Other Special Cougars

• Registrar: Phil Parcells - registry@cougarclub.org

For more information, check out the CCOA Registry Website

Throughout the Cougar years, there were many regional promotions or special cars sold through certain dealerships. Not much is known about these regional cars , but as we collect info on them, this page will grow. Here are a few examples:

A very early promotion, but it's not known if this was a regional or national program.

For the first four months of 1968, Ford's Denver Sales District promoted certain colors on Mustangs for certain months. These colors corresponded to holidays in each month. January's color was Black Hills Gold which is believed to be for New Year's Day, Febuary and Valentine's Day claimed Passionate Pink, March with Emerald Green for St. Patrick's Day, and April's color was Eastertime Coral for odvious reasons.

These "Passionate Pink" cars are sometimes misunderstood to be Playboy Pink or Playmate Pink. It is estimated that only ten of these cars were built. On these cars, as well as other cars with "Color of the Month" colors, the paint code was left blank.

Were there any Cougars similarly painted? If anyone has any Cougar-specific Info, we'd greatly appreciate your sharing. Contact us at: registry@cougarclub.org

1968 Calypso Coupe

The Calypso Coupe was a regional special edition 1968 Cougar for the Kansas City and Dallas - Fort Worth, Texas areas. It featured Competition (Grabber) Orange paint, Black vinyl top and special Calypso Coupe chrome badging on the C-pillars.

Photo courtesy of Overton Photographic

1968 Cougar 500

The 1968 Cougar 500 appears to have been a regional dealer promotion. They have Cougar script on the rear quarters followed by block 500 letters then a Cyclone style checkered flag. These cars all had white exterior color with either red or black interior. They are based on the standard Cougar. Most are R-code CJ cars: VIN 8F91R5xxxxx. Per Bill Quay, there were 54 of the Cougar 500s built, but not all were 428's. We know of the existence of one small block Cougar 500 in Tennessee: VIN 8F91C5xxxxx. They were sold in the Atlanta (DSO 21) region and the Washington, D.C. (DSO 17) region.

They were all built between May to July of 1968. We presently have one documented as White with Black Vinyl top and originally sold in the Washington, D.C. area, and the small block Cougar 500 in Tennessee. Bill has been in contact with two other people who know the whereabouts of two more of these elusive Cougars.

What may help us immensely to solve these type of mysteries is outlined in Kevin Marti's Cougars By The Numbers book. Any members who live in or around the Atlanta and D.C. areas and who frequent the Public Libraries, may want to search the newspaper archives for Lincoln-Mercury Dealer advertisements. This may shed some light on who, what and why in regard to these special Cougars.

1969 Ski-Pac Special / Snow Cat

From the Denver, Colorado papers circa 1969. The "Snow Cat" shows the details the package included. Notice the 390 badge

1969 Kumpf / Kenz & Leslie Special

Another 1969 special Cougar sponsored by The Kumpf Motor Company in Denver. It was a 428 car made up by a local shop called Kenz & Leslie. (They also set a land speed record using flat head V8 in a streamliner type car). Ed Leslie was the same person who drove for Team Cougar. We suppose they used Kumpf as their performance shop / supplier. They also had a '69 Cougar funny car sponsored by Kumpf and Wynns with the number 777 on the side. The dealership has since changed hands and Kenz & Leslie now sells B&G products wholesale

1969 Rocky Mountain Life Insurance Company Cougars

For more information, see Robert Nowland's excellent site devoted to the Rocky Mountain Life Insurance Company Cougars.

The Rocky Mountain Life Insurance Company Cougars were a package of specially prepared 1969 Cougars. There were 98 XR-7s ordered with special WT9083 paint by the Rocky Mountain Insurance Company of Calgary, Alberta Canada as a bonus for outstanding sales performance by their employees. All of these cars were sold by Universal Sales and Service of Calgary, Alberta. The cars were leased to Rocky Mountain Life Insurance Company through Hillcrest General Leasing. The color has been reported to the CCOA database as a "pinky-purple color somewhat similar to the 1970 Chrysler Pink Panther TA's". The cars were all ordered with the same options: special paint, white vinyl roof, white leather interior, bucket seats, deluxe seat & front shoulder belts, sports console, AM Stereophonic tape player, tilt away steering wheel, power steering, tinted glass all around, front power disc brakes, 351 4V Windsor, heavy duty battery, immersion block heaters, FMX transmission, door protection edge guards, front bumper guards, and wheel wire covers.

The rest of the story is that Rocky Mountain went out of business early in 1970 and the cars were recalled by the lease company and sold to the public. It is our understanding that another 12 full sized Mercurys were also built with the same paint job for the top honchos at Rocky Mountain.

Robert Nowland's Rocky Mountain Life Insurance Company Cougar is pictured below at Universal's new building in Calgary. In addition, there are 14 more documented Rocky Mountain Life Insurance Company Cougars known to the database.

1973 Bronze Age Cougars 

Cougar Bronze Age Features

• New Laguno grain Metallic Bronze vinyl roof.
• New Saddle Bronze exterior paint. Or one of the six other exterior paint colors.
• New Tan seat facings and bolsters with Metallic Bronze vinyl seat inserts, and tan door trim panels. (Interior Components: Seat upholstery, door trim, headlining, floor covering, package tray, instrument panel and steering wheel are Tan.)
• Decor Group including deluxe steering wheel, deluxe wheel covers, bright rocker panel molding, and higher level seat and door trim including door assist straps.
• Protective bodyside molding
• Front bumper horizontal rub strips.
• White sidewall tires.

Available Exterior Colors