Behind the Curtain: How the 1967 Mercury Cougar Was Born In Ford's Styling Studios

The development of the Mercury Cougar, internally codenamed T-7 (the Mustang was T-5), commenced in 1963, almost a year before Mustang’s debut in April 1964. This was long before the success of the Mustang was assured. In the early 1960s, in the aftermath of the marketing debacle of the Edsel and its end in 1960, management at the Ford Motor Company was still risk-averse. So while a program was in place for a Mercury companion to the Mustang’s planned refresh in 1967, the T-7 program moved along slowly, gaining momentum after the unprecedented success of the Mustang was known by the fall of 1964.

In the spring of 2018, Muscle Car Review was able to speak with John Aiken, now long retired, who helped us identify the photos supplied by the Ford Archives. He had this to say in looking back at the project, which started 53 years ago in Dearborn:

“After graduating from Art Center College of Design on a Ford scholarship in 1959, I began work at the Ford Design Center in Dearborn, Michigan, in the Lincoln-Mercury division. My first production programs were as chief designer of the 1966 Mercury Comet and the 1966 Lincoln Continental in 1963. Next, in 1964, came a manager’s position on the T-7 program. Things happened fast and furious with occasional overnights and continuous 12-hour days as teams of designers, clay modelers, and studio engineers competed to create the best Cougar design.”

What started as a Mercury version of Ford’s Mustang evolved over time. The Ford Motor Company was not eager to have a direct competitor to the Mustang. Rather, it wanted a more luxuriously trimmed Mustang with European flair, one not offered with a six-cylinder engine, and one that could be positioned in the market between the smaller, sporty Mustang and the Thunderbird.

However, that didn’t mean Cougar’s product planners weren’t thinking about other models. First and foremost was a convertible model, especially considering that 15 percent of Mustang’s early sales were ragtops. Development photos from the period show that up to mid-1965, a convertible model was seriously considered. But to keep the program for the first-generation Cougar within budget, the convertible would have to wait until the Cougar proved itself in the marketplace. The convertible wouldn’t appear until the launch of the Cougar’s extensively restyled 1969 model.

Even more interesting was that some consideration was given to a four-door version of the first-generation model, a version not seriously considered in the Mustang’s initial lineup (despite the photos of a clay model mockup of a boxy, Falcon-esque four-door Mustang from 1964 that have surfaced over the years). This is not surprising given that as the development of the Cougar moved forward, the Ford Motor Company was clearly positioning it between the Mustang and Thunderbird. But again, because of the budget, the four-door Cougar proposal died. Unlike the convertible, it appears that no four-door clay model proposals were produced, just a fullsize rendering, which can be seen behind the fullsize clay model proposal for the convertible dated January 22, 1965, in our lead photo.

Overall, the Mercury Cougar was an unqualified sales success. While its numbers never approached those of the Mustang, due in part to Mercury’s much smaller dealer base, the 150,893 sales in the debut year far exceeded Mercury’s expectations. And 47 percent of those buyers had no trade-in. That it was named Motor Trend’s Car of the Year for 1967, eclipsing Chevrolet’s Camaro debut, certainly didn’t hurt.

With the midyear introduction of the even more luxurious XR-7 model, with a woodgrain dash and European-inspired toggle switches, Mercury was able to take the Cougar more upmarket, further separating it from the Mustang and pushing it closer to the Thunderbird. It was so successful in its market positioning that a May 1967 Car and Driver cover story compared the XR-7 to a much more expensive Jaguar sedan.

Thanks to this collection of images provided by the Ford Archives, we can follow the development of the Mercury Cougar from its modest beginnings to its introduction in the fall of 1966, into an increasingly competitive ponycar marketplace that included Chevrolet’s Camaro, followed six months later by Pontiac’s Firebird, and in 1968 with AMC’s Javelin. Those were great times.

 

 

 

Two first-generation Mercury Cougars that never were: a clay mockup of a convertible version and a sketch of a four-door model.

 

 

One of the first Cougar development photos, dated May 14, 1964, showed evolution from the first-generation Mustang introduced just a month before. An early variation of what would become the “electric razor” front grille makes its appearance here.

 

 

This version of the T-7 proposal from the John Aiken Lincoln-Mercury Advanced Styling Studio (LMASS), shows the front grille now split, a theme that would carry through to the production version.

 

 

By the time of this proposal, February 11, 1965, the front grille treatment of the production Cougar was pretty much finalized, as shown in this front view of the T-7 of the LMASS version.

 

 

The driver-side view of the LMASS version shows that the seating package was starting to evolve. The nonfunctional vents on the front fender and the “Cougar” lettering on the rear fender would not make it to production.

 

 

Here is a rear view of the of the LMASS version of the T-7 as it evolved. The easiest way to tell this car from the FCSPS version is the C-pillar treatment. Here, the electric-razor-grille theme from the front grille hasn’t yet worked its way to the rear.

 

 

From what looks to be a second proposal, this one coming out of the FCSPS and also dated February 11, 1965, it appears that several taillamp treatments were being considered.

 

 

From this February 11, 1965, photo we see the first of two proposals, this one a convertible, coming out of the LMASS helmed by John Aiken. While the convertible was stillborn because of budget constraints, the sculpting of the side profile and the proportions were close to the production version.

 

 

Judging by the black roof and the photo sequence number, it’s likely that this was the front grille treatment for the car in the previous photo. The LMASS had not yet adopted the electric razor grille theme, and at this point it seems that alternatives were still being considered.

 

 

The profile view of the FCSPS proposal shows the T-7’s basic proportions (especially the greenhouse) that would carry through to the production Cougar. The C-pillar would be further refined in the coming weeks.

 

 

Just a week after the competition between the two design teams had concluded, the team was refining the rear window and starting to develop the split taillamps that would carry through to the production Cougar.

 

 

Less than two months later, the rear bumper and taillamp lenses were further refined, but the electric razor theme of the front grille still hadn’t migrated to the rear. The C-pillar treatment was nearly production-ready.

 

 

A little more than two years prior to the start of production, the design for the 1967 Cougar’s exterior was pretty much locked down. Complaints from Jaguar did force one change, to the cat emblem in the front.

 

 

From this point on, only minor items, such as trim, would change, because tooling needed to be finalized many months before the start of production in the summer of 1966.

 

 

While the stylists were refining the exterior, the interior designers were hard at work on the instrument panel that would make the Cougar upscale and distinct from Ford’s Mustang.

 

 

By August 1965, less than a year from Job One, the interior designers were already looking at ways to make the instrument panel look more European. This is the first time their design employed toggle switches.

 

 

By October 1965, plans were obviously well under way for the midyear XR-7 model. This view, dated October 10, 1965, shows a near-final version of what would become the instrument panel for the XR-7. Note the “Lido” inscription on the steering wheel hub, a nod to Ford president Lee Iacocca.

 

 

This is an unusual photo of an interior buck given that it is dated August 8, 1966. By this time pilot production for the 1967 Mercury Cougar had started, and cars were already on their way to dealerships across the USA. Is this showing trim variations for the Decor Group for the 1968 model year?

 

 

Many months before the 1967 Mercury Cougar would appear in showrooms in the fall of 1966, preproduction cars were photographed for collateral marketing materials like showroom brochures. Many of these photos were taken in studios in the Detroit area where these preproduction cars could be concealed from the public.

 

SOURCE: MUSCLE CAR REVIEW

 

AUTHOR: Richard Truesdell