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Digital Mercury Cougar XR-7 Revival Hides a Coyote Secret, Not Just LED Headlights

Produced between 1967 and 1997, then again for model years 1999 to 2002, the Mercury Cougar nameplate was the leader of the pack while Ford’s division lived under “The Sign of the Cat.
Mercury Cougar XR-7 CGI revival by jlord8 6 photos
Photo: jlord8 / Instagram
Mercury Cougar XR-7 CGI revival by jlord8Mercury Cougar XR-7 CGI revival by jlord8Mercury Cougar XR-7 CGI revival by jlord8Mercury Cougar XR-7 CGI revival by jlord8Mercury Cougar XR-7 CGI revival by jlord8
That’s how the company advertised back in the day its dealers, with big cats on top of signs and with cat-related monikers like the Cougar, Bobcat, or Lynx. Alas, one could also nickname the Mercury Cougar a ‘chameleon’ since the nameplate was quite adaptable, switching from a pony car to a personal luxury car, mid-size, and then even a sport compact lifestyle over the years.

While traditionally it paints the picture of a feisty two-door coupe, the Mercury Cougar was also manufactured (in almost three million units, making it the top nameplate for the brand) with convertible, four-door sedan, station wagon, and hatchback body styles. Of course, though, fans only want to remember the brave, not the humble, right?

And that is also valid across the digital automotive realm, as it turns out. So, here is Jim, the virtual artist better known as jlord8 on social media, who again has nothing but personal luxury car CGI ideas but also goes back to the pony roots, as per fan requests. The story is simple. The pixel master recently CGI-repacked the S650 seventh-gen Ford Mustang GT into a virtual Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe by way of instilling some Coyote 5.0 flavor into its digitally-revived, quirky DNA.

But then someone suggested a Cougar, and the CGI expert quickly obliged with a couple of versions. One is way too close to the Mustang and Thunderbird but the dark and menacing second Cougar XR-7 looks spot on for a murdered-out pony car with the V8 under the hood and hidden LED headlights in the grille! So, does it get our CGI hall pass, or should the nameplate have been left to rest?


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About the author: Aurel Niculescu
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Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution.
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