[c0ugar69]

I’m doing a project in school on classic cougars. As part of it I’m highlighting on each of the years. I just need a little info of each of the year I know and I found some stuff on 67-70. But I know nothing about 71-73. I would like just little tid-bits, what makes one year different from the other. If you guys could help that would be great. Info on the other years may help too.

Also what dose MN-12 mean or stand for. (I know its 89-97)

 

[LiLWrink]

Tid-Bit!

Welcome to the site where all the people who know cougars hang out. Glad to hear that young guys are interested about the automobiles.
Here's a classic tid-bit of info.
Late, late 1970, and 1971, Mercury introduced the 429 cobra jet, and super cobra jet engines into the line up for production.
They were rated in the very modest 400 HP range.
This was the era of production numbers crunching, due to bad markets for the U.S. The insurance companies were putting the pressure on the auto makers to build a more conservative automobile, and they (the insurance companies) viewed the large performance vehicles as wastful and too costly as a liability.
The auto makers were trying to rekindle thier sales by grossing low numbers on thier vehicle's performance ratings, and at the same time useing the very conservative numbers as a selling point. It was a corporate sandbagging ploy.
What this ment to the consumer was that you could buy a last body style series vehicle that had a 400 horsepower engine, for example, when in reality the engines were capeable of much, much, more. Likely in the 475-500 horse range...
What this ment to the Mercury buyer was that you could cost effectively, buy a large luxury vehicle, ordered from the factory with a high performence package, that was conservatively rated for insurance programs, and therefore less expensive.
How's that for a historical view of questionable marketing technics that were used in corporate America to offset the bad economy of the day.
The 385 series 429's and 460's were then replacing the FE series 428's as the performance engines in the production line. 1970 was the last year for the 428's and 1971 was the fisrt for the 429's in the mercury cougar. Both engines were in competition with Cheverolet's LS-6 454ci engines both on the track and on the sales graph.
That does it for me, hope to hear from you again,
Shane
:ylsup: :ylsup: :ylsup: :ylsup: :ylsup:

 

[dan]

also

when the cougar came out 67-70 there were no 6 cyl. motors in any of those years

 

[Tim B]

Actually the 429CJ was 370 horse. There wasn't a 429 SCJ available in any Cougar. The FE (Ford/Edsel family of motors) 428CJ was conservatively rated at 335 HP from the factory, but it was factored up to 360-370 by NHRA for racing.

For more info on 429CJ Cougars, go to:
http://www.cougarclub.org/Cougars101/429cj.shtml

The 1971 and 1972 were virtually indistinguishable, with the exception of the one year only option of the 429CJ in 1971. The 1973 was basically the same car with a 5mph bumper tacked on to the front and other minor trim changes.

 

[c0ugar69]

Thanks,
That helps a bunch. Dose anyone have the cougar by numbers book? Maybe you could tell me how many total of each year classic cougar were sold. That would be great.

 

[cougarguy]

1967 Model Year
.
MODEL OR OPTION # PRODUCED
TOTAL MODEL YEAR PRODUCTION 150,893
STANDARD 116,289
XR-7 27,209
BENCH SEAT 7,395
GT (INFO) 5,791
XR-7 GT (INFO) 2,653
DAN GURNEY SPECIAL (INFO) 19,783
4-SPEED MANUAL TRANSMISSION 7,997
1968 Model Year
.
MODEL OR OPTION # PRODUCED
TOTAL MODEL YEAR PRODUCTION 113,741
STANDARD 78,359
XR-7 32,709
BENCH SEAT 2,673
GT (INFO) 955
XR-7 GT (INFO) 1,845
DAN GURNEY SPECIAL (INFO) 11,900
XR-7G (INFO) 619
GT-E 427 ENGINE (INFO) 357
GT-E CJ428 ENGINE (INFO) 37
4-SPEED MANUAL TRANSMISSION *4,777
1969 Model Year
.
MODEL OR OPTION # PRODUCED
TOTAL MODEL YEAR PRODUCTION 100,085
STANDARD 64,735
STANDARD CONVERTIBLE 5,796
XR-7 23,914
XR-7 CONVERTIBLE 4,024
BENCH SEAT 1,615
GT (INFO) 1,717
XR-7 GT (INFO) 1,547
SPORTS SPECIAL 16,142
ELIMINATOR (INFO) 2,250
BOSS 302 168
BOSS 429 2
4-SPEED MANUAL TRANSMISSION 3,102
1970 Model Year
.
MODEL OR OPTION # PRODUCED
TOTAL MODEL YEAR PRODUCTION 72,365
STANDARD 49,479
STANDARD CONVERTIBLE 2,322
XR-7 18,567
XR-7 CONVERTIBLE 1,997
ELIMINATOR (INFO) 2,267
BOSS 302 469
4-SPEED MANUAL TRANSMISSION *2,243
1971 Model Year
.
MODEL OR OPTION # PRODUCED
TOTAL MODEL YEAR PRODUCTION 62,864
STANDARD 34,008
STANDARD CONVERTIBLE 1,722
XR-7 25,417
XR-7 CONVERTIBLE 1,717
GT (INFO) 787
4-SPEED MANUAL TRANSMISSION *1,335
1972 Model Year
.
MODEL OR OPTION # PRODUCED
TOTAL MODEL YEAR PRODUCTION 53,702
STANDARD 23,731
STANDARD CONVERTIBLE 1,240
XR-7 26,802
XR-7 CONVERTIBLE 1,929
4-SPEED MANUAL TRANSMISSION *269
1973 Model Year
.
MODEL OR OPTION # PRODUCED
TOTAL MODEL YEAR PRODUCTION 60,629
STANDARD 21,069
STANDARD CONVERTIBLE 1,284
XR-7 35,110
XR-7 CONVERTIBLE 3,166
hope this helps

 

[ronzoni]

On some of those rare options like the Boss 429 showing like 2 of in 69'. does anyone know where those 2 cars are?? What about the 37 of 428CJ in 68'? I believe Royce has 1 of the 427's and 2 of the 428's, is that right Royce?? Hell, you have 5% of the total production run on the 68' 428 CJ!!!

I'd have to run into one giant moron who didn't know what he had to ever own such a rare piece of machinery. Usually I'm the moron, however, so that hasn't worked out for me yet.

Ron.

 

[LiLWrink]

Boss 429!

Dan Gurney destroyed them raceing, according to a article that I read somewhere...
oh-yeah, I dream of that too...:1poke:

 

[72cat]

Funny you guys should mention those 68 428's, Stephen was just trying to convince me to search the web for one, all he wants for Christmas is a 428 CJ-RA, after I win the lottery that is.

 

[LiLWrink]

yeah!

Me too!

 

[NoKitten]

I'd settle for a small lottery win to cherry out my kitty.

 

[cougarguy]

buy a 68 put the 428 in it. buy the flex chrome and the other do dads and whalla you have one. course it wont be a real one but it will go just as fast!

 

[ronzoni]

I've got a 429 in the front of my garage that I intend to do just that... Of course the 429 was never offered on a 68' Cougar, but it was around, I believe 68' was the first year for both the 429 and the 460. I'm having trouble making up my mind though, I can't decide whether or not to just go 460... same block, outer dimensions, etc... just doesn't have the same ring to it as "429" ... I know, I'll go 460 and call it a "stroked 429"!

The buildup on the motor will take a couple years before I even think about getting it in the car. One part I'm going to need is the C4-385 series bell housing.

Ron.

 

[c0ugar69]

Great.
Thanks again.
What dose MN-12 mean or stand for? (I know its 89-97)

 

[TheRktmn]

I don't think that "MN-12" actually stands for anything. I got this info from the MN-12 Nationals website, "MN-12 is the chassis code that Ford gave to the ‘89-’97 Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar. Lincoln also based their ‘93-’98 MarkVIII off of the MN-12 chassis, but gave it a name of FN-10. Since the Lincoln was made from the same chassis, we include them under the MN-12 code."
Their site is at http://www.mn12nationals.com/index.html