Mercury's Mustang: The Gen 1 Cougar

The cat was finally let out of the bag in early 1966, with a well-researched publicity campaign telling the world of Lincoln-Mercury's plans to debut an upscale version of Ford's wildly successful Mustang.

By the time the buying public got the see new Cougar in the flesh in late 1966, it was clear that Ford had another hit on its hands: Initial first year launch figures of 85,000 were too low, almost by half. When it was all over, public response was so great that the car had sold in excess of 150,000 and found itself well-placed among new product introductions for the 1966 model year.

And why not? The Cougar's drawing card was its looks. The Mustang had been on the scene for a few years, selling well. Because the Mustang was considered the root of the idea, there was plenty about the Mustang beneath the Cougar, but the buyers were seeing from the outside in. Motor Trend lauded the cat as "...certainly one of the prettier cars of the coming year." That same magazine selected the Cougar as "Car of the Year" for 196," and for good reason.

This was the image the designers had been looking for. In the first marketing campaigns, the Cougar was called "Untamed Elegance," sending the message that strikes a responsive chord that this car is different. Those differences were stunning and remain an integral part of automotive history to this day.

From the unveiling of the car until today, one of the most distinguishing features of the earlier-model Cougars is the "hideaway" headlights. Run on a vacuum-actuating operation, the headlights tuck away to yield a continuation of the grille, itself a strong style point. This unique treatment helped blend the style throughout the whole car, taking a necessary evil (headlights) and making it part of the design concept. The pattern repeats to the rear, where sequential taillights were the next new thing.

The Cougar sold like ice cream on a hot summer say.