Sign of the Cat!1971 Mercury Cougar
The Mercury Cougar debuted in 1967 to join Ford’s Mustang in what was becoming the “pony car” wars. But when the second generation was introduced in 1971, Mercury changed directions, preferring to instead target buyers of GM cars like the Cutlass Supreme instead of the Camaro or Firebird. The same party owned this ‘71 edition since it was two years old and it’s being offered by a dealer in Vancouver, Washington. The Mercury is available here on craigslist for $12,995. Thanks for the tip, Bret P!
The 1971 to 73 Cougars were derived from the Mustang which was still an extension of the mid-1960s Ford Falcon. These would be some of the last convertibles assembled by Ford Motor Co. at the time. The Cougar nameplate was used by Mercury from 1967 to 99 and then again from 1999 to 02. While the brand was most often associated with 2-door coupes like the seller’s car, at various times the Cougar was also marketed as a 4-door sedan, station wagon, and even a hatchback.
Cougar sales dropped by 10,000 units in 1971, yet 63,000 of the cars left the showroom floors that year. That would include 34,000 copies of the “standard” coupe, though another 25,000 XR7’s, the upscale, model, would get sold in coupe form (the rest were drop-tops). We assume that since the Mercury is being offered by a dealer that the long-time former owner passed on or needs to downsize in his/her declining years. The body and vinyl top look good and the paint is okay until you run across places like the trunk lid where the finish has grown quite thin.
The odometer reading is 93,000 miles, so we assume that’s the mileage on the 351 cubic-inch V8 with a 4-barrel carburetor. Unfortunately, a photo of just the air cleaner is the only one provided from under the hood. Except for the armrests and a few other places, the vinyl and plaid interior look to have held up well. If you aren’t looking for perfection, this can be a daily driver kind of car you can use for weekend appearances at Cars & Coffee. The seller has already dropped the price by $1,000.
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Comments
Nice.
Mercury hit their target buyer with the Cougar during this generation than Ford did with the Mustang.
Not bad at all. Love the upholstery. Approach it for what it is, a cruiser. Good observation Russ, this was a prelude to where the Cougar nameplate was headed.
Great looking original car. But I m little confused. I don’t recall a 4dr or station wagon cougar. Can you tell me what years. I m interested in seeing these. Thank you
Wagon was only available in 1977 and 1982. 4 door versions maybe only the Fox body years?
http://www.cougarclub2.org
There were 4 door sedan Cougars in the same years the LTD II was offered – 1977 to 1979. They looked almost the same except the Cougar 4 door had a window in the C pillar and the LTD II did not.
The 4 door was only available in the 1977 model year. There were no 4 doors offered in either the 1978 or 1979 models.
Yep. My friend had a ’77 4 door Cougar. Very basic car that he bought used from a Ford dealership around ’80 or so.
Never saw another one.
The seats in this car are awesome!
Not bad, by a dealer on CL, why show just the top of the air cleaner, and not the engine?
If this is a factory 351 4V Car that adds a lot to the value as most were the 2V variety the 4V were about 50 more HP and had lots of engine upgrades and required premium fuel.
Russ,
This car has the optional decore style interior. The armrests are not separate pieces, they are molded into the door panels. The only way to fix them is to replace the door panels, if you can find ones that are not already cracked like these are. They did offer reproductions although now with the supply chain problems I am not sure if anyone has any in stock.