Car of the Week: 1973 Mercury Cougar

As a teenager growing up in Livonia, Mich., things changed for the Gogola family when Cas opened the Midwestern Auto District, a used car dealership in Wayne. The dealership was located on Michigan Avenue, and its niche was selling automobiles that were traded in at the local new car dealerships in the area. Cas Gogola created an exceptional business relationship with these dealerships that allowed him to have first dibs on their best used trade-ins, which he then offered for sale on his used car lot.

Cas’ teenage son, Chris, started working at the used car dealership when he was 15. He and his mother would drive to the new-car dealerships to pick up trade-ins and transport them to Midwestern Auto District where they would be added to the used car inventory. Chris filled this role for the next three to four years, then moved into the porter position. While working at the dealership in 1976, his father took in a Candy Apple Red 1969 Ford XL with a white vinyl top and white interior. The XL caught Chris’s eye, and he had to have it. Chris asked his father if he could buy it, and Cas agreed to sell it to him for $200. The Ford XL was Chris’ daily driver and car show cruiser for the next year.

One day, a flatbed tow-truck showed up at the dealership carrying a 1973 Mustang Mach 1 with a blown engine. After some haggling and a lot of passionate convincing of his father, Chris was able to buy the Mach 1 under one condition: “You’re going to replace the engine on your time,” his father told him. With his father’s guidance, and under the tutorage of mechanic Bill Bruden, the next two weekends were spent installing a rebuilt 351-cid V-8 engine into the Mach 1.

With Bill’s help, Chris had himself an exceptional pony car. It was during the engine swap that Bill became a true mentor to Chris. Bill taught Chris everything conceivable about cars. Electrical, mechanical, but most important, how to maintain and care for an automobile.

In 1979, Chris’ mother told him it was time for him to get away from the dealership and branch out into something new. He enrolled at Eastern Michigan University and went to work as a footwear manager at Kmart to help pay for college. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business at EMU, then went to work for power tool company Makita as a sales representative in Michigan, followed by a career at Cooper Tools. Chris said he found his calling years later at the Henkel company under the Loctite brand. There he served as sales engineer and worked as a professional speaker, traveling the United States to teach classes about Loctite products. The engineering and sales careers taught him the importance of communication and how to properly interact with people.

Catching a Cougar

By the early ’80s, Chris was already fond of the 1973 Mercury Cougar. In 1981, he received a lead from a coworker and friend who knew about a one-owner, low-mileage 1973 Cougar hardtop that was well-optioned. Dalores Dauble had bought the Cougar new and was looking to sell it, if the right person came along. Chris contacted Dalores, who extended an invitation for him to come to her place to see her unrestored, Wimbledon White ’73 Cougar. While discussing the automobile, Dalores disclosed that her late husband had purchased it for her prior to his passing, because he wanted to ensure she had a new and dependable automobile. Dalores had grown tired of driving and decided it was time to sell the ’73 Cougar to someone who would maintain it much like she had done. By the time Chris first saw it, the 8-year-old Mercury had just 20,000 miles on the odometer and remained factory-new looking. Dalores and Chris worked out a deal and Chris became the Cougar’s new owner.

Back in June 1973, when Dalores took delivery of the Cougar from Bob Dusseau Lincoln-Mercury in Farmington, Mich., she went against the norm, insisting that the dealership remove the optional factory-installed Ford AM/FM radio and door speakers. The unit was replaced by an AM Radio with a single speaker in the dash. The dealership covered the void in the inner door panels, where the door speakers were originally installed, with black tape.

After acquiring the ’73 Cougar, Chris was thumbing through the documents and noticed the original dealer invoice showed the Cougar was originally produced with the AM/FM radio and deluxe speaker option. Years prior, he had acquired a new Ford AM/FM sound system with premium speakers. Wanting to make the car right, he removed the AM radio from the dash and the black tape from behind the speaker grilles in the doors. When he went into the dash and doors, he found the original wiring was still in place, just tucked away, easing the re-installation process.

Chris didn’t stop at the radio. He also added a factory XR-7-style tachometer to one of the gauge pods in the dash, a power antenna, power trunk release, spare tire lock and Motorcraft locking gas cap. He finished it off with intermittent wipers. With these Ford Motor Co. dealer options, the standard 1973 Cougar that was ordered with every option available (for a non XR-7) had now been transformed into an XR-7, minus the “XR-7” badging. It’s worth noting that the XR-7-style tachometer is an addition that Chris had to re-engineer to fit the factory dash pod, and it looks and functions with perfection.

Chris’ story with the Cougar took a twist in 1991, about 10 years after he bought the Cougar. While detailing and waxing the car one day, something really odd caught his eye. After a double take, Chris noticed the passenger-side quarter glass trim molding is the standard factory Cougar style, but the driver side has the more detailed and longer XR-7-style trim molding. It turns out his 1973 Cougar is a factory “mis build.” Chris decided to leave it as is, and for the most part, no one really notices it. Apparently, an operator incorrectly installed the XR-7 quarter window trim molding, possibly due to looking at the car as it came down the assembly line while also looking at its build sheet, and mistakenly grabbed the XR-7 trim piece instead. The ’73 Cougar’s incorrect trim piece had gone completely unnoticed as the car traveled through the assembly plant, past the inspectors and into the dealership pre-delivery preparers before going home with Dalores. It took 18 years for it to be discovered in 1991, and even then, owner Chris Gogola, “Mr. Detail” himself, hadn’t noticed for 10 years of his ownership!

Currently, the 1973 Cougar has 79,900 miles on its odometer. The H-code Cleveland 351-cid V-8 has been exceptionally well maintained. Chris changes the oil every 1,000 miles, and there have been times when he changed it at the 200-mile range. Today, it runs like a finely tuned Swiss watch with no smoke or noise. The same is true with changing the FMX automatic transmission fluid, which Chris says he’s changed a handful of times. Even the factory air conditioning blows cold air and still works like the day it left the factory.

Chris jokingly refers to himself as a car fanatic. Each of his automobiles, including the daily drivers, are over-maintained, over-detailed and, in most cases, over-optioned. If they didn’t receive a factory option, but the manufacturer offered it as a dealership add-on, chances are Chris has added it to his automobile.

His purpose or goal with each of his automobiles is to keep the internal engine components clean and running like new. Much of this can be attributed to his mentor, Bill, when Chris was a teenager getting into the car scene. As Chris was getting hit hard with the car bug, Bill stressed the importance of fresh engine oil, clean fluids and keeping records of what preventative maintenance was done and when it was done. Chris didn’t divulge Bill’s recommendation for oil changes, but 1,000 miles or less between oil changes is something Chris swears and lives by. He adds, “What better way to stay on top of your automobile than to do the detailing, change the oil and fluids?”

The ’73 Cougar is an important part of the Gogola family. It’s the car in which Chris Gogola proposed to his wife, Terri, and now the two occasionally cruise it to local car shows. Chris and Terri now have two sons: Trevor, their eldest, is married to wife Jenna and they have two children, Piper and Walter. Their youngest son is Austin, a Lego genius.

Joining the ’73 Cougar in the Gogola automobile collection is an original 1986 Mercury Capri 5.0 Liter RS and a 1986 ASC McLaren convertible. They, too, are original with low miles and in like-new condition. They are meticulously cared for, much like the 1973 Cougar. Look for feature stories in Old Cars about each of these automobiles in the not-so-distant future. Each of them has a great history with some of the special and unique experiences with their owner.

The Mercury Cougar in Retrospect

By 1973, it was clear that the pony car craze was coming to an end, and Ford Motor Co. had seen the writing on the wall. Therefore, this was the last year both Cougar and Mustang could be considered pony cars. While Mustang would be turned into a compact car in 1974 with the introduction of the Mustang II, the Cougar would be turned into a mid-sized personal luxury vehicle. And though the Cougar name would be applied to different Mercury models into the 21st Century, most agree that the classic Cougars ended in 1973.

But before it went out as a pony car, the Cougar produced one last gasp and production rose to 60,628 cars, an improvement of nearly 7,000 from the previous year. That being said, the production of every pony car increased for the 1973 model year, and those that were still around dropped sharply the following year.

The 1973 Cougar was basically a carryover model from the previous year as Ford prepared to present a larger and more luxurious Cougar the following year. Engine options were limited to two versions of the 351-cid V-8 configured exactly as they had been the year before. The standard engine was a two-venturi 351 rated at 168 hp, and the other was a four-venturi 351 CJ that achieved 264 hp.

As it had been since it was introduced in 1967, the Cougar was available in two models: the base model, known simply as Cougar, and the XR-7 model, which featured upgraded trim. Both models were available as a hardtop coupe or convertible. The 1973 Cougar had an original base price of $3,372 as a hardtop and $3,726 as a convertible, while the XR-7 had a base price of $3,679 as a hardtop and $3,903 as a convertible.

Like Mercurys? Here are a few more articles on Mercs for your reading enjoyment.

Related: Car of the Week: 1951 Mercury convertible

Related: Car of the Week: 1956 Mercury Montclair

Related: Car of the Week: 1972 Mercury Montego GT

SHOW US YOUR WHEELS!

If you’ve got an old car you love, we want to hear about it. Email us at [email protected]