For Sale: 1973 Mercury Cougar in Staunton, Illinois

This 1973 Mercury Cougar is a convertible model that comes to you from the great state of Texas. Restored less than three years ago by the previous owner. This particular example is dressed in a jewel toned red paint with a tan color schemed refinished interior. Powered by an H-code 351 V8 engine with Edelbrock carburetor, intake manifold, and headers, it puts its power down to the pavement by an automatic transmission. Inside you will enjoy the Clarion head unit, air conditioning, and power steering. Convertible top works perfect and this car is ready to hit the Saturday night cruise or car show. By 1973, it was clear that the pony car craze was over, and Ford saw the writing on the wall. Therefore, this was the last year both Cougar and Mustang could be considered pony cars. While Mustang would be turned into a compact car in 1974 with the introduction of the Mustang II, the Cougar would be turned into a mid-sized personal luxury vehicle. And though the Cougar name would be applied to different models of Mercury's into the 21 Century, most agree that the classic Cougars ended in 1973. But before they went out, the Cougar as a pony car produced one last gasp and upped total production to 60,628, an improvement of nearly 7,000 from the previous year. That being said, the production of every pony car increased for the 1973-year model, and those that were still around dropped sharply the following year. The 1973 Cougar was basically a carryover model from the previous year as Ford got ready to present a larger and more luxurious Cougar the following year. Engine options were limited to two and were the same as they had been before, both of which were a 351 CID V8. The standard engine was a 2-barrel version of the engine that was rated at 168 horsepower, and the 4-barrel CJ version achieved 264 horsepower. As it had been since it was introduced in 1967, the Cougar was available in two models: the base model known simply as Cougar, and the XR-7 model, which featured upgraded trim. Both models were available in a convertible