Inside, a full stripped-out interior includes cage, harnesses, fire suppression system, and racing seats. Around back, a fuel cell feeds the V-8 up front. To remain competitive on the vintage racing circuit, the Cougar wears a special suspension with Koni dampers and upgraded rear leaf-springs. At all four corners, disc brakes were substituted for the original system.
The current owner acquired the car in the January 2009 Russo and Steele auction and has used it occasionally since. The 347ci Ford V8 was built in 2015 by RC Performance in Huntington Beach, California with a Dart Iron Eagle block, JE pistons, AFR aluminum heads, and more as detailed below. Power is sent to the rear wheels through a 4-speed Ford Toploader transmission and 9″ rear end with a limited-slip differential. Other details include a 6-point roll cage, Kirkey racing seat, Safecraft fire suppression system, disc brakes all around, and 15″ Torque Thrust wheels.
http://www.automobilemag.com/news/just-listed-pair-different-cars-mercury/
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1968-mercury-cougar-xr7-4/
My friend and I built this car originally in 1998 for vintage racing with CVAR in Texas. It was originally my street car. I raced it for about 4 years and sold it to Scotty at Cobra Automotive in the North East. It originally had a white vinyl top. Scotty did a lot of work on it and raced and won the Zippo Vintage Grand Prix in his class in I think 2004. It was sold to someone in California and then to someone in Louisiana. It was then sold at Russo Steele auction. I lost track of the car after that. It is a fun car to drive.When I had it, the rear alignment was a little off so it constantly wanted to come around in you. It made for lots of fun and helped me become a better driver but prevented it from being as fast as it could be. Obviously that was corrected by Scotty at Cobra. This car was briefly presented as an authentic, original Trans-Am car, which it is not. I also built another Cougar tribute car in 2004. It was red and silver and had number 15. It looked just like the Bud Moore Trans-Am car. I raced it for a couple of years with CVAR and sold it to someone in California. They raced it for a few years and then tried to sell it as an "Original "Trans Am car for over $75K. This car has some unique things that make it easy to spot. The front headlight buckets have been removed and replaced with Lexan painted black on the inside and the grill is actually chrome pin stripes. Also the car uses a reproduction chin spoiler with the tow eye in the center. Also the hood underside has dozens of holes cut out to lighten it. It also had a Lexan dash but that may have been replaced. These are beautiful cars that you don't see often and can compete with any car in the early Trans-Am series.
ReplyDeletewow, thanks for the history! You're a talented guy!
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