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Wisconsin-based hot rod builders Ring Brothers are known for their restaurant mods. Mike and Jim Ring specialize in taking old cars and revitalizing them with modern components. Their latest project is a 1968 Mercury Cougar.
The badge may say “Cougar,” but there’s a Coyote under the hood, like in Ford’s 5.0-liter V-8. It produces 460 hp and drives the rear wheels through a 10-speed automatic transmission from a Ford F-150 Raptor.
The car was restored frameless, with new floor panels and a new transmission tunnel, as well as a new front bumper, grille and badge. A performance suspension from DSE was installed, as were modern brakes. The Cougar is fitted with HRE C1 C103 Series three-piece forged alloy wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport tires.
Ring Brothers 1968 Mercury Cougar
While some of Ring Brother’s past builds have had flashy paintwork and heavily modified sheet metal, the Cougar looks largely stock. The main giveaways are the aforementioned forged wheels on the outside, the F-150 shifter on the inside.
Launched in 1967 as a companion to the Ford Mustang, the Cougar has never escaped the shadow of the Ford. The Cougar eventually moved on to a shared platform with the Ford Thunderbird, getting bigger and more luxurious in the process, and then was reinvented again as a front-wheel-drive compact coupe. This last generation ended production in 2002, and the Mercury brand followed it into oblivion a few years later.
“We had never done a Cougar before so it was a fun build,” Mike Ring said in a statement. “I love working with new shapes and coming up with new ideas. Ring Brothers would normally unveil a newly completed car at the annual SEMA aftermarket show in Las Vegas, but that has not been possible due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Mike Ring said he hopes the car can be shown to the public soon.
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