Ford Cougar II (Vignale) (1963)

The 1963 Cougar was introduced as a show model “from the company which pioneered the personal car.” To get in, open the electrically-operated top-hinged doors.

The Cougar II is a candy-apple red fastback design with a fiberglass body and a 260 High-Performance engine and 4 speed transmission.

In the 1963 Ford shown the third Cougar dream car, it was called Cougar II. This very handsome two-passenger GT sports car would have made a timely contender to the popular Corvette String Ray. (Ford explained that GT, or gran turismo, is a term usually applied to two-seat coupes designed for super highways.) Cougar II featured a fastback roof, conceaied “pop-up” headlamps, and a serious, fully instrumented interior.

Powertrain was a high-performance 260 cu. in. V-8 engine that connected a four-speed transmission with a console-mounted gearshift lever. It was claimed that Cougar II was engineered to reach speeds in the 170 miles-an-hour range. When interior air pressure exceeded 15 pounds per square inch, a reliefpanel across the rear of the passenger compartment opened automatically.

This panel was required, since there was the possibility that at high speeds, the extreme pressure against the rear window might blow it out. Cougar also had a unique spring-loaded window-lift mechanism that allowed adjustment to the curved side windows.