When Ford initially commissioned the inaugural batch of Mercury Cougars in 1966, they instantly became a huge success with the public. The name itself evoked vivid imagery of strength, power, and style. The Cougar went on for a few generations, though the original generation is arguably the most well-known. The Cougar continued for a few more decades, receiving periodic updates to stay current, relevant, practical, and reliable.

That said, when Ford decided to reshuffle its lineup just after the turn of the century, the company decided to finally give the Cougar the ax, terminating 36 years of continuous production.

Read on to discover more bits and pieces of the Mercury Cougar's history.

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1966: The Debut Of The Mercury Cougar

The Mercury Cougar was big news when it first arrived at the sales floor. Ford chose a name from their winning pony car a few years prior, so given how the name was already affiliated with Ford, it was a natural fit. Furthermore, the name “Cougar” lends itself to describing something that can provide sleek style and brute strength simultaneously. Thankfully, no other company had laid claims to it as at that time.

When the Cougar was first conceptualized in 1964, thanks to several teams collaborating on the project, speed was emphasized, and when the finished product hit the sales floor in 1966, the vehicles all sold out in record numbers. Now that speed was a successful selling point, the company turned its attention to emphasizing style and comfort. Ford created the Cougar as a halfway point between Mustang and Thunderbird, most notably as a step-up from the Mustang.

Ford had projected a sale of about 85,000 units in its first year. However, the public surprised the company by buying 150,000 units. Furthermore, a lot of ideas from the Mustang were carried over to the Cougar, though the Cougar had a distinct look, feel, and appeal from its highly successful predecessor, complete with longer chassis and wider wheelbase. The Cougar continued to win many accolades in the years immediately following its launch, with Motor Trend awarding it the "Car of the Year" for 1967, and the car was also often referred to as "Untamed Elegance" in initial marketing campaigns.

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Mercury was able to have its own niche in the market thanks to the Cougar's styling, which includes tucked away headlights, an emphasized grille, and turn signals in the taillights. The latter was a feature that was dropped later on. Most of the cars adopted an automatic transmission, and a wide variety of engine choices were offered after the first two model years had passed.

A case in point was in 1968 when the powerful 467's engine was offered in a Cougar, but not in a Mustang. While hardtops were the initial design, convertibles became available in 1969, earning the Cougar even more attention. Mercury emerged out of the shadow of Ford because of the Cougar's success.

The Cougar even had a shot as a racecar in 1967, with Mercury testing it against Camaros, Mustangs, Barracudas, and Darts. Impressively, it scored four wins. Furthermore, the Cougar gained international popularity, with Australians paying to have them imported.

'70s Was A New Era For The Mercury Cougar

While the first generation of Cougar was the most notable, the second generation continued to evolve. In 1970, the Cougar received a new styling, with roughly one in 50 models being a convertible, while the rest were hardtops. Multiple V8 engines were featured in the models from the '70s, and 1971 saw the wheelbase get widen again.

Things started to decline in 1972, with engine offerings cut to only the 351 engine. 1973 would see the end of the Cougar as a pony car, with the company opting for station wagons and sport coupes instead. The LTD II/Montego platform was utilized from 1974 to 1976, with Cougars looking nearly identical to the vehicles from which they were cloned.

The Thunderbird chassis was used as the base from 1977 to 1979, and 1978 was remarkably the best sales year for the Cougar, with about 213,000 units sold.

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Highlights Of The '80s And '90s

Mercury kept modifying the Cougar for the next two decades. The Cougar started the '80s still using the Thunderbird platform, albeit more luxury-oriented. Subsequently, Mercury copied the Fox chassis from 1980 to 1986, resulting in what critics considered a loss of identity. With the 20th anniversary arriving in 1987, special Cougar models were even sold pre-production, leading to improved suspension and a longer chassis without a V8 engine from 1989 to 1990.

At the beginning of the '90s, the 25th-anniversary edition was released to a mixed reaction from the public. By that point, demand for personal luxury coupes had shrunk significantly by 1997. Mercury gave the Cougar one last modification, making the Cougar models of 1999 a compact, front-wheel-drive sports coupe that was sold in Europe, America, and Australia.

21st Century: The End Of The Iconic Mercury Cougar

Unfortunately, 2002 was the literal end of the road for this iconic model. The 1999 revision didn't take off as well as Mercury expected, largely due to the new styling quickly becoming outdated. Sales figures were underwhelming at best, and because the Cougar was now a sports compact, it was hard for salespeople to market it to buyers like they did when the Cougar was more luxury-oriented.

It was also difficult to attract younger buyers to the Cougar with its new design and styling. When Ford decided to restructure their model line in 2002, they saw this as the ideal opportunity to quietly remove the Mustang from play and not call attention to its production's termination. On August 9, 2002, the last Cougar left the production line.

Sources: motortrend.com, ateupwithmotor.com, musclecarclub.com, consumerreports.org