IMC Cougar II

[vamach1]

I’ve had this kit for a very long time and I figured it was time to get out the paint and glue and BMF and see what I could do with only brush painting.  The body was molded in a very nice metallic red so I thought why not just build it like someone might have 60 years ago.  The frame and interior were molded in black plastic so they are also unpainted.  When I go to the end of finishing it I realized the roof portion would have to be either painted or covered with BMF because there was no way the decal would conform to the shape of the roof.  I would have spray painted it earlier in the build but the though of making it off after I basically had finished it was the backup plan if the BMF did not look good.  A few things I will note about the kit (later reissued by Testors and Lindberg) is the chassis will NOT fir inside the body IF the body is completely assembled.  Since I did not paint the body that was not a dealbreaker.  The doors open but sag so they are best left closed.  The windows can be “rolled” up which is a cool feature on a kit this old.  The build went pretty well despite vague instructions and the shocks and upper and lower radiator hoses were quite the challenge to get them in the right positions.  I decided to leave the headlights closed and did not bother with the lenses.  As I was taking photos I noticed I forgot to paint the FORD letters on the side so I did that and retook one picture.  I was pretty happy overall with the kit and if I decide to build another one I would paint it.  It only took about three days to knock this one out.

The diecast is a 1/43 model made by Matrix.

Edited September 20, 2022 by vamach1
Xxx

[Classicgas]

Well done.

[Rich Chernosky]

 Rex...now if this doesn't bring back some memories. I have built this kit at least twice and exactly the way you did.  To me it is  still a great looking car and you did a very nice job on it.   Thanks so much  for sharing.  The diecast is cool too....now I  gotta find me one. 

[Kah puts]

An oldie but a goldie, you knocked it out of the park. 

[cobraman]

You did a great job on a difficult kit. I built it twice and yours looks better than either. I did use one of these to modify into the concept convertible as you may recall.

[happy grumpy]

Nice Cougar and super clean build.

[Street Rod]

Great job on the build! 
 

I’ve never seen this car before, I assume it’s a concept car? If so, too bad it didn’t make production. Really neat car!

[vamach1]

Thanks for all the kind words everyone.  It probably would have been difficult and expensive to mass produce this car and to compete with the Corvette which had a ten year head start.  The 260/ 289 Cobra was getting off the ground at the same time and made for a fast race car but was a pretty impractical street car.  I guess Ford figured they could make so much more money using the Falcon chassis for the new Mustangs which would have a much broader market appeal.  One wonders without the Mustang if Ford could have bankrolled the many domestic and international racing programs and ultimately winning at Lemans.

One thing I did not notice unless the chassis was squeezed into the body was how far back the engine sits.  This overhead shot shows it was basically a longer body on a Cobra chassis so there is a lot of open space in front of the radiator.

[Slotto]

Super nice job! I cant get over how much the shape resembles the Corvette.

[spencer1984]

Nicely done! I really like the group shots.

[PappyD340]

Very cool!

[Mike C]

Looks good. But you probably should have done the roof with AlClad Polished Alum. That BMF is hard to lay such a large area sheet like that smoothly.

[Oldcarfan27]

I love this car. It's so conversely designed from everything else Ford was doing at the time. This must've looked like a spaceship in comparison. 

I remember building one of these when I was young and was enthralled by all of the working features, especially the working windows. Of course, I was too inexperienced to do the kit justice and messed it up royally, but it still was one of my favorites.

I just got to thinking, wonder if the Cougar II would fit the more traditional Mustang II chassis and vice-versa. Might make for a good "what if" conversation. Ford could have mass produced the Cougar II and made a full racer out of the Mustang II.

[vamach1]

3 hours ago, Mike C said:

Looks good. But you probably should have done the roof with AlClad Polished Alum. That BMF is hard to lay such a large area sheet like that smoothly.

Agree.  I did not try to smooth it out very much and if that does not work with another try then painting would be the far better alternative.

[slusher]

Beautifully done!

[TooOld]

Well done Rex , you built it just the way it should be done and the way I remember  !  I built one when they first came out (not a complete disaster) and have one stashed that I may try again soon . 

[echo]

I remember when these came out, can't be 60 years ago, seems like only yesterday. Nice job Rex, what's for dinner ?  See you Tuesday.........

[doorsovdoon]

Nice build. Beautiful looking car.