68 Cougar

[cityofthesouth]

Mods:
-Grille. I never liked Cougars because of the grille so I ditched the hide-away headlight type grille and set it back.
-Bumper. No bolts, lowered the sides from stock.
-Wheels are from a late model Mustang.
-Mirrors based on a 98+ Mustang.
-Door handles are just made up really.
-Trim. Various trim and lights are gone. What you would call the rocker panel trim is removed but I think to get this look some body work would be required to flatten out the rocker panel itself. Shaved drip rail, painted the rest of the remaining trim charcoal.
-Paint, as crazy as this sounds, I based it on Cranberry/grape juice ...... yeah. So far it looks different on every screen I've put it on so it's probably gonna look off to all you too. I wanted it to be different.
-Staggered size Hoosier racing tires for getting real serious.
I'm going to be making several versions of this, including a more nasty flat black road warrior version and then some stripes and paint variations too.

[jaybee]

I love it! I used to have a '68 XR7. Nice cars but the '68 has some of the ugliest side marker lights ever. Never thought of doing that with the grille, it's a good idea. Had a '69 also. I actually liked that better and especially the grill which had horizontal bars and no center bull nose. I've often thought that if I might choose a '69 Cougar over a '69/70 Sports Roof for a project because it isn't as expensive to start with and is distinctly different. Plus Cougars tended to come with more of the "heavy duty" parts like 9" rears and big brakes and had larger wheel wells.

[Zeventy1Z]

that is an awesome rendering! great job!

[cityofthesouth]

I love it! I used to have a '68 XR7. Nice cars but the '68 has some of the ugliest side marker lights ever. Never thought of doing that with the grille, it's a good idea. Had a '69 also. I actually liked that better and especially the grill which had horizontal bars and no center bull nose. I've often thought that if I might choose a '69 Cougar over a '69/70 Sports Roof for a project because it isn't as expensive to start with and is distinctly different. Plus Cougars tended to come with more of the "heavy duty" parts like 9" rears and big brakes and had larger wheel wells.

yeah that's a good point about the wheel wells. I have a 67 Mustang and we all know the earlier stangs had pretty little openings.
Basically, I liked where they were going with the 69s but all the other muscle cars were doing the deep mouths, something that really was a part of being a muscle car or a pony car at that time. To me this is one of the things about the Cougar that made it look like a granny car even if it really wasn't. BTW, some of the versions I'm gonna do next are going to be XR7s.

[cityofthesouth]

that is an awesome rendering! great job!

thanks man.

[fast Ed]

Some cool ideas you've incorporated there. Colour is interesting for sure. I happen to like the OEM grille / headlight door treatment on my 68, but everyone is entitled to an opinion.

I'd have to disagree about the wheelwell opening size vs. a 67/68 Mustang, especially on the rear. The Mustang openings are taller (what I would call full height) compared to the Cougar, and also have a more gradual flare to them, giving you more room on a lowered car.


cheers
Ed N.

[Roger M]

That is an awesome rendering! Some very good ideas incorporated there. However, I agree with Ed on the grill treatment. I own a 67 and i do like the factory grill/ headlight door treatment. I think that frontend combined with the tail lights on these early cougars, are a big part of what makes them unique.

Regardless, that is a "cool cat". Nice work!

[cityofthesouth]

nah i know, if you like Cougars then the grille is going to be one of the things you do like. No other car was really like it and it is in fact something that made it unique. I can certainly agree with that. Thanks for the comments folks. Ed, I think that jaybee was talking about a 69 and to be honest, I don't know if they are larger or not but Mustangs and probably 67/68 Cougars too had smallish openings compaired to other muscle cars, especially MOPARS ... or at least that's how I was understanding what he was saying. :shrug:

[BADVELLE]

I am working on a 67 Cougar for a friend, would you be interested in doing a rendering for me? Let me know, thanks.

Craig
[email protected]

[cityofthesouth]

I am working on a 67 Cougar for a friend, would you be interested in doing a rendering for me? Let me know, thanks.

Craig
[email protected]

I'd love to. If you think it's possible to work from this we can do it on the cheap for the sake of simplicity or I can do something all new too - just hit me with the details. No problem either way.

[BADVELLE]

Cool, I will send you an email in the next couple days and let you know what we are thinking about, look forward to working with you.

[cityofthesouth]

a couple updates, flat black with my XR7 stripe, no lights, open turn sigs for brake venting. The blue one has a little grille detail to incorporate some factory appearance.

[69stang]

All three versions look sharp. I like the blue one best and the subdued stripe looks great.

[cityofthesouth]

ok more ... some grille options and I reworked my stripe a little bit ... very little, out on the tip where the 2 come together.

[Fawkes]

Oh, I really like the light blue one. Very nice.

[cityofthesouth]

Oh, I really like the light blue one. Very nice.

Thanks, glad you like.

[nekkidhillbilly]

dark blue one looks great

[cityofthesouth]

cool, thanks.

[jaybee]

Yes, when I was talking about wheel wells I was referring to the 69/70 body style rather than the 67/68.

[OCcougarboy27]

I'm actually building a 67 Pro-Touring Cougar. 432W small block, TCP coil-over suspension, rack and pinion steering, wilwood brakes, TKO600 trans and more, and I'm seriously stuck on how to make this car look. I know I want 18 inch wheels, something kind of retro and I'm keeping the factory body lines. No scoops or spoilers. Think we could come up with something? Budget is getting tight, Uncle Sam doesn't pay us enough.