Los Gatos Street Sighting - 1968 Mercury Cougar XR-7

"I love it when a plan comes together." Those words were made famous by George Peppard in The A-Team, and it's true. In my case, though, making plans usually ensures something will go wrong, but serendipity frequently comes through and something positive happens that's totally different. I planned a day to drive to Aptos via Santa Cruz. A Flickr member who owns a 1976 Citroën CX OK'd me to stop by and check out his car, if I could find it. Well, I couldn't. In fact, nothing in Aptos made itself available. Santa Cruz yielded a couple of vehicles that day including the Mazda Miata art car in my previous post. Then on the return trip I happened upon this gorgeous 1968 Mercury Cougar in the town of Los Gatos. And where better to find a Cougar than in a town whose name means "The Cats" in Spanish?

This is our third early Cougar and a fine example of a restomod, a vehicle that's been restored yet mildly customized for better performance and comfort. I love 1967-68 Cougars, though I rarely shoot them for this blog unless they call to me. This one spoke loud and clear with a beautiful deep green paint job accented by an unusual root beer brown two-tone on the lower body and on the Vintage Wheel Works V45 wheels shod in aggressive Fuzion ZRi rubber. It looks like it sits a couple inches lower than stock and the hood scoop from an XR7-G performance model suggests there may be something potent under the hood. Inside, the owner has installed modern bucket seats with adjustable headrests.

I love that this car looks to be a driver, not a trailer queen. It has some rock chips here and there. It's built to be driven and enjoyed, and it is awesome.