I bought my first Mercury Cougar in 1985 at an all Ford show at Milan drag way. Just sold my high school car which was a 75 Camaro and was looking for a Mustang. Spotted this 1968 Cougar at the show was that was for sale and caught my eye as it had California plates. Didn’t know much about the Mercury Cougar, but liked the looks of it and it was different than a Mustang. Made the purchase and still own the Cougar after 31 years. My second Cougar purchase took place 2001 just after 9/11 and is a 1969 Boss 302 Eliminator. I was happy with the second Cougar until a low mile original XR7-G crossed paths with me in 2003 which I had to have. In 2005, I added a little diversity to the growing collection with a 1970 Boss 302 Mustang. Then, in 2012, two local 1967 project car Cougars were purchased for later builds. Also that same year I purchased a 1969 XR7 390 Cougar survivor, which was stored since 1973 and a 1969 XR7 428CJ 4spd Cougar in addition to a stash of 69 cougar parts from the same owner. In 2014 my son and I took one of the 67 project Cougars and built it into a road race car.    

letsridebc@yahoo.com

My cougar story begins before I even had a license.  It was 1972 and one of our friends who was a year older than I bought a 1968 Cougar, std. I believe.  Then another friend inherited a Cougar of the first gen of which I don't recall.  I would walk down the street to Tom's house every day to get a ride to school in his 68 std. and started to like these things.  Along came the first summer and we started to work on both friends cars while I started to finally get into drivers training. At 16 years of age I had to beg to drive "Mom's car" (God rest her soul) and didn't get to much love on that.

Finally I saved and borrowed from my dad to get a car.  It had to be a cougar.  I found a 69 XR7 and worked on it as well but it got crashed in the first snowstorm Detroit had in 1975.  After fixing that with a used front end clip I drove a two tone for a while, fell in love, and then got a brand new 1976 Cougar XR7.  Wishing I still had both of those first two cars.  Anyway, had the 76 for about 13 years, then an 85, 90, and 95.  I told a story at the 50th dinner where all of these decades since I moved to Holland I would drive by John's Classic Cougars and think that I need to stop in. I never did.  Fast forward, to 3 years ago when I stumbled across Pole Cat and bought her.  I met John and Dee at my first local show about a week later and got some of the history on Pole Cat and am addicted again.

​

John & Dee Baumann have 3 kids & their 3 spouses and 9 precious grandchildren! They still have the same ‘67 Dan Gurney Special, ’70 XR-7 convertible, John’s ’69 Ford pick-up. Mike still has his ’70 Eliminator, Dave has a ’65 Mercury Comet Stationwagon & John’s Classic Cougars is still alive & doing OK in this economy. They started their business in 1982 helping people find the parts & accessories they need to keep their “Cats on the Prowl”. They have spent years working on many, many reproductions for your cars.  

During all these years, they have reproduced 50+ parts for your Cougar. They have also worked with Ford Motor Company for the past 20 years as an Officially Licensed Dealer with Ford. All the parts they make are inspected by Ford & if they don’t pass their inspection, they either get them revised to where they do, or they can’t put them on your Cougar. 

jc-cougars@egl.net

While growing up in Pittsburgh surrounded by Chevys, Buicks, and Oldsmobiles, Mark finally saw the light and ventured away from the dark side while transforming into a bona fide Ford enthusiast in the mid-1980’s courtesy of a wise and extroverted co-worker. Mark was very fortunate that his first venture into the “classics” was a 1968 Shelby GT350 acquired as a pre-wedding gift to his soon-to-be wife, Judy in 1988 – Mark is extremely thoughtful.  

Turning the clock forward, the Shelby remained in the family for 27 years but was sold in 2015 and behold, was replaced with a 1968 Cougar XR7-G. Yes, another transformation took place! This Augusta Green 390 X-code beauty was brought back home to Michigan from Edmonton, Alberta, CA where it resided for the last dozen years and underwent a 3 year restoration from 2003 to 2006 with all NOS parts. Though there should be no worries from the Mustang community as Mark and Judy still have a Rio Red 1997 Saleen S281 Budget convertible in their garage but their real pride of the pack is the Cat.

mkulwik@ford.com

(COMING SOON)

brinsoj1@gmail.com

(COMING SOON)

concourseautobody@yahoo.com