Sixth gen 83-88 Mercury Cougars?

I see them cheap quite a lot. Besides the fact that they are.....odd looking how are they? Decent?

Basically a Fox Mustang with longer rear lower control arms, longer A-arms and a 104" wheelbase instead of 100"

The SEFI 5.0 is detuned to about 150 hp and has 15 lb/hr injectors as opposed to the Mustang's 19 lb/hr.

Also they are all 7.5" rear axles and have 10" front brakes. The only cool ones are the 84-86 XR-7 which are 2.3T Turbo Coupes with formal windows. That means T5 manual, 3.47 LSD, etc. They did make some convertibles in 83-86 which are cool in their own right.

A friend of mine had a bunch of these. His first I think was an 88 Bostonian edition( maybe a local dealer thing) that had a vinyl roof, and different looking openings for the windows behind the doors. It was cool at the time, but looks dated now. He also had maybe an 89 XR-7(That he called an RX-7) I think that was a supercharged V6 with a manual. He was ham-fisted, and blew up the transmission, and the head gaskets on the V6 were notorious for blowing. Turned out the transmission was some Mazda sourced part, and the place that re-built it for him had no idea what they were doing, and it blew up again. Probably due to his ham-fistedness more so than the re-build. He bought some white Mustang alloys for the car, and at one point had every single one on wrong directionally tread-pattern wise. I pointed it out, and he claimed it didn't matter. I argued to no avail that the manufacturer sure thought it mattered enough to place an arrow on the sidewall. Still I think it was a cool car, but a bad owner. I believe it was the same driveline as the Thunderbird Super coupe.

I don't think they were odd looking, I actually think they were better looking than their T-Bird counterparts. I would think parts are easy to find as the car was a lot of parts bin stuff. My experience with them is now over 20 years old, but I drove an '87 or '88 quite a bit when I used to work for Domino's pizza. My co-manager had one and I used it a lot if I had to help with delivery or bring/fetch supplies from other stores. I loved it, but then again I was in my early 20s and desperate to drive anything that ran, so maybe that clouded my perspective. It had the digital dash, which I thought was awesome.

In reply to Mazdax605:

The 89-97 Cougar is like the 89-97 TBird, the MN12 chassis, and shares nothing with the fox-chassis 83-88.

At the time I thought the formal roof line was handsome. Now I find them kinda awkward looking. I think the t-bird has aged better.

Nick (LUCAS) Comstock wrote: At the time I thought the formal roof line was handsome. Now I find them kinda awkward looking. I think the t-bird has aged better.

I agree. I would much rather have an '87-'88 T-Bird with the Turbo Coupe nose than the Cougar.

Oooh! Oooh! (raises hand)

They were in fact Fox Body cars, with the last year being 1988 until they switched over to the MN12 chassis. I had two 1987 XR7's back in high school. They were super cool. The 1987-88 cars were the best of the bunch looks-wise. I believe 1983-86 XR7's had the turbo 2.3 and an optional 5-speed manual, but 1987-88 XR7's were relegated to the low output 150hp 5.0/AOD combo. They also ran Speed Density EFI with a MAP sensor, and if they are running poorly, check the vacuum kine to the MAP sensor on the firewall. Mine would always fall off and you'd be treated to black smoke and the car bucking down the road. Both of mine were pretty slow, but perfect for a high school kid. Sadly, these are the only pictures I have of either one of them, my 2nd one:

They are very cool though. One of the best interiors on any domestic 80's car, and super comfortable to drive. They were light years ahead of GM's G-Body coupes in that regard. I loved the digital dash in mine.

Other than the low output 5.0, they were also saddled with the 7.5" rear with rear drums, but at least the XR7 models got Traction Lok axles. The Lincoln Mark VII 8.8" rear should swap in, and I'd imagine that later Exploder 8.8" rear axles would swap in with minimal mods. Basically any chassis mods you could do to a Mustang could be adapted to the Cougar. They also shard the 4-lug bolt pattern with the Mustang, but stuff from a Mark VII swaps on. The Turbo Coupe NACA vent hood bolts right on.

My brother in law used to have a regular 1986 Cougar with the same 5.0, but it wasn't an XR7. That thing came with skinny whitewalls on 14" wheels, and a peg leg rear. It was a BURNOUT MACHINE. It would be fun to see how long we could get the rear to spin. We did over 100ft of one tire fire one time!

Also keep in mind, 1983-85 V8 cars got TBI EFI. 1986-88 got multiport EFI.

If you can find a clean one, buy it! I haven't seen an XR7 in person since my last one left my driveway 16 years ago. I would jump on the chance to buy another one.

Want a blast from the past? Go here: http://coolcats.net This place has been around since basically the dawn of the modern internet, and not much has changed. Good info there, and hilarious 90's modded Cougars aplenty!

Javelin wrote: In reply to Mazdax605: The 89-97 Cougar is like the 89-97 TBird, the MN12 chassis, and shares *nothing* with the fox-chassis 83-88.

Well my friend had some 5-spoke(maybe even 5 lug now that I think of it) white mustang wheels. May have even been cobra wheels, or knock off cobra wheels. Anyway they were all on with the tread going the wrong way. I know it was at the very least an 89, and may have been a 90 model. I know it was on stock suspension as well.

They made cobra knockoff wheels in the T-bird bolt pattern.

4 lug cobra R's were available. I didnt care for my 85 cougar and im a giant foxbody fan. The pornstar red velour interior did nothing for me!

I still kind of like that look. There's somebody in a business park/corner mini-mall not far from the house that has an 80's t-bird.

Cool stuff.

Seriously guys, go to www.coolcats.net. There are some real gems on there in the "Viewer Photos" section.

For example, here's a 1987 with a Klingon Bat'leth for a spoiler. This might be the greatest thing I have ever seen.

Mazdax605 wrote:

Javelin wrote: In reply to Mazdax605: The 89-97 Cougar is like the 89-97 TBird, the MN12 chassis, and shares *nothing* with the fox-chassis 83-88.

Well my friend had some 5-spoke(maybe even 5 lug now that I think of it) white mustang wheels. May have even been cobra wheels, or knock off cobra wheels. Anyway they were all on with the tread going the wrong way. I know it was at the very least an 89, and may have been a 90 model. I know it was on stock suspension as well.

All 83-88 fox-chassis Thunderbird and Cougars were 4-lug (4x108). The MN12 (89-97) was 5x108. 5-lug Mustangs were all 5x114.3. So either he adapted some Mustang brakes (doable) or found some knock-offs in the 5x108 bolt pattern. Either way, it wasn't a fox chassis.

I checked with my friend. They were 5 lug cobra rims in white. He claims they were legit cobra wheels, but I doubt it. 89's must have been 5 lug.

Just so we're clear:

1983-1986 Cougar, fox-chassis (4x108, basically a longer Mustang, all fox-chassis parts swap in including 5x114.3 from the Lincoln Mark VII or the SN95 Mustangs, live rear axle, 2.3T, 3.8, or 5.0 motors):

1987-1988 Cougar, still fox-chassis:

1989-1997 Cougar, MN12 chassis (5x108, IRS, shares parts with the 89-97 Thunderbird and the Lincoln Mark VIII, had just a 3.8 or 3.8SC, followed by a 5.0 then the 4.6):

Thanks for all the responses. I've seen a few sub 1000 and it got me thinking lol

If anyone ever finds a silver 1987-88 XR7 for cheap, let me know. I would love to have a crack at another one someday!