My musclecar phase was over a while ago but every once in a

Jun 20 (edited)

My musclecar phase was over a while ago but every once in a while something comes along that makes me pay attention. In the mid-60s Ford was trying to homologate its 427 side oiler engine for nascar. They ended up building 400 and something 68 Mercury Cougars with the 427 engine. They were detuned with a hydro cam and smaller carb and exhaust. Interestingly still rated higher than the 428CJ (335) at 390HP.

Besides clearly having a crazy amount of money spent on it what is good about this car is the vinyl roof delete and the color which is fairly rare. What I don't like is that has a conventional rear end (the posi was an option) and is not an XR7 which means no tachometer or console.

1 / 7

Jun 20, 2026

Reply to alsancle…

Replies (7)

· Jun 20

Here is the link to the auction on BAT. Looks like it is the 3rd GTE that Bat has sold. All of them had the 427 except I think they built 3 at the end with the 428CJ.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1968-mercury-cougar-gt-e-3/

· Jun 20

20 something years ago I had a GTE. Mine was original paint, had the original VIN stamped transmission and a pile of original paperwork going back to the original owner. The engine had ended up in a cobra replica. All of the blocks were cast in one lot in August of 1967 and I was able to find the correct date coded block. The heads were a bigger problem and it took a long time to find them. Super rare. All the other accessories on the engine come off a 390 Police Interceptor so those were easy. Sold it in 3 hours back around 2007. I clearly underpriced it as I put it on the Cougar forum and got 20 inquires the first day many for more than my ask. But I sold it to the first guy that called. No regrets. Restoration projects are sink holes.

1 / 8

· Jun 20

AJ, I love those. A guy in my class in high school (class of 83) had one. it was a light soft yellow (think cigarette cream Cord color) with a black vinyl top, but we knew it was very cool. I think it had a 302 in it. Not visually as alluring as the one you posted and certainly not as performance equipped, but we knew it was cool. He kept it clean and waxed looking great 365 days a year.

People rightfully compare these with Mustangs for obvious reasons, but I see them a little differently. To me they lean (with a performance element) into the personal luxury direction and I like them for that reason just like I love the 63-65 Riviera. Clearly they don't have the luxury refined interior of Bill Mitchell's Riviera, but I always thought of them as a car an executive might buy for himself to look more grown up than the mustang crowd, but a guy who was still a gearhead at heart.

· Jun 20

John, the Cougar and Mustang are just about identical with the big exception of the exterior sheetmetal. Have always been a Mustang/Shelby guy and have had lots but went through a maybe 7-10 year phase where I was also a "Cougar guy" and learned a lot about them. Your comparison to the Riviera is apt.

There are some very cool performance Cougars and the beauty of them is that they are typically much rarer than the equivalent Mustang. For example, you could get a Boss 302 engine in a Cougar.

· Jun 20

Love the color of the blue one A.J.

· Jun 21

Always liked the Cougar just a little more than the Mustang. As primarily a Buick fan the "personal luxury" car has appeal to me. These 427 cars are the top of the mountain I guess if you love early Cougars.

· Jun 22

Only thing better than a GTE might be one of the very few SCJ convertibles built in 1969 and 1970.