What’s Wrong With This Picture?

29 Comments on “ What’s Wrong With This Picture? ”

• jgholt :
  November 21st, 2008 at 12:43 pm
  
  

  That’s horrible. Is that… a Mercury Cougar underneath???

• TEXN3 :
  November 21st, 2008 at 12:43 pm
  
  

  TTAC is slowing down again…sorry about the duplicate post.

• RedStapler :
  November 21st, 2008 at 12:44 pm
  
  

  Audi Rice!

  Remember you get an extra 5 hp for each performance sticker you put on the car.

• TEXN3 :
  November 21st, 2008 at 12:45 pm
  
  

  Is that a Cougar? There is one Ford/Mercury I never would have thought of as the basis for a replica.

• John R :
  November 21st, 2008 at 12:45 pm
  
  

  Yes it is a Cougar. Its one of the best conversions I’ve seen. I’m just glad they didn’t use a Fiero this time.

  That doesn’t mean they should have done it, though.

• fallout11 :
  November 21st, 2008 at 12:46 pm
  
  

  Lol, RedStapler!

  Why does the rear side windows appear to be plated over, and come all the way down behind the B-pillar?

• pariah :
  November 21st, 2008 at 12:46 pm
  
  

  The link provided just takes you to the photo gallery, but if you go to the Topspeed main site there is a short article which identifies it as a Ford Probe.

  That’s really unfortunate.

• TEXN3 :
  November 21st, 2008 at 12:51 pm
  
  

  It’s not a Probe (at least not an American Probe, but I believe that the Cougar was Ford’s replacement for the Probe in Europe)…unless the Cougar was based off the Probe, I thought it was on the Contour chassis. The Cougar was a pretty decent coupe, I remember a friend (female, of course) having a V6-5MT combo…drove nicely but my 92 Integra GS-R handled a little bit better.

• Stu Sidoti :
  November 21st, 2008 at 12:53 pm
  
  

  For the same price as this kit, you could easily pick up a Ferrari 308/328 or maybe even a 348/355…I’d rather have a real exotic albeit an old one than to poser-around in a Cougar R8…

  I might highly suggest that they remove the R8 badge from the steering wheel airbag door.

• fallout11 :
  November 21st, 2008 at 12:53 pm
  
  

  The Cougar replaced the Mazda-designed Probe, but was not on the (much smaller) Contour chassis.
  http://cars.about.com/od/detoursanddiversions/ig/American-branded-Eurocars/Mercury-Cougar.htm

• autonut :
  November 21st, 2008 at 1:04 pm
  
  

  Chinese knock off? Looks like Gucci shoes made in China.

• Richard Chen :
  November 21st, 2008 at 1:07 pm
  
  

  Spanish knockoff. 50K for the fiberglass skin?

• chuckgoolsbee :
  November 21st, 2008 at 1:08 pm
  
  

  I just threw up .

  –chuck

• Lichtronamo :
  November 21st, 2008 at 1:10 pm
  
  

  That’s a Mondeo based Cougar interior. I believe the car was sold in Europe also as the Cougar and not rebadged as a Probe.

• skor :
  November 21st, 2008 at 1:16 pm
  
  

  Not a Probe. The Probe was built on Mazda’s MX-6/626 chassis. The Probe was replaced by the Mercury Cougar which was built on the Ford Contour/Mondeo chassis. Both the Probe and last gen Cougar were fairly decent cars, although underpowered.

• Spaniard :
  November 21st, 2008 at 1:25 pm
  
  

  Yup, those plates are from Spain: Look at the small “E” at the bottom of the blue square.

• thetopdog :
  November 21st, 2008 at 1:25 pm
  
  

  Speaking of the MX-6, what happened to it? I used to see them all the time, but I don’t think I’ve seen one in years. And they’re not that old either. It’s like one day they all just disappeared

• mocktard :
  November 21st, 2008 at 1:38 pm
  
  

  The compact FWD coupe was a staple of the 90s.

  Now you’re limited to what? A Mini Cooper or a Scion tC? The Hyundai Tiberon maybe.

• RGS920 :
  November 21st, 2008 at 1:40 pm
  
  

  That is without a doubt a 1999-2002 Mercury/Ford Cougar. Having driven one for 7 years it’s unmistakable. The roof line, the way the back seats sit so close to the glass hatch that if you are over 5′6, your head will rest against it, the mirrors, the shape of the side window, and the placement of the door handle (exactly where it is on a cougar) all give away that the origin of this car was a cougar.

  Also the bulges around the front wheel and the continuation of the bulge along the fender flare is a common aftermarket body kit for the Cougar. (That body kit was actually molded after the design of the Cougar S, which featured buldges along the wheel wells continuing along the fender flares so that the massively wide tires they put on the concept car did not stick out farther than the body).

• oberon :
  November 21st, 2008 at 1:58 pm
  
  

  The guy’s website (it’s in spanish)
  http://www.replicaaudir8.com/

  Yes it is a 2001 Cougar underneath

• Eric_Stepans :
  November 21st, 2008 at 2:13 pm
  
  

  thetopdog wrote:

  Speaking of the MX-6, what happened to it? I used to see them all the time, but I don’t think I’ve seen one in years.

  The MX-6 was discontinued after the 1997 model year.

  They were nice cars (I owned a ‘96 for a while), but they were not noted for their durability. Especially problematic were the automatic transmissions in the 626/MX-6.

• kansei :
  November 21st, 2008 at 2:40 pm
  
  

  I wish Mazda would make their automatics much less reliable so that people would stop being lazy and buy real transmissions.

• Wolven :
  November 21st, 2008 at 3:27 pm
  
  

  Well, it shows FAR more imagination and style than most of what Ford themselves come up with.

• TEXN3 :
  November 21st, 2008 at 3:49 pm
  
  

  @kansei: Why does it matter what people choose? Laziness is usually not a (much less the) reason for choosing an automatic transmission. Get over it.

• Landcrusher :
  November 21st, 2008 at 4:48 pm
  
  

  Ah, the MX6. Those were really good looking cars, but as noted, they didn’t seem to live up to standard.

• Sajeev Mehta :
  November 21st, 2008 at 5:21 pm
  
  

  Hmm, looks like I have something else to do after the 3L swap to my friend’s 2002 Cougar.

  Just kidding. I think.

• AG :
  November 21st, 2008 at 6:42 pm
  
  

  We put a type-r sticker on our dorm room door back in college. we claimed it made the door open faster.

• skor :
  November 21st, 2008 at 10:08 pm
  
  

  @ Landcrusher

  The MX-6/Probe were missed opportunities. With the exception of the first gen turbo cars(crude) the cars were underpowered.

  The Ford, to their credit, had tight handling, but for some inexplicable reason, Mazda went with a soft suspension set-up.

  The weak point on all these cars were the auto transmissions. The Mazda auto trans in this car was a smaller copy of an existing GM trans. If you’re gonna steal, why not steal form the best instead of GM?

  The transmission lasted only for about 90-100K miles at which point a trans R&R cost more than the book value of the car.

  That’s why you don’t see them anymore.

• Flashpoint :
  November 22nd, 2008 at 12:36 am
  
  

  The way I see it, you could paint this thing ALL BLACK, tint the windows, and be a TOTAL POSER !

  Not many people would realize the difference.

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