1983-1988 Mercury Cougar

The sixth of nine lives. Things start to perk up.

Note 1983-1985 headlight and grille treatment.

Want a sneaky way to buy a cheap 80s SVO Mustang? Read on.

Continuing on the Fox platform, the Cougar was redesigned. Increasing a bit in size and weight (up a couple hundred pounds in most cases), wheelbase actually shrank a bit and buyers could no longer buy a Cougar-badged sedan or wagon.

Interiors were basically a hold-over from the last gen.

Basically a jellybean-shaped notchback Thunderbird, the Cougar was once again purring for the older, plush-loving set. Arguably, the look was much more mature, sophisticated and buyers responded positively. Ford had a sales hit on its hands, though it never outsold the 'Bird, as some claim.

More modern, more aero.

In 1987, the grille was redesigned and a 20th Anniversary edition that consisted mainly of cosmetic upgrades was released. Only 5,002 20th Anniversary editions were sold in the States, 800 in Canada (Bobinott!!!). Cougar total production peaked in 1986 with 135,904 cars, but every year was a pretty darn good year, sales-wise. 1988 also featured the option of monochrome paint and slight motor upgrades. Over the years, there were many special editions (mostly regional-themed), including the Black Cat, Blue Max and Philadelphia Flyers Edition.

Engines ranged from the 3.6 Essex V6 that whipped out 112-140 hp up to the 5.0 Windsor V8 with 130-155 hp.

As much as the special editions are interesting and worth pursuing, the 1984-1986 turbocharged Lima-engined XR-7 with the 5-speed Tremec manual transmission is the one to have. Surprisingly, some still survive and occasionally come up for sale. Like the SVO and turbocharged T-bird that it basically is, there's a small but devoted community of enthusiasts that are rabid about these cars. Though the Cougar was down in power from the factory in comparison to its corporate mates, performance upgrades are plentiful and cheap. Find the right car and you'll have something special that only the truly knowledgeable will know what they're looking at. The '86 had a slight performance edge stock, but because it's unlikely that you're going to find one of these stock, it's of little importance or advantage. So my pick would be an '84, with a NADA average retail around $2,200. It's unlikely that you'll find a good one for that much money. As of this writing, there's an extremely clean looking, what appears to be stock, 1986 automatic with only 80K on it for a Buy Now price of $5K on eBay, which seems much more reasonable to me.

Want even more details on this gen Cougar? Check out the fantastic articles on Coolcats.