Mercury Cougar Eliminator

Cougar Eliminator at a glance

Every Eliminator is a two-door hardtop of the first Cougar generation. In our catalogue it sits as a version of the Mercury Cougar, whose current hub page covers the front-drive coupé of 1999–2002.

How the Cougar got its claws (1967–1968)

Mercury launched the Cougar for the 1967 model year as a more expensive relative of the Ford Mustang. It shared the Mustang's chassis but had a wheelbase three inches longer and its own body. The base car listed at US$2,854 in 1967, US$284 more than the comparable Mustang, while a fully optioned XR-7 came to about US$4,500, roughly the price of a basic Thunderbird. It won Motor Trend's 1967 Car of the Year award, which no other Mercury ever received.

Buyers took to it at once. Mercury built 150,893 Cougars in the first year, 113,720 in 1968, 100,069 in 1969 and 72,343 in 1970. The early engines ran from a 289 V8 with 149 kW (200 hp) to the GT's 390 "Marauder" with 239 kW (320 hp).

The Cougar also went racing. In the 1967 Trans-Am season Bud Moore ran factory-backed cars for Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Peter Revson, David Pearson and Ed Leslie. Mercury lost the manufacturers' title to Ford by just two points.

For 1968 Mercury added the GT-E above the GT. It carried a 427 V8 with 291 kW (390 hp) and came only with a three-speed automatic at first. From 1 April 1968 the 428 Cobra Jet with Ram Air, rated at 250 kW (335 hp), replaced the 427, and a four-speed manual became available with it. Only 394 GT-Es were built: 357 with the 427 and 37 with the 428 CJ. The same year Shelby Automotive converted 619 cars into the XR7-G.

The Eliminator package of 1969

The 1969 Cougar received a new, longer body, and a convertible joined the range. Halfway through the model year, on 1 April 1969, the Eliminator took over from the GT as the performance Cougar. It was offered on the standard hardtop only.

The package was aimed at the street and the drag strip. According to Wikipedia and Old Cars Weekly, it included:

• a front air dam and a rear spoiler;
• a blacked-out grille and a hood scoop;
• argent styled steel wheels and side stripes;
• heavy-duty suspension and a performance rear axle;
• a rally clock and a tachometer.

With the 428 Cobra Jet the car also got hood pins and a competition handling package. Buyers of the Super Cobra Jet had to take the Drag Pak option with 3.91:1 or 4.30:1 gears and an engine oil cooler. In 1969 the paint palette was short: white, bright blue metallic, competition orange and bright yellow.

Two Boss 429 Cougars appear in the record too. Ford listed the engine as an Eliminator option in its sales material but never sold one to the public; the two hardtops were built as factory drag cars.

Engines: from 351 to Boss 302

The 428 Cobra Jet had the most torque and suited drag racing. Old Cars Weekly says a 428 car could run the quarter mile in about 14.1 seconds and pass 100 mph before the line straight off the showroom floor. The Boss 302 was a different kind of engine: a small-block with solid lifters and canted-valve heads, developed for Trans-Am homologation in the Mustang. On paper it matched the 351 Windsor at 216 kW.

Street Muscle quotes 522 Nm (385 lb-ft) of torque for the 1969 351 Windsor four-barrel and 597 Nm (440 lb-ft) for the 1970 Cobra Jet. Wikipedia gives no torque figures for these engines.

The 1970 Eliminator

The 1970 Cougar received a facelift with a split grille, wide vertical slots and a centre extension of the bonnet. On the Eliminator, the hood scoop was now finished in black. The Cleveland 351 with a four-barrel carburettor became the standard engine, the 390 was dropped, and the 428 Cobra Jet and the Boss 302 stayed on the list.

The colour range grew to Competition Orange, Competition Yellow, Competition Blue, Competition Gold, Competition Green and Pastel Blue. A handful of cars received special paint orders. Inside, the designer Pauline Trigère styled an optional houndstooth package for the 1970 Cougar range.

Mercury built 2,268 Eliminators in 1970; Street Muscle gives 2,267, a difference of one car. By our calculation the Eliminator made up about 2.2 % of all Cougars in 1969 and 3.1 % in 1970. Hertz also took Eliminators for its "Rent-A-Racer" programme: 101 cars in 1969 and 100 in 1970, all with the 351 four-barrel engine, the FMX automatic and an electric sunroof.

The end of the Eliminator

The second-generation Cougar of 1971 was larger, with a wheelbase of 2,847 mm (112.1 in) and a wider front track for big-block engines. The Eliminator name was dropped and the Boss 302 and the 428 went with it. The new top engine was the 429 Cobra Jet with 276 kW (370 hp, gross), which lasted only that one year.

Net ratings arrived for 1972, and the 351 Cobra Jet was then listed at 195 kW (262 hp). The convertible lasted until 1973, and a light blue and white 1973 XR-7 was the last convertible Ford Motor Company assembled for more than a decade.

Cougar Eliminator buying guide

An Eliminator is a rare car, and many Cougars have been dressed up to look like one. These facts help to check a car before buying:

• Body style: factory Eliminators are hardtops on the standard Cougar. A convertible or an XR-7 with Eliminator stripes is a tribute car.
• Date: the package started on 1 April 1969, so a 1969 car built before that date cannot be an original Eliminator.
• Engine: the Boss 302 was fitted only to Eliminators, and the 390 only in 1969. A 1970 car with a 390 is not original.
• Colour: the 1969 cars came in four colours, the 1970 cars in six main ones, plus a few special orders.
• Hertz cars: the 201 Rent-A-Racer Eliminators had the 351, the FMX automatic and an electric sunroof, so a car sold as an ex-Hertz Eliminator should show exactly that specification.
• 1970 detail: all 1970 Cougars had the federally required locking steering column, and the Eliminator had a black hood scoop.

Our Mercury catalogue lists the Cougar Eliminator with its generations and versions.

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