Sporty Luxury

Believe it or not, Mercury really did continue to build Cougars after the 1970 model year, but finding information on post-’70 models would have you believe otherwise. These later versions are often treated like that crazy set of cousins we all have; they’re related to you, but you just don’t want to acknowledge it.

While the sportier first-generation Cougar models of 1967-’70 grab most of the attention wherever these cars are shown, oddly enough, the larger models produced from 1971 to 1979 were the bigger sellers. Americans have preferred larger cars bordering on the luxurious, and when a dose of sportiness is added to the mix, they become highly desirable. Mercury capitalized on that winning formula and took it to the extreme. In the end, the 1971-’79 models became the best-selling Cougars of all time, with the 1978 model year leading the way with 213,270 cars produced.

During this nine-year period, 995,862 Cougars were built, versus the 437,025 Cougars