“This a ’72 Cougar that I bought. Was not what I was looking for, my loss is your gain.” Wow…kind of harsh words for an otherwise fairly straight droptop Mercury. The Cougar is the musclecar that gets no respect, it seems…you hear more about mid-1970s Gran Torinos than you do Cougars. When the 1968-70 bodystyle is overall ignored, hideaway headlights, sequential taillights and all, that’s one thing. But the 1971-73 big cats really didn’t fare well. It was obvious from the redesign that Mercury was ditching performance for personal luxury, but at least it still shared underpinnings with the Mustang. If you compare the early cars with a 1971-73, most people would declare the newer version the loser in the looks department, but I tend to find them endearing…go figure, I like the Seventies model.
But take a look at it for a second and see if you can determine why this Cougar is being thrown to the wind. All I see is a pretty neat driver-quality car that just needs a bit of spit and polish here and there to become something awesome.The Ivy Green Metallic color…at least, that’s what I think that color green is…isn’t the worst shade I’ve seen on a car, and it’s got Magnum 500s…though I’m betting they are a lot smaller than they should be on a vehicle this big. The interior looks solid and should clean up with a good scrubbing. The running gear is predictable: 351 Cleveland and an automatic.
All in all, it’s a neat early 1970s droptop cruiser and would make for a hell of a sunny-day ride. But what would you do with it? We’d just make sure the 351 is happy, find some 15×8/15×10 Magnum 500s for the car, and clean up and repair what needs attention, nothing more. You guys did great with the Cadillac the other day, let’s see if you can come up with something for this unloved Mercury!
eBay Link: 1972 Mercury Cougar convertible
Can’t get wound up on a ’72 Cougar. ’67-’69 were the only body styles I liked.
Having lost both a 71 XR-7 and a triple ginger (same color interior here) 73 XR-7 (i still have the original owners manual) i would make sure she was all buttoned up, running great and then drive her as it’s meant to be.
I miss my girls, while i cannot afford to get another I really hope she goes to a great home.