Ringbrothers Revives Mercury Cougar With A Mustang Heart

byJared Rosenholtz Classic Cars /12 Comments

Mercury may be gone, but the Cougar lives on.

Ringbrothers is one of America's ultimate car builders, known for reimaginingclassic muscle cars with a modern flavor。一些公司的最新作品包括1948ATS-V-Powered Cadillacand acustom Chevrolet Blazer。This time, Ringbrothers has taken a break from General Motors by building a unique muscle car from a forgotten brand. Behold the Ringbrothers resto-mod 1968 Mercury Cougar.

For those who are too young to remember Mercury fondly, Ford's mid-luxury division once built a softer version of the Mustang called the Cougar. Mercury last used the name on the not-at-all Mustang-related eighth-generation Cougar in 2002, but Ringbrothers has decided to use the coveted first-generation version for this resto-mod.

Ringbrothers

Under the hood, this Cougar borrows a 5.0-liter Coyote V8 engine from the2021 Ford Mustang, producing 460 horsepower running out through a Flowmaster exhaust. Rather than use a manual transmission, Ringbrothers paid homage to the Cougar's more laid-back theme by giving it the 10-speed automatic transmission out of a Ford F-150 Raptor. You can tell it's a Raptor transmission because the F-150's shifter is the only modern-looking piece in the interior.

The engine isn't the only new addition here. Ringbrothers installed new floor pans, a new transmission tunnel, DSE performance suspension, brakes, and HRE Series C1 C103 forged wheels wrapped in Michelin tires. On the exterior, a new bumper, grille, hardware, and badging finish off the restored appearance.

Ringbrothers

"We put our heart into each car we build, and this Cougar is no exception," said Ringbrothers co-owner Jim Ring. "The finished product is mild and classy, yet any enthusiast instantly knows it's not stock. I imagine this is what Mercury designers would have come up with if they were building the Cougar today."

"While wecouldn't bring the car to the SEMA Show, we hope it can be shown to the public soon," continued Mike Ring, co-owner of Ringbrothers. "We had never done a Cougar before, so this was a fun build. I love working with new shapes and coming up with new ideas."

Ringbrothers didn't announce pricing, as each creation is made to order.