Photo: Mecum
For a great number of years, the name Mercury was pretty much indistinguishable from Cougar. Having surfaced in 1967, at the height of the muscle/pony craze in the U.S., the Cougar nameplate managed to earn enough hearts to be kept into production well into the 1990s, albeit in a much more diluted form.
The initial versions of the Cougar, the first two generations, were Mercury’s variant of the Ford Mustang, and slotted between it and the Thunderbird. Initially built on the first-gen Mustang platform, it packed all the features it needed to succeed in its segment: looks to die for, powerful engines, and a range of extra options that made it incredibly desirable.
One of those extra options came as the Eliminator performance package. Introduced from 1969, the Eliminator optionally came with the Boss variant of the 302ci engine (from that year, going for an Eliminator was the only way to get your hands on a Boss 302-engined Cougar), and several unique styling features.
They included a blacked-out grille, and special spoilers on the exterior, a special trim, seats and instruments on the interior.
Most of those original features of the Eliminator can also be seen on the car pictured in the gallery above. Sitting on the lot of cars that will go under the hammer during the Mecum auction in Denver in July, it is the result of a three-year restoration process that ended in 2019.
The people behind it say they tried to keep this Cougar as close to the original as possible, including under the hood. The Boss engine is also there, linked to a 4-speed manual transmission and packing 290 hp.
The car in this configuration is one of just 323 produced in 1970, and it sells with 73,000 miles on the clock. No estimate as to how much it is expected to fetch has been made.
One of those extra options came as the Eliminator performance package. Introduced from 1969, the Eliminator optionally came with the Boss variant of the 302ci engine (from that year, going for an Eliminator was the only way to get your hands on a Boss 302-engined Cougar), and several unique styling features.
They included a blacked-out grille, and special spoilers on the exterior, a special trim, seats and instruments on the interior.
Most of those original features of the Eliminator can also be seen on the car pictured in the gallery above. Sitting on the lot of cars that will go under the hammer during the Mecum auction in Denver in July, it is the result of a three-year restoration process that ended in 2019.
The people behind it say they tried to keep this Cougar as close to the original as possible, including under the hood. The Boss engine is also there, linked to a 4-speed manual transmission and packing 290 hp.
The car in this configuration is one of just 323 produced in 1970, and it sells with 73,000 miles on the clock. No estimate as to how much it is expected to fetch has been made.
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