Hemmings. Posted June 23.
ADVERTISEMENTS & BROCHURES:
- autohistorypreservationsociety.org: Mercury Cougar (1970)
- fordheritagevault.com: Mercury Cougar (1970, 1971)
- oldcarbrochures.org: Mercury Cougar (1969, 1970, 1973, 1974); Mercury Cyclone (1970)
There is something missing about the evolution of the 1969-1970 Cougar front sheet metal: The pressure of the federal government and insurance companies to eliminate protruding front fenders ends of vehicles. as in the Buick Riviera and Oldsmobile Toronado in 1968-1968-1970. Protruding front fenders far outreaching the bumpers began to retreat. Frankly, the 1967-1969 Cougar was a styling success, in my opinion. Then Ford ruined it as they did with the Mustang after 1969.
Well, that partly explains what happened to the ’68 Toronado, thank you James. Still think GM could have done way better with it, however, I’m here to jump into the Cougar den and declare that I actually like the 71-73 models. They weren’t pony cars, but rather ‘small’ personal luxury cars, especially in XR-7 trim (check this 1972 XR-7 ad out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYJMLNosW5w).
I think they were appropriately styled for that mission, certainly no worse than Ford excesses like the 1972 Lincoln Continental MK IV. Unfortunately, they were too small for the times and I’m sure that back in the day, no one cross-shopped a Cougar with a Monte Carlo or Grand Prix. The Montego-based 74 XR-7 was, no surprise, a big sales success because it was glitzier and adhered to Detroit’s longer, lower, wider theory of better car design.
Small + Luxury did not compute in the early 70s with most of Detroit, although Ford was an early proponent of it with its late 1972 LDO versions of the Maverick. I personally prefer the 71-73 Cougar to all others and am grateful it didn’t get the same nose treatment as the 70-71 T-Bird and Montego.
That’s an interesting point. You got me wondering how much the 1971-73’s size was responsible for its mediocre sales vis a vis the car’s rather blocky styling. Whatever else one can say about the Montego-based Cougar, the rear end didn’t look like an aircraft carrier.
It’s restylings like this that leave you wondering at the aesthetic sense (or lack of same) of some design studio heads. With the Cougar, Ford styling seemed unable to recognize a design classic when they created one, and unable to field appropriate successors.
The ’67-68 was quite distinctive. It had a lightness, almost a delicacy about it, helped in no small part by the contours of the side panels, the combination of convex and concave, while surely being a nightmare for panelbeaters, giving a sense of fleetness and motion, ideal for a pony car. Plus it looked nothing like the Mustang it derived from. A+.
The ’69-70 lost that sense of lightness. I remember at the time (though only a teenager) being disappointed with the ’69; it seemed so much more static and heavy. As you say, that sweepspear side pressing shouted Buick; while an attractive design feature on a Buick, it really looked out of place on anything else. It did lighten up those boringly-contoured side panels and impart a sense of motion, but at the expense of confusing brand identity. Maybe a B-.
Wonder what Buick stylists thought? Did people seeing a ’69 Cougar for the first time think they were seeing new small Buick? I probably would have.
The ’71-73 are pure essence of ‘meh’. Boring, forgettable. Like someone in management wasn’t into sporty cars thought the previous Cougars weren’t upmarket enough. They didn’t look like ponycars at all. I wouldn’t say they were ugly so much as generic, almost anonymous, like a car in an insurance company ad. Maybe the Cougar nameplate should have been discontinued at this point, and these cars called something else. As a Cougar, it rates an F from me.
Interesting perspectives. For me the ’67 has excellent details but the body comes off a bit flat, conventional and boring. Wonder what it would have looked like with the fastback roof.
The ’69/70’s body has more visual interest but I think it would have benefitted from skirts that continued the body crease over the rear wheels. I agree with Steve about the front’s horizontal theme being deficient (“electric shaver”… good one!). Also agree that the ’70 was better. Not belonging was the center vertical trim piece covering the opening for air cooling. Perhaps a cougar shape such as in either the ’74 or ’77 hood ornament, enlarged, would have looked distinctive while not competing with the vertical elements covering the headlights.
The ’71-3’s biggest problems, to my eye, were two-fold. The sail panels on the coupe, which looked similar to the ’61 Dodge Flight-Wing concept, looked heavy and distracted from the rest of the design. And the exposed headlights, while cat-like, might have looked better concealed with Lincoln Mark IV-like covers (I think the ’72 Montego should have had this too). My mod would start with the ’71 Cougar convertible, which doesn’t have the sail panel extensions alongside the decklid, conceal the headlights and swap the top for one that is of rich looking canvas.
I am in agreement with the author. The first generation Cougar has very distinctive sheet metal and later generations simply look bloated. It was a much nicer look than the Mustang. Ford did a much better job restyling the Mustang, the pictured 71 has very refined lines without looking bloated. Then of course came the disastrous looking Mustang II. I hate it when a good looking product gets a make-worse do-over. Cadillac did it with the Seville. I could go on …
A million units over four years for the deuce. Not bad for a disaster!!! 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
I was a young child when the first Cougar was introduced, it immediately made an impression on me. From then on, I not only could recognize a Cougar on the street, I also had a collection of scale Cougars, from Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Corgi and others. I really believe that the first-gen Cougar is a classic Ford vehicle, ranking up there with other luminaries as the 1932 Ford, the 1955-1957 Thunderbird and the 1964 Mustang.
The later versions after the move to the bigger body in 1971 were OK looking but by the mid 1970’s the Cougar was just another combatant in the PLC wars of that era. Not that I would kick any one of them out of my garage, but they looked a little too close to the Torino/Montego that they were spawned from. In addition, I really liked the 1977 re-boot, but in the end, it still looked like a fancy Ford.
As much as I was enamored with the original Cougar, as an adult I never tried to buy one. I have owned and driven other Ford products of that era, some were great, many were meh. By the time I was able to buy my first new car, the Cougar was an 80’s PLC and really didn’t hold my interest. I instead went for the then-current V8 powered Fox body Capri in an attempt to create the Cougar from the 1960’s that no longer existed. At least it had the stylized Cougar-head motif on the road wheels and the steering wheel. I liked to think it carried a little of the original Cougar attitude with it wherever I went.
I’ve long heard you should never meet your heroes and I think subconsciously I’ve applied that attitude to the first-gen Cougars. I’m afraid that with over 50 years of expectations, the reality may not live up to them.
I had a 69 Cougar for a few years. I did love the styling, much more than I liked the styling of the first generation. At the time I thought the sweep spear contour line looked like it was lifted from Buick. The worst part about the Cougar was its assembly quality was hideous, though not as bad as my father in law’s 69 Mustang Grande. I wasn’t as fond of the 1970 model and all of the models after that made me sick. They really blew a good thing.
The 1971 -73 Cougar was a much admired and sought after car back in the day. And the interior was a special place as well.
The problem was that the pony cars got a little bigger after 1970 – Barracuda Challenger Mustang Javelin – but we still thought at the time they were pretty fabulous
It was the makers themselves who spoiled the show. It seems that these pint sized wonders just werent the pride of the industry anymore. They complained that they didnt make enough money on them – yadi yadi. And they were too ‘bloated” varying degrees of.
So Mustang ll was the first shot across the bow. MAny at the time didnt appreciate this effort. And that move – killed the glamorous Cougar XR7.
Chrysler been threatening for years to get rid of their 2 entries – and self fulfilling prophecy took care of that – in the coming Chrysler company wide travils.
Javelin – got bigger almost Cougar like – and the parent company – like Chrysler – took the same heartless action. A distinctive car with a designer interior was gone.
WE felt powerless at the time – but to recognize that the ”times they were a changin” – but were they ? Who celebrated these shortsighted moves? Which contributed to the JApanese to corner the small and sporty car market ?
But Iacocca probably had locked in the styling for the Cougar, even though Knudsen had spent most of the money with Larry Shinoda on the Mustang revisions. I have to blame most of the 1970-1971 styling on the Iacocca team.
If the Cougar descended to Hell by 1974, then that explains the 1977 Cougar wagon with fake wood sides and plaid bench seat, the awkward block of vinyl clad insanity of 1980, and the Gremlinesque rear quartered 1983. Satan must have become the lead Product Planner and designer.
I think Mercury just looked at the success of the Cutlass brand for Oldsmobile and hoped to replicate it by using the Cougar name on all its mid-size cars for 1977-1979 and 1981-1982.
Yup, that would appear to have been the goal. The problem was that it was too much of a stretch for the Cougar nameplate. I wonder if Mercury would have had more success if it had tried to build up the Montego nameplate instead, much like Oldsmobile did with the Cutlass Supreme.
Well, they do say that the devil is in the details. . . .
One of my college roommates had a Torino brougham while I was driving a ’76 XR-7. They were awful similar on the road, the XR-7 was a little quieter and rode better, their braking and handling in corners was the same. The Cougar wasn’t special anymore, by then it was just another PLC with a low power malaise engine under the hood.
Top end on mine was 105 mph. The most repetitive failure was the valve pushrods, which bent anytime I pushed the motor past 4,200 rpm.
I’d still love a restored ’69 XR-7 with a 351.
I don’t have the same love for the original Cougar and think the 1969 and 1970 models look fine, although you’ve brought up some good points that I hadn’t considered before. THe styling certainly went baroque in 1971 and Mercury considered to flog a dead horse, eventually committing the sacrilege of turning it into a station wagon.
But I always saw it as a fancy and therefore slower Mustang. They should have followed the path of the Capri after 1970 and created a homegrown version. It could have been slapped on a Mustang II chassis and if it was styled and tuned toward the German, it may have been better received than the later Mustangs and Cougars.
This article is really interesting. The 1967-74 Mercury Cougar was a true classic, but over time, changing market demands and company decisions caused it to lose its original charm. It’s a reminder of how thin the line between success and decline can be in the automotive world.
Mercury was still selling the Capri in 1974 so a Mustang II/Pinto-based Cougar was probably never considered. Unfortunately, the Cougar fell victim to Ford’s endless badge engineering efforts in the 70’s. The ’74 cat faced in-house competition from the over-decorated Gran Torino Elite and then the down-sized T-Bird off ’77-79 clobbered it. The final indignity, almost, was the Cougar station wagon. But then there was the beast of 1980. And last but not least, there was the front drive Cougar coupe, by which time the Cougar name had lost all equity. Pontiac took a similar route by naming its new W-Body 4-door a Grand Prix. The Cougar and the entire Mercury Division deserved more than it got from Ford. All the subsequent Ford clones ran sales into the ground and made it easier and cheaper for Ford to shutter Mercury dealerships. The only ‘real’ Cougars will always be the 1967-73 models; I include the ’71-73’s as they still had unique sheet metal and interiors, even if some people hate the big front bumper and aircraft carrier rear deck 😉
Pony cars were on the decline in the 70’s, so using the Cougar name on a personal luxury coupe (which were hot in the 70’s and early 80’s) makes sense to me. Ford’s 1972 Torino platform was always bloated, but that’s what was available at the time. Using the Cougar name for Mercury’s complete mid-size lineup was an experiment that didn’t work out so well but wasn’t fatal. Cougar was modestly successful again starting with 1983. And I think John Manoogian’s 1997 4 door Pontiac Grand Prix was brilliant, as the personal luxury coupe market was dead by then. (The 2004 restyle was mediocre, and the W body should have been put out to pasture by then.)
Putting the GP name on a 4-door sedan was as bad as naming a station wagon Cougar, IMO. Given that personal luxury coupes were a dying breed, Pontiac should have allowed the mystique of the GP name to die off on a couple body style (there was, afterall, never a Monte Carlo or Riviera sedan)… The W-Body 4-door should have been given a new name. I personally prefer the facelifted 2nd gen W-Body Pontiacs, except for the monster taillamps. At least it’s fitting that the final Cougars were all 2-doors, even if they were not great sellers.