It’s not often we get a Cohort submission of this sort, but AGuyInVancouver manage to spot and capture two Cougars in almost the same color, both in good shape, one pre-downsizing and the other, after. The Cougar never reached the Thunderbird’s insane proportions, and as such, the ’77-’79 models didn’t embody the same perceived restraint as its Ford twin, but there was still a lot of room to make these personal coupes smaller and lighter. As a result, the upcoming models would be based on the Fox, but those cars are not remembered fondly today.
I can’t say I can understand what the controversy is all about as far as the T-bird is concerned, but in the case of the Cougar, I get it; the 77-79 at the top of the page has a nice hardtop look that the T-bird, with its opera window in the B-pillar, lacked. It’s an attractive car, and I never thought I’d hear myself say such a thing. Equally surprising to everyone else is that I can’t look at this 1980ish successor with much scorn at all. I’m sure that statement will evoke enough of that emotion to last our readers quite some time; it’s okay, I can handle it.
But really, am I that insane for thinking this way? It was, after all, a series of very deliberate choices and actions which brought this car into being, so I can’t be the only person who understands replacing one rolling casket with a slightly smaller one. It’s not that I think ol’ Bigbutt here is pretty, but it wasn’t exactly taking the place of a car like any of those in Don Andreina’s piece earlier today and I can’t help but like the ur-Fox chassis cars in any form. Even with all the extended tail and hilarious roof, my eyes fixate on the front and center section. Most of you therefore see an abomination, where I just see a dressed up Fairmont. Speaking of dressed up, that Cavalier clone to the left of the Mercury actually looks quite fetching; perhaps I really am losing it.
I can sense some resentment over my viewpoint, so here’s the ol’ beauty again. I could definitely see rolling around in this on a daily basis, slowly turning corners with a single finger on the wheel. How the Cougar made the leap to this Garfield-inspired fat cat is beyond me, but like that comic (which coincidentally debuted in 1978), it was immensely popular, selling roughly 600,000 units over three years, many with the “sporty” XR7 package. The smaller 1980-82? Just about 210,000 units over the same period–a disaster, in other words. Nevertheless, it’s the more hated car among these two which is in better shape, so someone clearly loved theirs (besides the Cougar and Sunbird below, note the Landcruiser and VW in the background; lucky shot!). So let’s hear it CC; can anyone else admit to liking the cut down Cougar below? Inquiring minds want to know.
Related reading:
Cohort Capsule: Mercury Cougar Sedan – Bob Barker Reminds You To Spay And Neuter
Car Lot Classic: 1980 Mercury Cougar XR-7 – That Very Common Dishonest Car – Yours For $2995; Hurry!
Curbside Classic: 1980 Ford Thunderbird – The Fabulous FUBAR Edition
Curbside Capsule: 1981 Mercury Cougar XR7 – Mercury Throws a Cutlass at the Cougar
I actually DO like the fox-body T-Birds, but the Cougar just didn’t seem to translate as well…
I’m no fan of the old Torino-based cars. While they may have a baroque appeal to them, they are so unsatisfying to drive. They were popular at the time as WWII generation buyers were enjoying a bit of their beloved isolation-style road floaters, and satisfying their need to downsize as their nests emptied. The post muscle car market also enjoyed how these cars were different. Yet, their appeal is completely lost on me. It is hard for me to see around the incredible waste of weight, road handling, and maneuverability in these cars with the park bench bumpers.
So when the Fox Cougar appeared, it was a vast improvement. Unlike the Torino era, the Fox era enjoyed some of the first computer engineering. This resulted in a vehicle as roomy as the Torino generation, but without the wasted resources and fuel. They are simply better cars.
What didn’t work was trying to put a baroque styling on it. Ford really couldn’t figure out when to quit gluing plastic ornamentation on these cars. Without the exaggerated long hood, massive doors and acreage of floating sheet metal of the Torino era, Ford tried to put everything it believed sold the previous generation, on the much smaller Fox generation. The Brougham Age was over for the 1980s, but no one told Ford. Consequently, these Fox body cars look like high school girls wearing medieval costumes.
If you liked the fake elegance of this kind of car, then you would have preferred it on a Torino bodied vehicle. If you were focused on the actual car, then you would have preferred the Fox bodied vehicle.
I’m a big Fox fan.
I like em both – but those tan rims with the tan insert on the trunk are the cat’s pajamas. (pun intended)
I have a strange love for the ’74-’76 Cougars that are basically tarted-up Ford Gran Torinos. Something must be wrong with me.
Ugh, I like the ’77-’79 Cougar, and nearly bought one in the early ’80s. But, I’ve never liked that awful orangy-tan color trim, especially the wheels.
I’ve never seen that trim color on the poor selling ’80-’82 cars. It only makes a bad car worse.
It is funny how the context of time works. When the ’80 Cougar and T-Bird arrived, I saw elements I liked, but basically hated the package. I’m sure that younger eyes than mine see this like Perry does, a lot of gingerbread on a Fairmont – no worse than any other 1980 car if you didn’t like cars of the era. But, the details on the 1st gen Fox Cougar just didn’t cut it back in its time.
I think one of the serious design flaws of the downsized model is that the door is too small in proportion to the rest of the body. I am sure they started with the center part of a fox mustang and started stretching everything away from the doors. I try to like it but find that I cannot. Fairmont coupe translates better.
The 77-79s I don’t particularly mind at all, I appreciate the downsized Cougar XR-7s as, like the Thunderbird, they made good contrasts to their much improved aero successors. Otherwise I just see a Fairmont Futura with a gigantic coach roof grafted on, BUT I like the Futura so….
The real Cougars from these two generations that deserve all the scorn they get are the non-XR-7 model lineups. It was one thing to puff the originally compactish sportyish 67 Cougar up to an intermediate personal luxury car, since that wasn’t exactly a leap from it’s original mission, but turning it into an across the board intermediate placeholder was pure dilution of the name.
No.
God no.
lol I understand
And that goes for its porky baroque predecessor too. Sorry.
Its awful I’m glad I never see these on the road it must have taken a special kind of vision impairment to buy one new. The vinyl top is hideous.
I think the dislike for the downsize is stronger if you were around when they came out. The shrinking of the personal luxury cars while still using the same styling cues was like dressing a bunch of 8th graders in NFL uniforms and telling you this was your team this year..
I like it better than the concurrent Thunderbird, but that isn’t saying much. On another note, look at all the CC’s in the Fox Cougar photos!
Late 80’s Sunbird
Pair of later Beetles
70’s F150
Second gen Escort
70-72 Monte Carlo
Early 80’s Land Cruiser
There must have been a meet. Did you notice the cones? Maybe they were marking reserved stalls for cars yet to arrive.
What strikes me is that all the classics are clean and in nice shape.
It’s a great thing to be able to like or dislike something without caring if you are alone or not. I like this except that from driving a LTC I know the opera window represents a huge blind spot. I bought those little parabolic mirrors to fix that.
Gotta say though that I like the yellow bomb two spots over better than anything else on the page. YMMV and that’s ok. I would probably still be driving something that looked like that if it weren’t for the hellish Houston area summers.
This is the automotive equivalent of the Mullet…. all business up front, party in the back lol
What a horrible party!
The 77 to 79 Cougar LOOKS better than the 80 to 82 because the designers tried to transfer all the “old” design elements onto the newer car and as a consequence the newer car looks weighed down under the “gingerbread”. I like the 80 to 82 T bird, but only in it’s plainest iterations…no vinyl top, no oversized “rub” stripes.
The model that followed the 80 to 82? I still prefer the T bird as the Cougar’s oddly shaped “C” pillar detracts from the design.
Would love to own a 80 to 86 T bird…but only with a V8.
The ’77-79 had one of the best front ends of any car of the era. The ’80- is just a disaster from all angles. Designed with a chisel and glue gun.
Agreed. The ’77 to ’79 may have had a high kitsch factor, with as many Mark IV-Mark V cues as they could fit onto the car, but at least it was (in my opinion) well executed. The matching of the rims to the roof to the “hump” trim is actually clever, in my opinion. Overweight and underperforming? Absolutely. Low on technology and a pure waste of space? Yep. But I still like the way they look.
The “downsized” model, on the other hand? Blech. They did try to fit all the same broughamy fitments on there, but it just doesn’t work on the downsized body. It looks like a kid wearing his older siblings’ cast-off dress clothes. The execution on that vinyl half-roof is particularly horrible, and those are some of the fakest fake wire hubcaps I’ve ever seen this side of a wal-mart.
The Fox platform worked well as a Fairmont. It worked well as a Mustang. Its “aero” variants worked well as a T-bird, and two Lincolns, and okay as a Cougar. It did *not* work well as a mini-brougham.
Yeah I agree, the front end in particular was pretty attractive on the 77-79s, whereas I felt the 74-76s looked like the designers best tried adapting the 73 front end to the two year old Montego body. The 77 is where the brougham era Cougar regained some original identity(even if it was tarnished by the sedans and wagon), and I felt the restyle was much more attractive than the Tbird’s, which between the Mark inspired hideaway headlights(oddly hiding only single headlights) and basket handle roof it comes off as rather busy and disjointed to me.
And the Aero Cougars were just okay? Bah, a dagger through my heart!
Maybe I was unkind–that’s a fine-looking vehicle. I’m too used to seeing well-used examples with peeling vinyl roofs and wire hubcaps.
I’ve always liked the ’77-’79 T-Bird and Cougar, but greatly disliked the ’80-’82 T-Bird and Cougar when they were new. Must be mellowing with age, I cruise that Fox cat any day of the week. My only beef with them now is the ridiculously narrow front and rear track… which of course is a really easy fix 🙂 .
Somehow everything on the original Fox platform looked cheap to me when new, and they still look that way to me now. I rode once in a Fox Thunderbird; it was OK, but didn’t seem exactly luxurious, and absolutely nothing like the 1966 Thunderbird my brother used to have. The late LTDs on the Fox chassis softened some of the severely rectilinear quality of the original Fox cars, and that helped a bit.
That Cougar above? Uh-uh. That roof, with little slits instead of actual windows for the back-seat passengers, doesn’t work at all. It just looks like a tarted-up Fairmont, even more so than the Thunderbird of the time did.
I agree completely with the feeling of cheapness emanating from the Fox bodies compared to their predecessors. I particularly dislike the garage-door quality body stampings. Simple flat sheets of thin metal with no curves….I always thought of them as a very desperate move on Ford’s part to produce the cars as cheaply as possible. Ugly shoe boxes with poor running engines.
There are so many American cars I just don’t get. I don’t particularly like flashy 50s Cadillacs etc, but I get it. They were of their time, they look like they were designed, by a very talented designer.
Both of these Cougars, but especially the later one, just make me think of Homer Simpson being put in charge. I can’t remember seeing a worse looking car. I know it was probably a cobbled together stopgap, but I just can’t conceive of how a major motor manufacturer put something this grotesque into production.
Ugh! That is not a Cougar. That is a Montego using a different name but hardly a worthy successor to the original 67-68 Cougar. Simply hideous as most Fords were between 1977-79.
What a sorry sight after the gorgeous 67/68 Cougars.It’s like seeing the star athlete you had a crush on at a school reunion is now a fat balding guy
Don’t care for the cats. Like the bugs. I’ll take the Monte Carlo.
My biggest problem with the downsized model is the lack of V8 standard and the lack of the 302 V8 at the start of production. Its a Mercury, the V8 should have been standard. It would have helped America absorb the shock of it all.
A V8 was std initially for 1980. It was the then new 4.2 liter 255 unit. The under powered 200 six was offered later in the model year and the 302 was offered as a $150.00 option. For 1981 the 200 six was the std engine and both the 255 and 302 were optional. 1982 saw the 302 dropped as an option across the board with the 255 the largest engine offered with but 111 hp. The new mid range engine option was the head gasket munching Essex 3.8 V6 and 105 horses with the 200 still std. The high dollar Heritage T-Bird was the only model that included the V8 as std fare.
Perry, I agree with you that from the front doors forward, the 1980-82 Cougar is isn’t bad. That part of the car is inoffensive, if not generic early-80s looking. It’s the back half of the car, with its huge C-pillar and extra long flat trunk that ruins the car. These features almost make it look like it should have been a Ranchero.
The rear fascia isn’t horrible. It’s attractive in an ’80s boxy way. If the car had a shorter, or more sloped decklid, combined with a more sloped roofline with rear windows, the car would’ve been drastically better.
Something along the lines of this. Keep in mind I did this quickly.
It reminds me of the fox body Mustang’s B-pillar.
Aside from shortening the tail or at least shifting the rear edge of the greenhouse closer to the tail, I think what might help would be to move the louvers toward the rear and insert a quarter light between the louvers and the B-pillars, à la Mercedes C107 SLC. The problem with the stock treatment (aside from what I assume is totally dreadful over-the-shoulder visibility) is that the vinyl roof shifts the visual center of gravity forward so much that the Cougar ends up looking like a Ranchero in whose bed someone has erected a little brown tent.
Another problem is that the Cougar’s wheel arch moldings try and fail to disguise the basically slab-sided shape and end up making the rear track look narrower than it probably is. The front isn’t too bad in that regard, but the rear looks like it’s running on space-saver spares. The double-highlighting of the moldings doesn’t help because it draws attention to the edges — I grasp that the designers were trying to provide color contrast, but the placement just screams, “This piece didn’t actually belong here.”
I guess I do understand the impulse to dress up the Fairmont, which in basic form looked like the sort of thing comics artists draw when they can’t or don’t care to draw cars beyond “a box on top of another box on some wheels.” Beyond that…
Thank you for taking the time to put into words just some of the Fox Cougar’s massive stylistic failures. It’s an unmitigated rolling disaster; one of the worst cars in a generally poor period. Showing it with the 77-79 has the effect of making the bigger one look better than it deserves. And that’s saying a lot.
While it’s doesn’t magically turn into a legitimately attractive car, that’s a lot better. The absurd C-pillars and the unnaturally long-looking trunk are resolved, at least.
Yeah, I am not a huge fan or anything, I guess I am indifferent to it and mostly notice the front half. Also, I must learn photoshop.
I’d suggest GIMP 2.8, which has most (though unfortunately not quite all) the same features, used in more or less the same ways. It’s also open source and thus free, while Adobe’s new monthly-fee-only policy makes Photoshop basically unaffordable unless you’re a professional user used to always buying every single upgrade. (I had been blanching at the price tag before they did that and the new strategy is even more expensive.)
Excellent!
Would like to know more of the story behind the 80’s Fox T-Bird/Cougar. Did they alread know the Aero versions were coming, but not quite ready yet? So, did they literally kick the 80-82 on stage half-baked? Were these just a stop-gap?
The 83’s were so revolutionary, and yet, they still got ‘traditional’ buyers.
I’m pretty sure the 80 Birds/Cougars were considered okay-looking by someone (Lee?) when they were approved for production. There’s a famous story regarding the genesis of the Aerobirds that Don Petersen (President) was wandering around the design studios and asked the designers if they liked the designs they were working on. Allegedly, they all answered “Uh no, we think this stuff sucks.” “Then send me designs you really like.” The result was the 83s. Seems that the design studios were self-censoring and only doing designs they knew Lee would adore. I think Ford management knew they had a disaster on their hands when even the employees were making fun of the 80s. There were a bunch of us young analysts who would wander through the executive garage, poking fun at the American designs and comparing them unfavorably with the designs from Europe and Australia.
It wasn’t (just) Iacocca — Henry Ford II did not like aero styling at all and had to be talked into even the ’79 Mustang, which was hardly a radical departure. (Jack Telnack has talked about that in some detail.)
I think the question was “would you like that car in your driveway?” And when T-Bird/Cougar got redesigns for 1989 didn’t they miss their weight goals so much heads rolled?
They both looked like afterthoughts and they both suck. Perry, you need to look up the predecessor to the 1977 model and you will see where the bloat came from. The 1977 is quite trim compared to the 1976.
The 76 is no bigger or smaller than the 77, they just boxed up the exterior sheetmetal on the same old 1972 frame and bodyshell. Only the Thunderbirds were trimmer, which came down off the enlarged Mark body in 76.
Indeed. The 1977 restyle that ushered in the Mark V, Thunderbird, LTD II and Cougar was a masterful illusion. Tightening up the styling made them look leaner, but in truth they were just as large as before. I believe the Mark V was actually larger than the Mark IV.
It was longer, but it was lighter. So the net “size” ends up being about the same.
We had a ’77 Cougar Villager wagon. When I heard my father had ordered one (the only year for the wagon), I was disappointed that he never got the XR7 instead. Still, it was a great looking car although it was essentially a Torino/Montego with a Cougar front end added to it.
That body color with chamois accents was also available on the Thunderbird. Instead of a padded “continental-esque” trunk, it had two faux straps on the trunk lid. The color contrasts were striking and they sold more than you think. People can complain all they want, but Ford sold a lot of T-birds/Cougars back then.
As for the early Fox Cougar, I think that over done padded vinyl roof looks like the ’77-’79 Thunderbird when Ford put a vinyl roof over the window behind the wrap-around opera window bar.
Ford’s initial efforts to downsize were not that great. It’s as if a committee decided that the downsized models had to have key elements that people liked in the prior design, even if they weren’t well proportioned for the smaller size. The same thing happened to the Mark VI coupe in ’80.
does anyone remember if the 1977-1979 had fake trunk straps as an option? – they were made of vinyl?
The fake trunk straps were on the Basketbird only, not on the Cougar. The Cougar got the padded trunk lid instead. Not sure which is uglier.
But both were available in this uniquely awful navy-and-butterscotch two-tone, which nobody but Ford ever attempted. They also messed up a few Lincoln Mark Vs this way during the same period before cooler heads prevailed and that hideous color combo got canned. At least the Lincolns stopped short of putting butterscotch on the wheels.
One man’s trash…I actually like the colour scheme. At the time of bright red Cutlass’ with white vinyl roofs, these seemed kind of elegant. It doesn’t with with the red on that Tbird though.
Folks, this car was introduced back in the thick of Disco Days…the era of “tarting-up” everything from platform shoes to shoulder pads to bell-bottoms to big hair to opera windows, padded roofs, velour upholstery and chrome everything. We (yep, I’m a Disco-Kid) didn’t look at cars the way we did today and this Cougar -along with so many other cars that were over-styled, over-sized, under-engineered and under-powered were THE way to get around -in style or so we thought. I look back at all these now-hideous monsters with some fondness… it was a fun time of extravagance at the cost of taste. Something culture goes through on the way to refinement. So sure, I look at this old Cougar and see how clunky and gaudy it is…but it sure makes me smile and remember the glory days of my youth …and in that sense it’s a beauty.
But would you have bought one? I’m sure GM, Chrysler, American Motors – heck, even Studebaker would have done Disco-style better!
As folks can tell from my photos and comments of the two cars I am a fan of the ’77 to ’79 Cougars. Sure, they are not in the spirit of the original Cougar, but it was a handsome personal luxury coupe.
To me this is one Mercury that found the right place between Lincoln and Ford. The pathenonlike grille recalls the Lincolns without exactly copying it, as does the trunk lid “bump”. The colour scheme was found on many Lincolns of the era as well. To my eyes the Cougar’s profile is cleaner than the contemporary Thunderbirds. I’m aware that its handsome long hood/short deck proportions are due in large part to a huge front overhang, complete with about two feet of empty space between the grille and radiator!
The downsized Coug is barely worth mentioning. Awkward and poorly proportioned. The only good thing about them is that their disastrous sales performace hastened the arrival of the Aerobirds and Cougars.
Wow, that big Cougar has an impressive dent on the fender, wonder how the heck that happened? The flat and uninterrupted trunk lid on the downsized Cougar sure is an unusual sight. Perhaps the other CCs in these photos will get their spotlight someday.
Well, at least one has:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/curbside-classic-1988-toyota-land-cruiser/
Man, those images take me back to Vancouver in the 80s! They need a Doug & the Slugs soundtrack!
As a student in the summer of 1982 I worked at YVR (Vancouver Airport) for Avis. Lots of car stories there, but one of the rental reps had a green on green vinyl 1978 T-Bird that I would drive from our garage (bordering Burkeville, for those who know), up to the terminal, where I would drop it off for her. Gave her time for a extra smoke.
This car was so massive and diabolically ponderous (my own car was a 7 year old Fiat 131, so I was used to slightly crisper control) that I once backed it into a ditch, tipping the whale 45 degrees into the air, arse-end first. The RCMP called a tow and, amazingly, the car got pulled out with nothing but a very muddy undercarriage and a lot of grass trapped in the giant doors. I ran it through the Avis wash, rushed up to the terminal, and got it to her before her shift ended.
She was delighted I had washed it and tipped me a dollar….
That is hilarious! Good work.
That color combo has grown on me over the years, didn’t like it when new but now I like it in a nostalgic way. Very surprising to see both versions in it, I don’t think it was that popular.
As far as the downsized cars go I actually prefer the Cougar over the Bird. That trunk does look a little out of proportion but that like the rest of the early Foxes was all about keeping the useable portions of the car the same or in some cases larger than it’s predecessor. The trunk on those cars is huge, larger, at least in the useable portion than many full size cars of the era. Should be no problem to drop a Smart car in there and close the lid 😉
I’d prefer the roof in grey or a greyish-blue. The large blob of high-contrast colour does the design no favours. And it sure needs all the help it can get!
As I did not like Garfield either, I found the comparison very apt.
As I see it, the only given is that larger wheels/tires would be a big improvement. The wheels are just to small for the body. The right wheel design and color combination may turn the car into a rather attractive (relatively speaking) car.
I disliked the ’77s for one reason-no more 460.
And these cars are somewhat lighter than the ’74-’76 Cougar-XR7&Elites, so a 460 would have made them hop.
’77-79, yes.
’80-82, no. What on earth? were they thinking? (punctuation intentional!)
Question for you all: Would Ford (Mercury) have done better to keep the earlier design in production for six years, suitably facelifted, and forget this piece of awkwardness? For a new design to sell only a third the amount of its predecessor is a massive sign of Something Wrong.
I’m sure they would have without CAFE.
I thought the 1977-79 Cougar XR7’s were decent cars and still see a decent number of them on the road today, I rarely see the 1980-82 Cougar’s at all, for the 1977-79 run I preferred the T-Bird’s but for the 1980-82 run I preferred the Cougar’s, I wish they would have the 460 V8 as an option for the 1977-79 T-Bird’s/Cougar’s.
The 1977-79 Cougar’s weren’t my top favorite but I liked them better than the previous Cougar’s and the upcoming Cougar’s.
as far as I’m concerned, the Cougar didn’t exist past 1973.
The later car looks like something designed by GAZ as a replacement for the Volga – the kind of car to outdo the capitalistic dogs.
I was joking but here’s a Zil prototype. I think you can see what I’m getting at… A Maserati Quatroporte crossed with the Mercury. Just add the tacky mouldings, make the grill more prominent and stick some vinyl on the roof, and there you have it.
That’s kind of cool!
I kind of like that. I don’t know why…I shouldn’t..but I do.
Well, there’s more here: http://piximus.net/others/russian-sclass-zil-4102
Not produced – I suppose you can blame Ronald Reagan for this…
Borrows quite a lot from the Audi 100, blended with cues from the older ZIL. I see some Volvo 740 and maybe even Talbot Tagora in there too.
Just the thing for the enlightened Politburo member.
Gee, not sure I should risk it…but here’s the rear end of my 79 T-Bird and yes, that’s vinyl on that trunk lid…lol. I get a lot of comments on this car. People seem to love it, if for nothing else, just the nostalgia of the times. This was disco era flash and for a few years, was quite popular. I don’t mind the fox bodied versions, especially without the heavily padded roofs, which I think is throwing off the proportions a bit. In 1980, a Ford dealer put a few new fox bodied versions of the Cougar & T-Bird in the local mall. They looked fresh and I remember my Dad taking a look or two. He thought they would be better on fuel then his 78 Caprice. In those days, that was his main concern., but he went with an 81 Oldsmobile Omega coupe my Mother liked. I would have bought the Cougar or T-Bird!
Great car! Ford didn;t venture as far into neoclassic cues as GM, but the trunk straps do. I hope Ford tightened up the handling over the Elite, as well as the styling.
Nice. I really like the trunk straps. I think people like these cars because there is no way to mistake them for the grey/white/black jelly beans cars of today. Love the look or hate it, there is no missing it!
One interesting design feature of the 77-79 Cougar was the t-top / hardtop roof style. Even though the rear window didn’t roll down, most other t-top cars were built with a solid b-pillar design and an opera window. Or like the Camaro/Firebird F-body t-tops, just a clean b-pillar. In fact, there was only one other car and its badge engineered brother with this design. Can you name it?
Isn’t that you in an LTD II, you’ll never know till you try,,,,
No, the LTD II was virtually the same car. The one I’m thinking of is a different make/model.
Hmm, it must be another midsizer, the Plymouth Fury/Dodge Coronet coupes?
you’ll never know till you try,,,,
Try what? Getting financed in the 70s?
J body Cordoba/Mirada!
Ding ding! We have a winner. But again, the rear window didn’t roll down. The last of the faux hardtop coupes.
I can’t think of any others…
Greg, you must mean the Mustang/Capri twins. Without a strong B-pillar, the T-top roof just isn’t sexy.
But that basket-handle Fairmont Futura coupe looks pretty good to today’s eyes.
Well, no, I wasn’t counting the Mustang/Capri twins. to my eyes, the Fox body generation didn’t even pretend to be hardtops. Whereas the Cougar always looked like it’s rear window would roll down. Hint, the car I’m thinking of is not from the FoMoCo stable.
Could you get a Mirada with T-tops? If so, we have a winner.
Yes, I posted a picture above. Here’s a closeup of the 80-83 Cordoba t-top / hardtop design. Man, I wish I could roll those rear windows down!
Not even worth commenting on
That’s ironical…
Without that vinyl top the ’80-’82’s look considerably better:
Yes, that’s much better!
Still wouldn’t be accused of ideal proportions, but that’s a massive improvement. The huge vinyl top was the biggest sin of the featured car, and this one also does away with the tiny wheels and fake wire caps for something more appropriately sized.
Definitely better, but still bowlegged
Easy fix 🙂 .
Not really. This is another Ford deadly sin. The only two things making it less than terrible is the 302 engine and an example sans over stuffed roof. Equipping it with the rare TRX package and alloy wheels would help a little too.
My older brother’s first car was an ’81 Cougar, but he put a warmed-over 351 in it & it was a much more spirited car. Then he did all of the stuff that high school kids would do in the late ’80’s, blacked out trim, headlight covers, rims, etc. At one point, it looked pretty cool, but he went to far & then it looked a little dumb. Funny thing is that shot of the example here is includes a Sunbird, which was my first car. HATED that thing, but it lived through every railroad track I jumped in it. It idled at about 2500 RPM’s & ate head gaskets like they were going out of style, but some of that could have been due to me cutting my teeth as a “do it yourself” mechanic.