1968 Mercury Cougar

1967 & 1968 Mercury Cougars were basically identical with the exception of the federally mandated side marker lights being introduced in 1968.

The Cougar, based on mainly Mustang mechanicals, could be ordered with everything from a 302-cu.in. two-barrel to a stormin’ 427. That is the focus of our muscle car profile: the 1968 Cougar GT-E, one of the rarest of cats and certainly a very valuable muscle car today. If the Road Runner was the ultimate in bare-bones performance, the Cougar GT-E may well have represented the other end of the muscle car spectrum, and the price reflected this. The GT-E package alone cost a buyer $1,311, almost half the cost of an entire 383-powered Road Runner.

The GT-E was a test mule and became an option package halfway through the model year for homologation to compete in NASCAR. Mercury built about 10 427 Cougars in July 1967 and began production of cars to sell in January 1968. The production version used the new 428-cu.in. version of Ford’s FE-series big-block V-8. Just 394 were built with the GT-E package.

For what was nearly two months’ average salary in 1968, the buyer who checked off GT-E on the option sheet got the following: 428 engine (actually 426.5-cu.in., if you calculate the bore and stroke) with chrome rocker covers, 7.0-Litre emblem, quad chrome exhaust tips, C-6 Select-Shift Merc-O-Matic transmission, power steering, power brakes, Power-dome hood scoop, Cougar styled-steel wheels, Super Competition Handling Package, blacked-out grilles and two-tone paint. There were 11 top colors available over an argent bottom; the scheme was an offshoot of the XR-7 show car. Despite all the heavy options, a 428-powered cat could sprint from 0-60 in 7.1 seconds, quite spry for a 3,127-pound car. The quarter-mile could be devoured in 13.76 seconds at 103 mph–that’s in a GT-E with a factory 4.30:1 rear axle ratio. Using a Holley 4150-series 735-cfm four-barrel carburetor, the engine produced 335hp at 5,600 rpm and 445-lbs.ft. of torque at 3,400 rpm.

Ironically, Ford did not officially announce the Cobra Jet 428 until April 1, 1968. Mercury didn’t announce the Cobra Jet for the Cougar until May 1968. However, Mercury built a number of W-code 427 GT-Es after that announcement–30 in April 1968, 12 in May and four in June. Production of the R-code 428 GT-Es seems to have really begun later, during the final four months of the model year, which in those days normally ended in July. According to Kevin Marti, 37 of these cars were built. Every GT-E with the Cobra Jet had functional Ram Air.