1967 Mercury Cougar HardTop Coupe

The SCCA TransAm Series was new in 1966 and from the start, it was obvious to all that the series would be a great opportunity to 'improve the breed' both by developing parts under the strain of racing as well as using racing successes for great advertising. And great advertising, then as now, sells cars.

In 1967 Lincoln Mercury became interested in taking part in this new and exciting series as their hope was to develop Mercury into a high-performance brand. The car would be the Cougar, and the race team charged with developing it into a competitive race car would be Bud Moore Engineering.

Bud Moore had been fielding NASCAR teams and had a proven record at the track, but Trans Am was new to Moore so his first step in preparation for the 1967 season was to build this car and began testing. Famous race car driver Parnelli Jones was assigned the duties of test driver and using this car they created a very potent contender. In fact, the Cougars were leading the championship until the final race where it slipped away.