Just about every gearhead out there looks back fondly at their high school ride. Wile some of you may still have your first car, most everyone (myself included) sold their teenage chariot long ago. For me, it’s complicated: I had no less than four cars between my junior and senior years of high school. The first was a 1985 Honda Civic “Wagon/Van” thing that so bad it never made it to the road, and the second was a rusty 1964 Buick Skylark that was powered (and I use the term loosely) by a 225 “Fireball” V6 whose prime was left in 1967 or so. Numbers three and four were nearly identical 1987 Mercury Cougar XR-7’s. The story of their acquisition is a funny one: I had family who worked at a local dealership that had those “PUSH IT! PULL IT! TOW IT FOR GUARANTEED TRADE!!!!” promotions all the time, and their small wholesale lot overflowed with project fodder. They let employees snag cars prior to shipping them to the auction, and for some strange reason, about 80% of these cars were non-Mustang Ford Fox-chassis cars in various states of functionality. They always had Thunderbirds, Mark VII’s, LTD’s, and the most common was their selection of Cougars.

When my Buick’s gas tank sprung a leak, I couldn’t source a new one locally, so off I went to peruse that wholesale lot. For $250, I picked up a very ratty 1987 XR-7 with a 5.0/AOD. When it’s transmission grenaded  a few months later, another $250 got me another 1987 XR-7 and used the first one for parts! Another family member even picked up a 1986 Cougar LS with a 5.0, which was ultra clean and did the best pegleg burnouts known to man with it’s tiny 14″ whitewalls. Even though I had big plans for it, I sold that second Cougar right after graduation in order to get something more reliable to ferry me to college. I wish I didn’t; I miss that car all the time.

This is the only picture I have left of either one of my XR-7’s; this being the 2nd one. It was a 1987, so that meant it got the non-H.O. 5.0 V8 with 150hp, a Ford AOD, Mustang 10-hole wheels, a 7.5″ Traction-Lok rear end, heavy duty suspension, and a center console with sport buckets. I also added a Dynomax cat-back exhaust, a K&N air filter, and a booming Pioneer stereo with subwoofers because it was the late 1990’s. It had 266k miles on it and ran great, but it was glacially slow. That said, I would LOVE to get my hands on another one.

Let’s back up a little bit. Also on that lot when I purchased Cougar #1 was a 1984 Cougar XR-7 Turbo. From 1984-1986, they stuffed the 2.3L Turbo and 5-speed from the nearly identical Thunderbird Turbo Coupe and Mustang SVO in these. I passed on it at the time because it only had four cylinders, and I didn’t know how to drive a manual transmission car yet. (For shame, I know). That Cougar that could have been always haunted me. In fact, I never saw another XR-7 Turbo for sale since that moment back in 1998 when I made that decision.

Until now.

I spotted this very rare 1986 model during my regular searches for vehicles I shouldn’t be looking at. It’s relatively clean, and likely one of the only ones left in existence. Let’s take a closer look!

This, folks, is the 1986 Mercury Cougar XR-7 in all its 1980’s performance car glory. Like my 1987 pictured above, it has the Mustang’s 10-hole wheels, but there are some differences between the two cars. First, it has the quad sealed beam headlights seen on almost all of the contemporary Ford Fox cars. This one’s also sporting fog lamps and mudflaps, which are things that no “driver’s car” from the time would be caught dead without. Aside from the awkward love-it-or-hate-it rear quarter window and roof treatment, it’s very similar to the platform-mate Thunderbird. The seller indicates that the paint has some imperfections and fading, and includes some extra parts in on the deal.

These cars got special XR-7 badging and trim, Cougar-specific center caps, and gray gradient lower stripes, because this stuff meant PERFORMANCE in the mid-80’s.

Rear-end styling is also very 1980’s, with some leftover ghost-of-the-bustleback styling on the trunklid. It’s sort of like the early 1960’s cars and how the tail fins got smaller and smaller every year. By 1987, this feature would be (thankfully) gone. Note the all-important TURBO badge, giving it some serious street cred for the time.

Underneath, this example is surprisingly clean and rust free. It still appears to even have the old pellet-style converter. Being a turbo car from the 1980’s, putting a less restrictive downpipe and exhaust system on the car would likely do wonders for driveability and power. They weighed in right around 3000 lbs, and they were competent handling cars for the time. Another thing: Although these had the smaller 7.5″ differential, they did receive the same quad shock setup the Mustang GT’s had at the time. An easy upgrade for these would be the 8.5″ rear disc brake rear axle from either a 1987-88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe or a Lincoln Mark VII LSC. If you’re doing the LSC swap, you might as well snag the front brakes/hubs and do the 5 lug conversion while you’re at it!

Inside, you get one of the more comfortable interiors ever bolted into a 1980’s ride. The seats are comfortable and supportive, the steering wheel is strange looking yet sporty, and it has an easy to read analog gauge layout as opposed to the hybrid digital/analog dash in the base cars. Being a XR-7 Turbo, you also were given the option of rowing your own via a T-5 manual transmission, although an automatic was available. It isn’t a bad place to hang out, even by today’s standards, and it was a nicer place to park your rear than the interiors of the G-Body GM cars from across town.

While the ad strangely doesn’t show any engine pics, this is what’s likely under that hood. It’s a 2.3L “Lima” 4-cylinder sporting multi-port fuel injection and a turbo. Like the 1984-85 Grand National and the early Turbo Mopars, this is a non-intercooled “hot air” car. It was good for 145hp and 180lb ft of torque in stock form. While not a barn burner by any means, these were easily modded for a lot more power. The owner of this car swapped the original mill out for one out of a 1984 model with a healthy cam and other mods, and it’s said to run well.

The asking price on this uncommon cat is $3500, which isn’t too bad considering that it’s likely one of the only ones left in existence. Ford chrurned out approximately 6,504 of these for the 1986 model year, and most of them are long gone. I see this as an interesting cruiser or conversation piece, or even a classic daily driver. You could even get wild and swap in a current 2.3L Ecoboost drivetrain! It’s certainly a lot cheaper than the last Fox Cougar I talked to you about. I’m betting this one is more fun as well.

If you want to get your boosted Cougar on, check out the original ad HERE. Somebody snag it before I do!

And you can read the ad text below!

1986 Mercury Cougar XR-7, 2.3 turbo, original paint, 5-speed, 3.73 traction lock rear, and more. Odometer shows 129,708 miles – not much for these venerable engines. Virtually rust free with the exception for a small area behind the rear wheel I touched up 16 years ago (see picture). Since it’s original paint there is no hidden damage or rust!

Upgrades include “Ranger” roller cam and followers, Ric Gillis manual boost valve set to 15PSI, 8AU processor and larger VAM from the 87-88 turbo coupes, advanced cam timing gear.

History – I bought this car in 2002 when noticing how rust free it was for a Fox body. It has been stored since then. I owned a 1984 XR-7 at that time that was my first new car, but had severe rust from everyday use in PA. My plan was to swap my drive train into the nicer 86 car. Well 16 years later it is finally done. I have had four of these 84-86 Turbo Coups and XR-7’s and this is by far the best preserved one. Complete rebuilt T-5 transmission and all new seals in the engine. The car runs and drives great, no smoke, taps, knocks, or leaks. It has a scrape on the driver side (see picture), but it needs paint anyway as the paint on the hood, roof, and trunk is fading. I have an extra driver side fender in excellent condition and a good driver door available plus plenty of other parts. Everything works except the A/C, but it’s all there. The interior is beautiful. Plenty of pictures. Clean title.

Tire kickers and low ballers welcome. Trades considered, muscle cars, Grand Nationals (and parts) preferred. Must send a pictures.

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