To our US readers, Happy 4th of July!
It is obviously appropriate today to go American, but from what angle? I have given it a lot of thought, probably more than needed to, and considered a lot of models to feature, but it was Bring a Trailer that gave me the spectacular option:
My goodness that is a beauty. The Mercury Cougar doesn’t get the love that some other cars do, but it is most surely a looker. Seeing this one-owner beauty in such pristine condition definitely makes one appreciate it a little more. Half sport, half boat.
When I saw the pics, being a diecast nerd I instantly remembered this:
Sure, the real one is a ’67, and this is a replica of a ’68, but they are both pretty darn nice. So I dug through the Lamley collection and pulled the Matchbox Cougars I had, and I was pleasantly surprised to see I had a few:
We have seven. There are more out there, but I kept these over the years because of their plain street colors and decos. So into the Lamley Studio they go.
The Mercury is a valid 4th of the July celebratory casting, and it is also very deserving to be a part of our Last Golden Age of Matchbox series. So here it is.
The
Matchbox Cougar
was born at the same time as the Matchbox ’69 Camaro. Both were originally slated for a Matchbox Premium line, but that fell through, so they both debuted in the 2004 Superfast line. Since then the Cougar has been a Superfast staple, as well as a mainline favorite.
But we haven’t seen it a lot lately, and I wonder if we will see it again at all. The model might be too long. Big models at Matchbox usually come now in plastic, or much smaller. The recently-released Lamborghini LM002, for example, is much smaller than it needs to be, and maybe that was done so it doesn’t overwhelm the actual blister, or because more metal would not be cost effective.
And that might be the same here. Or it might not. Maybe we will see another version soon. Whether we do or not really doesn’t matter, because these seven are fantastic. The brown and orange versions are the highlight for me, with their “vinyl” tops, but the others are great too. Most notable is the light green, which hearkens back to the original Lesney Cougar.
So take a few seconds to look at the pics, hopefully you will enjoy them, give the USA a little chant for their classic cars,
grab a couple if you want, and then go back to the family and grill something.
Happy 4th…
Matchbox ’68 Mercury Cougar
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Such a great casting, but so sweet in real life. When I moved to the US, it definitely was one of those cars I fell in love with immediately. I remember not recalling seeing that style of headlights in Japan, and trying to imagine how the thing worked. lol
Selling off bunch of mainlines, including matchboxes this past week, but I did keep this one!
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Awe. Ya missed the opportunity to have the red, white and blur Cougars in one shot together.
Happy 4th Lamely. (Sorry…nieghbors kept me up with sky born fireworks well past 1 this morning..😨
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aaw. i just realized how awesome matchbox are. for the regular version, the casting and details are much better than hot wheels. its sad i did not notice this when i was little, sad that i just started collecting seriously and those good ol' matchbox arent there anymore.