I remember my dad driving home in a brand new 1967 Cougar in 1967. I was 5. The car was green with spoke hub capped wheels. It was the same color green as the one in this video! I remember later he had problems with the turn signals and the hidden head lights. He was mad about that. He would make us kids go out and manually pull up the hidden headlights when it got dark. Ah, the memories! :)

This should be a regular thing! It's like a history lesson that's fun and informative!

I love how Cooley treated this perfectly normal as he would any new car. It was so cool to watch and as always perfectly executed.

I bought a 67 Cougar off the showroom floor. Three months later, I was drafted. I had to sell the Cat. In 2003, I saw one for sale in Huntsville, AL. I bought it and it's been in my garage ever since. Triple black, XR7

When I was about 7 or 8 (1977, 78), my Dad & I went all over Tucson, AZ. to find the right Cougar to buy. He ended up buying three of them, in order to combine elements of all into one, awesome, beast of a car! The engine was the 351 Cleveland (rebuilt), he then added pneumatic front to rear stabilizers for smoothe, fast, cornering. AWESOME MACHINE!!!!👍🙂‼️

We were at the Mercury dealership getting something done to our Comet Caliente when the first truck load of Cougars arrived. Dad traded for a the red one before it was even off the truck. Being 13 at the time that memory is still burned into my brain. What a great day.

This was my first car. Purchased it in 1985. White exterior, baby blue interior. It was awesome!

Never knew they were that light!! ALways dug those cars.

Retro car reviews -- brilliant idea! Keep them coming! I remember the '67 Cougar well. My gf's father had one. It had a decal on the front fender that said "6.7L". He thought he'd bought a 289 but under the hood was a 390 4-barrel with 425 ft-lb torque. I can relate from experience that thing would smoke the rear tires at half throttle. It was a dog in every other way, but its power was exhilarating.

It was, one of the best looking car of those days 👽

Great example of a sharp car as were made in the past, unlike today. Ranks with the '62-'67 Ford Thunderbirds and the mid-'80's Chrysler Cordoba!

Thanks for the trip back in time.

Prime Example of why Cooley rules the CNET Car review team... None of those other guys could pull off this retro review so flawlessly. Right on the button and didn't make a mockery of the old school review... Might I suggest next a '91 Acura NSX!

In the late 70's while in high school my first car was a 1970 cougar with a 351 cleveland which I wrecked the first winter I owned it. My second car was the 67 with the 390 motor. Both were a lot of fun to drive. A lot of good memories with both cars.

My Grndfather drove a standard 1968 six cylinder Mustang. My Grandmother drove a loaded 68 Cougar with a 302 4 barrel dual exhausted engine. It was hard to believe these two cars shared anything! Funny though as a 10 yr old kid I never noticed any more leg room in the back seat of the Cougar! That Cougar could burn rubber like hell. You could also see the gas gauge on the Cougar actually move after a long grade or after Grandpa punched the gas hard to pass a car. Both had only 18 gallon tanks. The Cougar could burn through that tank so fast you don't even want to know!

My driving school had a '67 in its small fleet and driving the Cougar made me fall in love with it; it was really fun to drive. Never could afford one myself but did look into acquiring one later on in life. Unfortunately, most of the 67's and 68's had dissolved into iron oxide by then and the survivor cars were (again) beyond my reach.

This guy can sell anything!

Have always wanted an XR-7 😍😍😍😍

I have to say that interior is much nicer then I imagined it.

I had one exactly like that I bought in 1980 for $750. It had 75k miles. I rebuilt the 289 with some improvements, changed the transmission from a standard with 3 on the tree to a 4 peed aftermarket and had a ton of fun in it. It was a great car. I also owned a luxury model 1969 that was a better version of the ‘67. the factory engine had been replaced with a 351 Clevland that had replaced the original Windsor engine. I bought it for around $900 with 55k miles on it - the owner had just replaced the engine but needed to sell because his family had gained a new member and needed something with more room. I Crossed the country 5 times with it and it was as solid and trouble free car as I have ever owned. It wasn’t as sporty as a Mustang but it had enough power to get around most people. it was also a lot more comfortable ride than the Mustangs of its time. All leather, longer wheel base, still handled pretty decent for a semi-sports car.

Earl here with a more accurate description of the 67 Cougar. First off it came with a C4 automatic and not a C3 as mentioned and the 390 V8 used the FMX automatic. Even though this car was a unibody construction, you cannot compare it to the mustang at all. It drove and offered the smoothness of a full sized car and had strong sheet metal and the doors and fenders were thick and solid like the Lincoln. It was not a Ford but was a Lincoln mercury piece of machinery. My parents bought one new in fall of 1966 and I bought one in 1974 when I was age 18. These were highway cars and were definitely not mustangs. It was compared to the ford mustang because it was unibody under carriage construction but so was the heaviest of luxury Mercedes benz of that time!. Myself and many HS friends owned 65 and 66 mustangs and they were sporty around town and had thin metal doors and rattling sounds and they were fun yes but I'm just pointing out truth here as to where the 67 cougar had solid doors just like a Lincoln and was a car you could drive cross country and not be sore. These were luxury highway cars people. Us older people that lived and drive this stuff know what is really true. And teens did not drive these cars either but were age 30 and up persons usually only had these cougars. It is also FALSE that the manual was a three on the column, they were 3 speed on the FLOOR if they were manual

Tech errors: The Cougar never had a C3 automatic installed in it. The C3 was a later model of transmission than the C4 and was mostly used on four and six-cylinder engines in the 70's. If you wanted an automatic, the base model (used with the small block V8's) was a C4. Larger engines got the FMX or C6. Base transmission overall was the 3.03 manual (since the automatic was an optional upgrade), and the upgrade was the 4-speed Toploader. The 3.03 didn't shift on the column. That shifter was also on the floor. Distance from shifter hole in the floorboards to the firewall in a Cougar is the same as a Mustang, so stealing a Toploader out of a Mustang and putting it in a Cougar is an easy weekend swap. (I did this on my originally-C4-equipped '68 XR-7, and running through four gears behind a 302-4V is a real hoot. Can't wait to see how it does behind the 331 stroker going in the car next...)

The Mercury Cougar made it's Trans-Am racing debut in 1967 with the cars dominating the series. Going into the the last race of the season Cougar was leading Ford Mustangs when mechanical issues struck down the pair of Cougars losing the 1967 T/A championship by 2 points to Mustang. Although Cougar would go on to win other championships none would have factory sponsorship like in 1967 when Cougar dominated Mustang.

I had that same cougar in 1972 loved it and miss it so badly love to get another one someday... I paid 1300 for it and 72 I think they're a tad more now!

Such an awesome video

Do more of these! Pretty cool!

Right On, good info too.. A true classic!

Hey Brian if thats your car it's awesome . congrats it's a beautiful daily driver

Forget Cnet, just to THIS. Old car reviews, in exactly this style, with period correct clothes (nice crevat!), but maybe with modern pricing. Do THAT, and you'll get more hits than Smoking Tire, RCR, and all the rest of them combined.

Love the hanging TV option, haha!

Love this car

nice Mercury. Remember that good from whenI was young.

Aways loved the early couger

My 1967 Xr7 came with a C4 Transmission

Great looking car

C4 transmission not C3. Great video.

I love how he used cubic inch engine measurements. Cars today should have both numbers listed

Hey CNET can you guys make this a regular thing. Its like a fun history lesson.

2:53 The problem with the TV is the miles long extension cord you'd have dragging behind the car.

they should review more older cars like this...

Best... CNET video... EVER!

Man, I can't believe how far automotive tech has come. 16mpg is worst than what many trucks and SUVs get these days... But gas was like, what, 30 *cents* per gallon back then? I wonder what the cars of the coming decades will look like (if we still have them).

Mix a 1964 Lincoln Continental with a Mustang and you get the 67 Cougar, one of the most perfect designs ever!

Great car, can you do one on a 57 Chevy, and the Bandit Trans Am?

No mention of the optional FE 427 Side Oiler big block, aka the hemi killer....

Cool

Never had a "three on the tree" manual transmission in these cars.

Dat msrp though

FOMOCO must have gotten a great deal on tanker loads of green paint in the 60s and early 70s....especially Lime Gold.

5:19 That’s about $32,000 today.

Lol!!! This was great!!!

so Cooley or Leno?

Only question is: what car still had a cassette player in 2010?

That car came with a C4 transmission. Never a C3, as the C3 was introduced later.

olds 442 next

hey cnet i am a fan of all your videos and i am in need of your expertise recently i am thinking of buying a smartphone but i am having mixed feeling should i buy the lg g3 or htc desire eye boyh are good and pros and cons are there but at a same price which is best and why i am a heavy user if gaming and want more value out of it plz help me

C4 automatic, 3 forward gears.

dont understand why cnet would do a cnet on cars for the 1967 Mercury Cougar makes no sense

You should have dressed for the part!

Might have been clever to actually show the same year Mustang? Just saying.

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Why don't new cars have PADDED PILLARS!!! The '68 camaro also did, but the '74 camaro did not - hard steel!!! !! MAKES NO SENSE!!

2nd

what is the point of making something like a review video....this car is no longer available as brand new....just present it like how they do in lenos garage

c3? lmao you mean c4!

C3?? WTF is a C3??? Lmmfao

Stupid!! having HVAC controls to the LEFT of the DRIVER!! Imagine that today with spoiled passengers that want separate controls for themselves! & no p/w or mirror on passenger door. & possibly no a/c & no 4 doors & no trunk lid extending to the bumper.

Why would you be stupid enough to add emission controls 🤣

So Crash it all you want

Cougar always looked better imo