The 1966 Shelby Mustang set the standard for Shelby Mustangs to come. Each fastback had extra windows behind the b-pillars for better rear visibility when racing. Also included were scoops in front of the rear wheel-wells, a hood scoop, and the distinctive "GT350" racing stripe along the side rocker panel.

The overall look was classy, aggressive, but not over-done. "Wanna-be" Shelby Mustang parts quickly became very popular with Mustang owners.

The Cougar was Mercury’s version of the Mustang, but never really had the image status that the Mustang enjoyed. Very few people even knew about the GT-E 427 option. It all had to do with positioning. Mercury positioned and marketed the GT-E as an in-between car between a Mustang and a Thunderbird. The 390 horsepower 427 had 460 lb.ft of torque, but was only available with a C-6 automatic trans. As a result, Mercury only sold 602 GT-E optioned Cougars in 1968.

Ford restyled the Mustang in 1968, giving it a larger and more agressive front end. The Shelby version, with its grille-mounted fog-lamps looked tough as nails!"

Even though Ford now had a hand in the design of the Shelby Mustang, it was still a serious tough-guy on the street scene. Across town at Chevrolet, designers were playing catch-up with their Z-28 version of the Camaro.

This was to be the final year for the really hot Mercury Cougars. The Eliminator package had all the right parts that were becoming standard on all muscle cars. Big engine or small high output smaller engine, heavy duty everything, a Hurst Shifter, dual exhausts, sport mirrors, stripes and a cool name.

But the car went out with a splash. You could get as much performance as you could pay for or could stand. There were several 351 engines and 428 engines to choose from. Even though the Cougar was built on a Mustang platform, it never had the following the Mustang had. But the good news now is, if you’re into collectability, that there are fewer Eliminator Cobras than there are Mach I Mustangs.

Print #BPS-14This was one of the most unusual performance Mustangs ever made. Ford was in fierce competition with Chrysler in NASCAR racing. The Hemi-powered Mopars had a slight advantage on the speedways due to the better flow of the hemi-heads on the 426 engines. So Ford decided to build their own hemi engine and came out with the Boss 429 engine in ‘69.

It was hard to tell how much the new engine helped because at the same time, Dodge racers were running the Charger Daytona that used a huge rear wing and big shovel nose clip. Meanwhile, back in Product Development, planners decided to make the new 429 engine part of the Boss Mustang option even though the Mustang didn’t race in NASCAR.

Like the Chrysler Hemi, the Boss 429 was HUGE! It was amazing that Ford was able to stuff the engine in the Mustang engine compartment. The car was actually somewhat of an odd-ball combination. Because the engine made the car very front-heavy, it didn’t handle as well as the Boss 302 and it wasn’t as quick as the Mach 1 or Cobra Jet Mustang. Dollar-for-dollar, the Boss 429 wasn’t the best performance Mustang to buy.

Back at the race track, NASCAR felt that things were getting out of hand with the Dodge and Plymouth winged cars and the slant-nose Torino Fords, so restrictions were placed on the big Hemi-powered cars, thus ending the monster powered NASCAR racers. Ford’s Boss 429 hemi effort was about 3 years too late.

Print #BPS-19 Over the years, Mercury made lots of very strong street cars, but always had a “luxury car” image - kind of an “upscale ford” persona. Consequently, they were a little late getting into the all-out muscle car wars.

The performance option “RX-7” was a nice car, but somewhat low-key. In ‘69 the “Eliminator” option was available and street guys began to notice. Finally, the performance Mercury had all the right scoops, spoilers, stripes, fat tires, and big engine options to get some respect.

The ‘70 Cougar Eliminator was the “finished” car. With access to the FoMoCo parts bin, the Eliminator came standard with 351 Cleveland engine and optional was the solid lifter Boss 302, the 428 Cobra Jet, and the Boss 429 engines! All totaled, Mercury only sold 2,411 Eliminators in ‘69 and 2,200 in ‘70. Seeing trouble for muscle cars on the horizon, Mercury got out of the muscle game in ‘71 and let the Cougar balloon into a fat-cat, T-Bird sized car.