Classic cars: Race-ready, former 'rental' finds a home
The Mercury Cougar debuted in 1967 and Bill Reum pounced as soon as he saw one.
Reum wasted no time buying a green coupe in Wichita, Kansas. He didn't have it long - but it's safe to say, he got his money's worth. Reum was always on the road traveling for business and in 12 months racked up more than 100,000 miles.
In 1969, he transferred to Jacksonville, Florida, where he went on the prowl for a replacement. He found a bigger cat: a '68 Cougar equipped with the special XR7-G package. The XR7 made it lavish while the G made it sporty.
The G stood for Dan Gurney, a race-car driver for Mercury. Mercury, owned by Ford, followed the route of the Shelby Mustang. They used Gurney's name and image to build a race-ready Cougar that was available at dealerships.
The XR7-G is equipped with several Carroll Shelby components, including the bullet-shaped rearview mirror and driving lights. Shelby worked with Ford designing and building racing Mustangs. The XR7-G package also included dress-up items like chrome hood pins and a wood shifter inlaid with a gold Cougar cat logo.
Reum found the vehicle at a Miami dealership and, while he knows the previous owner, he has absolutely no idea who drove it. That's because it belonged to Hertz and was part of its “Rent-a-Racer” program. No doubt, eager tourists jumped at the chance to get behind the wheel for their beach vacations, unleash this beast on the coastal highways.
“People probably worked the car over pretty good,” Reum says, chuckling. “But it was in fantastic shape when I got it.”
Even better, the Cougar still had warranty coverage. Not that Reum was one to handle the car daintily. It was meant to run and run it he did. Reum was the head of his local sports car club in Florida and often rented military air bases for members to run all out.
“We'd autocross around pylons and blast down long straightaways on the open runways,” Reum says. “That's how I found out the car can do 170 miles per hour.”
He remembers hanging with Camaro Z-28s and thrashing Hemi-equipped Barracudas.
“The Cougar's suspension was so good,” he says. “It was one quick ride around the track.”
The miles were not all full-throttle. Reum's wife, Jackie, used the car to haul their kids around. “The back seat was wide enough to fit all three across,” Reum says. He used it, too, making business trips all over the Southeast.
The couple, who now live in Sleepy Hollow, stopped using the classic regularly sometime in the 1980s but their Cougar love continued. Over the years they've owned a total of six.
“They're silky smooth on the road and luxurious inside,” Reum says. Those others came and went, but they couldn't part with this XR7-G.
The odometer currently shows 112,000 miles and, other than one repaint, it is all original. Reum still gets a thrill taking it out but soon he'll be passing it on. His boys are now grown and can't wait to get their paws on this cool cruiser.
Share your car's story with Matt at auto@dailyherald.com.