1968 Mercury Cougar GT-E 427/390 HP

[Dan Bennett]

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

It is apparent that Mercury was attempting to make this car, an 'Executive Performance Sports Car',,,

I always thought that was a great idea, but from production figures I must have been one of the few. Though a drag racer at heart, putting up with all the drawbacks became less and less desirable for a daily driver.

One of our crowd had a good job as a pipefitter in a manufacturing plant. He bought a new 427/425 Corvette convertible in 66 and was the talk of the town. But three years later he was dating the woman he's still married to and things were looking a bit different. Constant valve adjustments, rough ride, 100 degree summers, and insurance costs seemed to be more important than the thrill of performance.

He bought a loaded 69 Caprice 2 dr with a 427, air conditioning, etc. It had gauges, decent gears and every performance option GM would allow on their "luxury" car. I guess you could call it a Caprice SS.

But it was still a full size car and there were quite a few like it - Ford 7 Litre, Pontiac 2+2, and Mercury Marauder were mostly the same size and perfomance.

Other than the Cutlass SX, which was a combination of 442 and Supreme, I can't think of another smaller car which could give great performance along with comfort. Monte Carlos, Rivieras, Grand Prixs, and Thunderbirds don't count - they were too big and heavy and never got the good engines.

Maybe they were just too expensive. I remember a Buick ad for the Riviera calling it "an iron fist in a velvet glove". Shame it never fit the bill and no one produced a gentlemans' hot rod like an Aston Martin was at the time.