KH stopped by to respond to our story, “Collectible Automobile sheds little light on why 1971 Mercury Cougar was ugly.”
It wasn’t ugly at all. It looks much better than all the other “cookie cutter” designed cars that were out there.
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(EXPANDED FROM 2/6/2023) A few years ago Curbside Classic reposted a comment from a guy named Rob who had a “soul-crushing experience” driving a 1959 Rambler American to high school hangouts (Niedermeyer, 2023). In 1968 […]
This is another oversized coffee table book by Consumer Guide that emphasizes color photos and brief analysis. The editorial tone can at times be quite critical of the American automakers, as the quote below about […]
Roy D. Chapin Jr. showed little self awareness when recounting his tenure as head of AMC from 1967-77. He participated in an oral history project sponsored by the Henry Ford museum. The Automobile in American […]
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I guess I might be a bit too hard on the 1971-73 Cougar. I saw some video posted on Youtube about the 1971-73 Cougar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxbM0u-t4-Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGC87kky6jk
Still, I couldn’t resist to wonder a bit how they have chosen the Mercury Cougar over the 1979-85 Oldsmobile Toronado to be featured on the cover page? To my knowledge, the more recent car featured on the cover of Collectible Automobile was a 1975 Chevrolet Caprice Classic convertible in the December 2005 issue. I guess it would have been a shock if a car from the 1980s would be featured on the cover of Collectible Automobile.
One of the things I’ve noticed in editing Indie Auto is how cars that didn’t sell all that well still have devoted champions. Indeed, the more poorly the car did — and the more it has been criticized in the media — the more insistent its advocates can be.
Car styling may be subjective, but production figures can bring a factual element to the discussion. The 1971-73 Cougar didn’t sell nearly as well as its predecessors. One could reasonably argue that its sales collapse aligned with that of pony cars in general, e.g., the Cougar’s share of that market niche was relatively stable.
However, one might also argue that the Cougar’s more luxury-oriented persona should have done better than most other pony cars because of booming sales in luxury personal coupes such as the Grand Prix, Monte Carlo and Cutlass Supreme. After all, when the Cougar was redesigned in 1971 it grew to the point where it was getting close in size to intermediate coupes.
So why didn’t the 1971-73 Cougar sell better? It was fairly competitive price-wise to the Monte Carlo and Cutlass Supreme. Could it be that a lot of folks just didn’t like the styling?
You raise an interesting question about Collectible Automobile. I’ll look into that.
As someone who owns every issue of “Collectible Automobile”, they have been edging into the 1980s and early 1990s for the last several years, as they have covered almost every brand (domestic) and styling eras since the inaugural issue in April, 1984. With most of the early back issues “sold out”, I guess they can simply start to reprint early articles with an update !