The Cougar

Tony Spanevello        

1/22/17

Composition II

Dr. Iler

The Cougar

The Cougar is sleek, curvy, fast, and very nice to look at. When you spot, it you may want to run the other way. Speed is never a problem for the Cougar. It can outrun most things in its way. Lurking, stalking its next prey, many can underestimate the Cougar. It has been known to by others as an unstoppable predator. Only few know the true power of the Cougar. Personally, I am the only one that know the true raw power that lurks behind its muscle. Some call it a mountain lion, while others call it a puma. But it is most commonly called a Cougar. Due to recent health issues the Cougar has been in its cage for the past few years.

To many peoples’ surprise the Cougar is not an animal. The Cougar is part of automotive history. A 1972 Mercury Cougar XR7 is a very hard vehicle to find. To my luck there is one sitting in my garage right as I type. The motor that powers this beast of a car is a three hundred and fifty-one cubic inch Cleveland big-block. This motor is highly favorited and desire by car enthusiast and collectors. This is due to the ability to put the headers off a four hundred twenty-nine cubic inch motor. By putting those headers on the smaller motor, it offers exhaust to flow easier and the motor runs two times better. The sister motor that was offered with this car was a three hundred and fifty-one cubic inch Windsor. This motor did not let the owner apply this upgrade, making the car less valuable and less sought after.

The Cougar has been in the garage for a few years now. There was body work that had to be done to the car to stop and remove the rust that was spreading around the car. With having to do that my dad and I had to take the body of the car apart. Including fenders, bumpers, doors, the convertible top, the front-end assembly, and the hood. Also in this process, we had to take the exhaust loose in order to have the work done to it. So over the course of these few years we have been slowly putting the Cougar back together.

Throughout this painful process, I may have heard every possible curse word there is. Whether it is from me doing something wrong, or something falling on my dad’s foot. No matter what we do, or what we are doing with the car something always goes wrong. But even with those fast arguments and grunts, there is always some type of progress to be made. But what has been taking up most of time is the both of us trying to figure out why the blinkers are not working. One of the features that makes this car so unique are the sequential taillights. That is when you put the blinker blinks one after the other in a row. The only cars that have that are Ford Thunderbirds, Shelby GT500s, Mercury Cougars, and newer Ford Mustangs. To me this is the most beautiful thing you can put on a car. Once those blinkers are fixed, we must put the convertible top back on and bring it to a muffler shop and have the exhaust pipes bent in order to fit in the right area. The reason the exhaust pipes do not fit correctly is because of it being a convertible. Normal coupes have a hard top. But due to this being a convertible there is no support on the top of the car. So, to fix that Ford, put extra braces on the bottom of the car to regain that lost support from the convertible top. Once that it is done we will then be able to get the car inspected and street legal. Without the mufflers connected to the exhaust pipes that car is super loud. It is loud enough to feel the vibration raddle through your ribcage. You cannot hear what the person is saying about ten feet away, even when they are yelling.