1970 Mercury Cougar Hardtop Coupe

Although Mercury may not be the first that comes to mind when it comes to muscle cars, they were certainly in the game. Of course trying to grab some of the limelight that the Muscle received was certainly a challenge.

In 1967 Mercury introduced the Cougar. It had the long hood, short deck style, and it was geared to an upper scale buyer. With advertising taking on a European flare, the Cougar was often thought of as more of a gentleman's pony car. That would change in 1969 with the introduction of the hot Eliminator package.

The Cougar Eliminator was offered for just two years, 1969 and 1970. Engine offerings would include the Cobra Jet 351, the solid lifter Boss 302 and the hot 428 Cobra Jet. A wide variety of performance enhancing options was offered and in 1970, several wild colors would be added to the list. This 1970 Eliminator is one of just thirty equipped with the 428 Cobra Jet engine backed by the automatic transmission in Competition Orange, also known as Grabber Orange for its Boss Mustang brother.

The owner of this car attempted to purchase one many years ago. After nearly twenty years of hearing about the one that got away, his wife encouraged him to purchase this car after finding it in a local Buy and Sell paper. After securing the car, it would be nearly twenty years before the restoration would be completed in late 2015.