1969 Boss 429 Mercury Cougar

Back at the height of the muscle car era, you could literally just walk into a dealership and buy a street legal race car right off the showroom floor, because Nascar rules stipulated that in order for a car and engine to compete, at least 500 examples had to be sold to the general population. Ford Motor Company wanted to compete against Mopar's Hemi, and answered back with a salvo of 1969 (and later, 1970), Boss 429 Mustangs. Less than 1,400 of these Mustangs were ever made, and a lot of effort went into squeezing the massive V8 mill under the hood, making it the most unique and desireable Mustangs ever created. However, even MORE valuable and infinitely rarer still were the 2 (count 'em, 2), Mercury Cougars that were also fitted with Boss 429 engine in 1969.

The Mercury Cougar was a mirror of the Mustang up through 1973. Yet, mysteriously absent from those early years was the Boss 429 engine option, which could be ordered on the Mustang during the 1969 and ’70 model runs. Ford did commission just 2 1969 Mercury Cougars equipped with the semi-hemispherical Boss 429 engine , and sold both of them for just $1 a piece to two famous drag racers, "Dyno Don" Nicholson, and "Fast Eddie" Schartman. Designated by Mercury as “clinic cars,” the 2 Boss 429 Cougars toured through dealerships to teach Ford gearheads a lesson about horsepower.

Like the Mustangs, the Cougars required a lot of work to fit the 429 engine between the shock towers. They were sent to Kar Kraft in Brighton, Michigan, to be modified to receive these engines. The Boss 429′s “Semi-Hemi”design made it a very wide engine requiring the shock towers to be moved outwards one inch in either direction, creating an additional two inches of clearance. The lower A-arms also had to be dropped an inch to accommodate the engine, and even then, a massive hood scoop was needed to ensure the hood could close. Even the battery had to be relocated to the trunk. These were big engines, even at a time when big engines were common.

As like so many famous muscle cars, these 2 Cougars were lost to history for a time. Unlike the Boss 429 Mustangs, which were given the special Z-code stamping, these were just regular R-code Cougars. The R-code Cougar was equipped with the 428 Cobra Jet engine, which while still rare and desirable, was no Boss 429 engine. Nobody really seemed to care about these cars initially though, as they were not seen as great competitors.

While everybody still recognizes the Boss 429 Mustang as the awesome muscle car that it is, we sometimes forget about the many other muscle cars that it once shared the stage with. None were closer than its luxury sister car, the Mercury Cougar, and about how for a little while, this kitty stole some of the spotlight from the Mustang. While the Mercury division has been phased out, the enduring legacy of cars like the 429 Boss Mercury Cougar still manage to take us back to a time when horsepower was king and muscle cars ruled the roads. Since only 2 were made, a 1969 Boss 429 Mercury Cougar is currently valued at $112,000, and is listed as one of the Top 5 Most Valuable Mercury's of all time. Not to mention the fact that it is just plain drop dead gorgeous.