Mercury Cougar, Gen I: The Upscale Predator

Its time for Modelo En Bofus #3, a deeper dive into some details and back stories of some of the slot cars and die-casts we grew up loving!

Ah, the Mercury imprint of FoMoCo! We lost it in 2010, but we remember! Mercury was born in 1938 as Edsel Ford’s idea of a “bridge brand” — something to slot between Ford’s working-class models and Lincoln’s luxury line. For decades it filled that role with cars that were just a little sleeker, a little faster, and a little more stylish than their Ford cousins: think flathead-powered ’49 Mercurys that became customizer legends, or muscle-era Cougars that carried the “Sign of the Cat” into Trans-Am glory. But by the 2000s the lineup had thinned into little more than rebadged Fords, and sales dwindled. The final Mercury — a Grand Marquis — rolled off the line in January 2011. What made Mercury cool, and still makes it fondly remembered, is that for much of its life it was the “insider’s choice”: familiar enough to be approachable, but with an edge of sophistication, and maybe even a trace of mischief, that set it apart.

At Drag City, two of them prowl the muscle car fleet — “Green Eyed Lady” and “Cat’s Eye” — and they’ve carved reputations as fast, dangerous, and maybe a little unpredictable. The choice makes sense. Back in 1967, Mercury introduced the Cougar as Ford’s upscale answer to the runaway Mustang, pitched as “The Sign of the Cat.” It was meant to slot between the Mustang’s brash youthfulness and the Thunderbird’s more genteel luxury. The Cougar made its debut in the fall of 1966 as a 1967 model (because by ‘66 the cutesy “half year” thing had run its course). Built on the Mustang’s platform but with a personality all its own, Mercury’s designers stretched the wheelbase slightly, added hidden headlamps and a more formal roofline, and emphasized comfort and refinement inside. It was billed as the “gentleman’s pony car,” aimed at buyers who wanted muscle-car performance but with a bit more class. Most Cougars were accordingly equipped; they may have had 4 barrels and dual exhausts, but most were small blocks, and it was much more common to find them with power windows and air conditioning than it was with a 390 big block or a 4-speed. However, such speed equipment was available for the Cat, and a handful of really serious buyers forwent the comfort in favor of the GO! Though rare, these high-powered Cougars were sleeker, quieter, a little more refined than a Mustang — but no less willing to bare their claws!

The car’s credibility wasn’t just in styling. Mercury took the Cougar racing almost immediately, entering the SCCA Trans-Am series under Bud Moore with Dan Gurney behind the wheel. Suddenly, the Cougar wasn’t just a showroom darling — it was lining up against Mustangs, Camaros, and Challengers on America’s toughest circuits.

On the street, the Cougar’s range expanded quickly. There was the XR-7 with its European-inspired trim, the GT with improved handling, and ‘68 brought the introduction of the the GT-E package. It wasn’t too uncommon to find the GT-E equipped with the 390, although early in the year a small handful of them managed to escape the factory with a 427 under the hood (that would probably be a half-million dollar car today if you could find one and verify it)! This was quickly replaced with the 428 Cobra jet as the top option, though records indicate fewer than 100 of each of these were built. Even the highest horsepower cars had an understated presence; often seen in “quieter” colors (white, silver, darker metallic hues) and without the “Gee Whiz” stripes and matte black paint that would arrive with the Eliminator for 1969, these “loaded” Cougars were fantastic “sleepers!” They had presence, they had pedigree, and they gave Mercury a car that stood out in the crowded pony car field of the late 1960s.

In Miniature

Its interesting that although the Cougar was never anywhere near the seller that the Mustang, Camaro, or Firebird were, it became a staple of die-cast and slot car collections across multiple generations just like its million-selling competition. What’s perhaps surprising is that probably the best miniaturized version of it – and the first – came from “across the pond.”

Lesney Matchbox (No. 62, 1968)

One of the best Matchbox cars ever made, this one has been a personal favorite of mine since my youngest childhood. Sadly it was already out of production by the time I was old enough to notice it, but a few backyard trades with friends in the neighborhood who had hand-me-downs from their older brothers got me a couple of rough examples as a child before I got old enough to start meeting other collectors at swap meets and picking up the pristine examples I have in my collection today.

The Matchbox version of the Cougar is uncanny in its detail in the days before CNC machining and inkjetting, and every detail is cast into the metal. Lesney made the wise decision-I think-to model the car with the headlamp doors open, giving it a front end that worked day or night. The proportions of this model are almost perfect: from every angle it looks almost exactly like the real car! This was one of several models made with the beautiful 2-piece silver hub and tire wheels, and its appeal was increased by the original release not only having opening doors but also Lesney’s patented “Auto Steer” front wheels, which were loaded by a plastic spring so they would stay straight when the car was moved in a straight line, but the axle would pivot if pressure was placed on the car leaning into the turn making the front wheels appear to steer: a very clever feature from Lesney’s “golden era” that was offered without any price-premium over cars that were not so equipped!

As if the quality of the casting wasn’t enough, the Matchbox version gets more interesting in straddling the line between the “regular wheels” and Superfast eras. Unlike most original MBX that made this x-ition, the Cougar never got a color change; it was only ever available in a single color scheme, but it was a good one: a metallic lime green with red interior, a color one could easily imagine seeing on the real thing! There are some shade differences, with some of the later Superfast-era cars appearing more “yellowish” and thus brighter. These are considered by most collectors to be “production variances” rather than real color changes, although the debate rages on about whether these shade changes were intentional or just the result of the Lesney’s usual “use it up” philosophy of changing primer shades if one ran low while another was in ample supply.

Yet another interesting aspect of the Matchbox model is that it was one of the few cars that got the “honor” of being “blown up” into a 1:43 scale model and released in the “Super Kings” series. Very few cars were issued this way-Lesney’s larger format was reserved mostly for trucks and heavy equipment-but for a brief period in the late ‘60s, it seems that Lesney wanted in on Corgi and Dinky’s share of the larger “upmarket” toy segment, and released a handful of 1:43 scale cars, and the Cougar was one of them! Other than being offered in a beautiful metallic gold rather than lime green, there was very little difference between the castings at the 2 scales, other than the larger car having an even more sophisticated multi-link front steering system that mimicked the construction of a real car.

As a final point of interest about the Matchbox model, there is an extremely rare “pre-production” variation of this car which is better documented than some of Lesney’s “Pro-Pros” from this era, because the move to release the car in metallic lime green appears to have been a late-stage decision that did not stop the first run of box art from portraying the car in the light cream-yellow shade of the pre-pro models. This rare cream-yellow version has been found both with pure white interior and with red interior similar to the “official” releases, and some of the earlier ones have window inserts without the “impressions” of the windshield wipers and rear-view mirrors seen on the production version. Though there are a few of these out there, any variation of this cream-colored pre-pro is amongst the most valuable Matchbox cars in existence, and serious collectors have paid thousands of dollars to own verified examples of it…a testament to the strength and the ensuring appeal of the design!

Hot Wheels Redline (1968)

Along with the Mustang fastback, the Cougar also made Hot Wheel’s original Sweet 16, with an exaggerated rake, bright Spectraflame paint in a dozen colors, and a stance that screamed quarter-mile. Collectors still chase color variations and clean redlines today, and variations there are, because-if you know anything about early Hot Wheels (and I bet you do!)-there are a dozen colors on the US-made version and nearly that many again for the Hong Kong version, and there are all kinds of subtle differences between the US and HK castings that can keep a collector occupied for decades chasing them all down!

Rare and desirable variations include those with a black-painted grille, a black painted roof simulating the vinyl top of the real car (the black roof appears to have been unique to the HK versions), and of course the “usual” differences between the stateside-built and Asian import examples, which include different interior colors, different types of steering wheels, variations in the baseplate construction, and-in some cases-slightly different wheel structures.

In 1970 the original Hot Wheels casting was modified, losing its opening hood for an exposed engine with a blower and gaining a front air dam, rear wing, and wider rear wheel openings to be reissued as the “Nitty Gritty Kitty” in the “Spoilers” series, which are amongst the coolest of all the early Hot Wheels. Its one of the more memorable names from that series too, and fits the Cougar’s feline identity to a “T.”

Aurora THUNDERJETS!

Don’t worry friends, we’re there, because, yes: the Cougar was also released as an Aurora Thunderjet, and had several lives-befitting a cat-all the way through the “Tuff Ones” era in more color schemes that you can count! In HO slot car form, the Cougar translated surprisingly well. The grille gave it a menacing, big-cat face, and its long-hood/short-deck balance worked on the strip.

I’ve managed to acquire 1 really nice example in blue from the original era, and a second modified junker that started life as a Tuff One before being modified by a previous owner from a race car to a street car, as it appears today. There are some very rare variations on this theme as well, with some collectors having paid over $1000 for the black version in mint condition.

Mattel: Modern Era

Retro reissues and premium “Car Culture” lines have kept the Cougar alive for new generations. Some castings lean on nostalgia, others sharpen the details that Redlines left fuzzy. This new casting-which is far more detailed than the original Hot Wheels (although, I would argue, still not up to snuff of the original Lesney Matchbox!) has been released as both a Hot Wheels and a MBX. From my own collection, I think the best Hot Wheels version is the “Hot Wheels Garage” model released in a beautiful silver with white side panels and ghost flames with redline “Real Rider” tires, while the nicest Matchbox version is likely the “Lesney Edition” released in 2010 in orange with spinner wheels and narrow whitewalls! This is one that your humble blogger sadly does not have, but I’m working on it! Under the Hot Wheels imprint, the number of releases of this new casting are too numerous to even catalog, but its worth mentioning that the very first release of the car was issued in metallic lime green! Coincidence? I think not! More recently a racing version of this casting with flared fenders and wider tires has also been seen in nearly countless color variations, some of which are extremely cool!

Auto World Thunderjet Reissue (2000s)

A direct revival of the Aurora mold, but with sharper detail and cleaner finishes: it was a way to bring the Cougar back onto basement tracks with a modern polish while keeping the vintage stance intact. “Street” versions include the 2 in my collection, both released as magazine “promos” (the red one for Popular Mechanics and the green one for Hot Rod), and one of the rare early “pre-trac-mag” releases in baby blue I am still after to this day! In addition to the street versions, AW also released a couple of really cool racing versions in their Trans-Am series which have a place in my 12-car Trans Am fleet, including the red, white, and silver version bearing number 98, which looks just like Dan Gurney’s original 1967 car…and what could be cooler than that when you’re running a vintage-style Trans Am race?!

Of course, that’s the whole point of Drag City: the toy and the legend overlap! The Matchbox version looks like the kind of stock street Cougar you’d see parked in Wardglenn on a Saturday night. The Redline casting? That’s Cat’s Eye in its early days, prowling the strip with all flash and fury. The Thunderjet is pure Green Eyed Lady, its grille glowing under the lights of the Drag-O-Way Motel.

Stories circulate: one finish where Cat’s Eye clawed back from half a second down to win by a nose, or the night Green Eyed Lady tangled with a Camaro and came out with scars but still on the podium. The Cougar carries that aura — part elegance, part menace — and it fits Drag City perfectly.

From Spectraflame chrome to basement drag strips to a modern revival, the Cougar has prowled every corner of the die-cast and slot car jungle. And here at my track, today’s Auto World Ultra-G homages keep proving why this cat still hunts!