Ford’s Cougar dream car was conceived back in January of 1954, then had a second career in the 1960s on the car show circuit and in a famous Hollywood movie.
From what we can gather, the Cougar dream car story starts here, with a rendering in January of 1954 by Ford stylist John Samsen, who had successful careers at Studebaker, Ford, and ultimately Chrysler, where he contributed to a number of memorable Mopar muscle cars. The original Cougar design includes dramatic gullwing doors and hidden headlamps, along with another notable feature that foreshadows the muscle era: an air cleaner that protrudes through the hood.
While the facts and dates are cloudy (to us, anyway) the project was evidently given the internal Ford prototype designation D-523 and constructed on a ’55-’56 Thunderbird chassis. The 102-inch wheelbase of the T-Bird chassis defined the Cougar’s two-seat sports car proportions.
From there, the Cougar saga seems to go dark for a few years until around model year 1962, when a Ford 406 CID V8 was installed and the car, newly renamed the Cougar 406, was sent out on the car show circuit to promote the FoMoCo powerplant. New for ’62, the FE-based 406 was rated at 405 hp and sported three Holley two-barrel carbs in its top state of tune.
Hot Rod magazine treated the show car to a two-page spread (above) in its June, 1962 issue, with the editors including a teaser on the cover that asked, “Tomorrow’s T-Bird?” Doubtful, we think. While the design is indeed sleek and the gullwing doors are a futuristic touch, the overall look of the D-523/Cougar is more ’50s than ’60s, in our humble view anyway. For us, it’s a testament to Samsen’s work that his 1954 design could be presented as fresh and new in 1962.
In its next public appearance, the Cougar was no longer Sapphire Blue but was now sporting a brilliant Candy Apple Red paint job for the 1963 Hollywood romantic comedy, Under the Yum Yum Tree. Here, Jack Lemmon played a swinging ’60s bachelor and the Cougar 406 was the wealthy playboy’s personal transportation. We might safely presume that the striking red color was applied by famed customizer and painter Dean Jeffries, as photos exist of the Cougar parked in front of his shop at 5807 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles (below).
At last report the Cougar was resting safely in a private collection, according to concept car hunter Marty Martino. As we know, the Cougar name also led several lives at Ford. After it was used on the 406 show car, the Cougar name was seriously considered for the car that eventually became the 1965 Mustang. Then the Cougar became an actual Mercury product in 1967 (read about the ’67 Cougar here) and the badge remained in the Mercury lineup through 2002.
