It’s amazing what a couple of months of being stuck at home can do when you have a car that needs work, you have the tools to get some stuff done, and you have a vision. In the case of the Dirty Cougar, the $400 1987 Mercury Cougar LS that we initially picked up with the goal of killing at King of the Heap a while ago, once our buddy Chris got full control of the Mercury he started to envision a lot of Fox-body speed secrets crammed into this car. I was all about it, but while I couldn’t get completely excited about the Mercury, he did and over the COVID-19 time at home, he’s been hard at work. The car has seen quite a bit of attention: suspension parts, engine tweaks, and an exhaust that made the stock 302 actually sound really freaking good.

Now, don’t get twisted, the Cougar is now right about equal to a stock 5.0 Mustang in the power department, which isn’t all that radical in the long run. But with the suspension tweaks, the engine noise and the car’s new willingness to actually move with a purpose, it’s actually fun and it’s a damn sight better than it would be stock or in it’s barely-revived state. If it didn’t look like the car took a punch from Mike Tyson circa 1990, I’d be all about it. But what’s cooler than seeing this Mercury living a great life after nearly meeting the crusher is seeing how excited that Chris gets working on it. The Cougar’s story is continuing on, and is only going to get better…like maybe a 351 swap better, if he has his way. But for now, check out how far the car that was left for dead for a decade has come!

LANGUAGE WARNING: There’s a bit of it. Nothing radical, just a couple of vets talking about cars, but it’s a couple of vets talking. Might want to be careful around the kids.