1967 Mercury Cougar XR7G John Hildebrand #14 (SunStar) 1/18 diecast car scale model

1967 Mercury Cougar XR7G John Hildebrand #14 (SunStar) 1/18

EASY ORDER INFO HERE

1967 Mercury Cougar #14
Originally driven by Dave Tatum & Bill Pendleton.

Dave Tatum, the original driver and constructor of this car, worked as the operations manager at Burien Lincon Mercury in the 1960s. In 1967, Dave convinced the owner of the dealership that they should build a Trans Am Cougar. This was not a difficult argument, as Dave had consulted with Kar Kraft, a contractor for Ford Motor Company, in 1966 on the Ford engine program. During this time, Dave had worked with such racing luminaries as Jack Roush, Lee Dykstra, and Fran Hernandez, who were all noteworthy Ford engineers. In the latter part of the '67 season, Mercury was seeking help trying to secure the 1967 Trans-Am Championships, and thus began the semi-factory effort with the Burien Mercury Cougar. The dealership acquired a special order black coupe, delivered without the engine, but with the toploader transmission, Ford's high performance four speed, and nine inch heavy duty rear end. Dave, with free parts and technical help from his friends at Kar Kraft, turned it into a state-of-the-art (for 1967) acid-dipped Trans Am car. Certain items that Dave used on the car, such as the Watts link rear suspension, were later tried on the Bud Moore cars. The car was raced in 1967 at the Kent and Crows Landing rounds of the Trans-Am Series (both with Bill Pendleton as co-driver). In 1968, Dave again raced the car at the Kent TA race. For 1969, the car was sold to Bill Pendleton of Oregon. Bill raced the car at the Seattle and Riverside TA races, finishing a suprising eigth at Kent against much more modern machinery.

The Cougar continued to be raced in the SCCA road race events throgh the 1970s and early 1980s, when it was finally retired from professional racing events. In the 1990s, the Cougar was partially restored by a new owner and raced in several historic Trans-Am reunion events. In 2003, the car was fully restored and successfully raced by john Hildebrand for several years in the current Historic Trans-Am reunion series put on by HMSA Racing. In 2007, the Cougar was purchased by Richard Rodeck who is continuing to race the car in historic Trans-Am racing events. Today, the car remains restored to its original configuration.

SunStar Diecast Model No. 1577

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