Cougar press photos / reference pics

spjmorris

spjmorris

Well-known user
Apr 10, 2012
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I came across a bunch of stuff on the interwebs this week so thought I'd put it together and make a bit of a reference thread :)

these are all high-res and as far as I can tell are official press photos of Cougars and respective special editions....except for some of the 35th Anniversary and XR cars as I really struggled to find official interior shots for these.

Feel free to add info to this thread or correct anything that may be wrong!

1997 Mercury MC2 Concept







The black car is Mercury's MC4 concept and there's some good info HERE for both cars

Various 1999 vehicles

K-CG 3011
German car, Laser Red? 2.5 V6, can't tell if the wheels are chrome or just the pics





K-DX 9229
German car, Melina Blue, 2.0 Zetec





X947 CEP
UK car, Silver Frost, 2.5 V6





the 'cliffs' car
Silver Frost, 2.5 V6, looks LHD to me from the wipers



California Cougar
Fairly sure these three are the same car by the wheel centres and trim, and the background scenery.
US car, Silver Frost, 2.5 V6, spoiler, side mouldings, cougar head wheel centres.
Note the US cars have the exhaust exit on the left, aerial has been removed for the pics too!











Oakland Grill TMH 652
US car, Silver Frost, 2.5 V6, side mouldings, spoiler, plain wheels






PWB 543
US car, Silver Frost, 2.5 V6, no side mouldings, spoiler, chrome wheels










US Silver Frost V6 - possibly PWB 543



the 'driven' cars
US car, Silver Frost, 2.5 V6, side mouldings, spoler





US car, Red, 2.5 V6, no side mouldings, spolier



35th Anniversary
2002 Special edition
Visteon bonnet scoop
Unique badging on B pillars, floor mats, seats, steering wheel, door plates
Unique 17" wheels
Roush spoiler (apparently a copy not genuine Roush - see post below on the Roush Cougar)
V6 badging on front wings
Two tone grey/black leather seats






Those are the only two official pics I could find so these are from a FS thread at NECO which show the detail











C2
2001 - 2002 special edition
Available in either French Blue, Silver Frost, or Vibrant White, along with special blue interior accents
Visteon spolier
Unique C2 badging on B pillars
Unique blue/dark grey seats
Alloy pedals
Polished wheels with colour matched centres

[URL="https://flic.kr/p/VBamGd"]



Note US spec later bumper that we didn't get over here, also note that on facelift cars the US exhaust is on the right as per Euro cars
35853126502_8b4e42caa8_c.jpg













XR
2002 special edition
Available in either Black or Laser Red, with special black and red seats and interior trim
Unique XR badging on B pillars
17" wheels (same as Zn edition)
Unique mats with red XR logo
Red/black leather seats with red embroidered cougar heads
Visteon bonnet scoop
Roush spoiler (apparently a copy not genuine Roush - see post below on the Roush Cougar)



really hard to find official images of this car so this is another pic lifted from a FS ad, pretty sure this is the standard interior



half decent walkaround video here....


Zn
2000-2001 special edition
Unique Zinc Yellow paint
Unique Zn badging on B Pillars
Visteon Bonnet scoop
Visteon Spolier
Embroidered Cougar head logo on seats
17" wheels (same as XR edition)

Exhaust is back on the left again on this car o_O





















ST200
the stillborn ST200 Cougar....pulled at the last minute after two examples were finished and press packs issued!

ST200 engine
Available in Ice blue, Ice Silver and Black
Unique 17" wheels
Unique leather seats (similar to Mondeo ST200)
Unique blue instuments (similar to Mondeo ST200)
Unique rear strut brace (can't find a good stock image of this)

K-DZ 5550

















ST200 Rear Strut Brace.

5BAAB23D-4B8A-4505-98F0-2D51E49EF9BC.jpeg
 
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Nice collection Steve pity it never worked out, love the yellow one.
 
mjp100drums said:
Fantastic pics, i'd love the St200 !!!
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last I heard the Ice blue one in the press pics was still on the road in Germany after being rescued, there's some more info here on the cars (auf Deutsch) HERE including one image of an ice silver car with a UK plate

my German is nowhere near good enough to attempt to translate but they both appear to be in North Germany going by the plates (Hamburg and Pinneberg)
 
spjmorris said:
my German is nowhere near good enough to attempt to translate but they both appear to be in North Germany going by the plates (Hamburg and Pinneberg)
Click to expand...

No idea what happened to the cars, but the advert more-or-less says, "The keys are nearly in your hand!" sort of. My German is rusty.

It's ironic that so many of us have done what Fnord should've, albeit with some restrictions. So mjp100drums can have the car he wants but... it just needs some work, as we know.
 
Great info Steve. (y)

The chromed standard wheels were available in Europe and the ones on the German red one look to me to be chromed.


Cougar Eibach.

IMG_0493.jpg

Limited edition of 100 only available in Australia.
Visteon scoop and spoiler.
Front lower lip extension.
Sill extensions.
Lowered on Eibach springs.
'Refined' by Tickford Engineering.
ST200 polished alloys.
Standard interior. (I believe).
 
Cheers Andy I'd forgotten about the Eibach :)

Roush Cougar
1999-2000

Production Number: 112 (2 year production period)

Available in: Rio Red, Ebony Black, Vibrant White and Silver Frost in 1999; some Zinc Yellow Special Editions were built in 2000.

Component Parts: Front bumper skirts (2 pieces), Side Skirts, Rear Valance, Fog Light Covers, Polished Stainless Steel Exhaust Tip, Rear Wing, Roush Embroidered Floor Mats, Roush Window Banner, Special Roush Rear Hatch Emblem, Roush Performance Drop Springs, Roush Anti Roll Bar, Tuner Alloy Wheels (2 styles) with Performance Rated Tires.

Optional Components: Dual Polished Stainless Steel Free-Flow Exhaust Tips, Interior Trim Kit and Roush CNC Billet Machined Pedals.







The Roush wing was stamped on the underside with an insignia that identifies it as a true Roush part. The wing was copied and used on the 2002 XR and 35th Anniversary Special Edition Cougars (without the Roush insignia)

Photo of the second-generation Roush wheels, used on most 2000-model-year Cougars



Each true Roush edition is identified by an ID tag located in the passenger's side door jamb. It bears the specific serial number of the vehicle, and confirms that it is one of the original Roush-built Cougars, and not a clone.



Roush Industries made all of the parts available separately for retail sale.

all above info taken from NECO HERE
 
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great pictures steve ,interesting to see what ford had planned....id love to get my hands on the idiot that finished this great models life off and ask what they were thinking.
 
shirtyzeus said:
great pictures steve ,interesting to see what ford had planned....id love to get my hands on the idiot that finished this great models life off and ask what they were thinking.
Click to expand...

I was reading on Jalopnik the other day that aside from our problems over here with branding and price, one of the things that killed it (and the Thunderbird, etc) in the States was that manufacturers were convincing people to buy SUVs at the time. This was down in part to the CAFE regulations, which SUVs were exempt from. It's bizarre in a way because the two types of vehicle are worlds apart, obviously.

Things are a little better now over here (see the big sports coupes from all the major manufacturers) but in the States they never really recovered; SUVs and mid-sized pickups are still the go-to for most. Even Audi and BMW drivers would rather go for a saloon or notchback than a coupe.
 
Wow... That is a real history lane for me.
The ZN was a Mercury, some of the others are mixes of EU press & US press of which I still have the packs ( with photos, disks etc)

- - - Updated - - -

Mako
The problem over here was not branding or price.....
European ordering systems do not talk to US ordering systems & then the plant was running on Mazda systems. So you get a whole bunch of little elves translating code from one system to another & Ford of Europe thought when they got an option or standardisation approved that was it..... the time lag was killer as changes did not get through to build & dealers were left expalining & compensating customers for cars that turned up not as they thought they ordered them & guess what......???? They walked away
 
Gemma#pm, Gemma, has been introduced to the forum by Geoff. (catbus).
She worked for Ford for 7 years plus on the design, development and marketing of the Cougar both in Europe and the US.
I'm sure she'll be able to impart a great deal of 'insider' knowledge which should make for interesting reading. (y)
 
I took home one of those prototype blue ST200s when in Germany, by that time we had put the slatted lower grille on from facelift.... great car just so sad we couldn't carry over Mondeo test results & couldn't pass new regs
 
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