This photograph shows paddock action on two Mercury Cougar works race cars of Bud Moore Racing , during the 1967 Trans-Am road race which was ridden on October 8, 1967 on the Pacific Raceways, in Kent, Wash., USA.

This image was taken just before the race. The number 98 Mercury Cougar was driven by Dan Gurney, he finished the race in 3RD place. The number 15 Mercury Cougar was driven by Parnelli Jones, he retired during the race. The race was won by Roger Penske (Chevrolet Camaro Z28) and Grady Davis (Ford Mustang).

The photographed number 15 and number 98 Mercury Cougars were entered for the race by Bud Moore Racing. In 1967, renowned NASCAR race car builder Bud Moore campaigned Mercury Cougars in the Trans-Am Series with Ford Motor Company factory support. The team featured superstar-caliber drivers, such as Captain Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Peter Revson, David Pearson, and Ed Leslie. Factory support dried up towards the end of the season. Ultimately, Mercury lost the championship to Ford by two points. In 1968, Bud Moore took his Cougars NASCAR racing in the newly formed Grand American series. Star driver Tiny Lund dominated the series and took the championship. After the Cougar changed to the Thunderbird platform in 1974, the bodystyle was raced in NASCAR. The Wood Brothers Racing team with David Pearson and later Neil Bonnett was very successful with the car and scored a number of victories until the bodystyle became ineligible following the 1980 season. The next year (1981) saw the previous Cougar teams switch to the Thunderbird when NASCAR mandated the smaller (110-inch-wheelbased) cars, though oddly the Thunderbirds had to have their wheel bases stretched 6 inches, as the production cars wheelbase was only 104 inches. From 1989 to 1990, Lincoln-Mercury Motorsport fielded Cougars of the new body style in the GTO class of the IMSA GT Championship. The cars collected the championship both years, and continued the teams' streak to seven manufacturer's championships.

Mercury Cougar is the name applied to a diverse series of automobiles sold by the Mercury division of Ford Motor Company from 1967 to 2002. As was common with Mercury vehicles, the Cougar shared basic platforms with Ford models. Originally, this was the Mustang, later the Thunderbird, and the last a version of the Contour/Mondeo. The Cougar was important to Mercury's image for many years, and advertising often identified its dealers as being "at the sign of the cat." Female models holding big cats on leashes were used on Cougar ads in the early 1970s. The car was assembled at the Dearborn Assembly Plant (DAP) (one of six plants within the Ford Rouge Center) in Dearborn, Michigan from 1967 to 1973, at the San Jose Assembly Plant in Milpitas, California from 1968 into early 1969 and at the Lorain Assembly Plant (LAP) in Lorain, Ohio from 1974 to 1997.

First generation (1967–1970)

The introduction of the Cougar finally gave Mercury its own pony car. Slotted between the Ford Mustang and the Ford Thunderbird, the Cougar would be the performance icon and eventually the icon for the Mercury name for several decades. The Cougar was available in two models (base and XR-7) and only came in one body style (a two-door hardtop). Engine choices ranged from the 200 hp (149 kW) 289 in3 two-barrel V8 to the 335 hp (250 kW) 390 in3 four-barrel V8. A notable performance package called the GT was available on both the base and XR-7 Cougars. This included the 390 in3 V8, as well as a performance handling package and other performance enhancements. The 1967 Cougar, with the internal code T-7, went on sale September 30, 1966. It was based on the 1967 refaced first-generation Mustang, but with a 3-inch-longer (76 mm) wheelbase and new sheet metal. A full-width divided grille with hidden headlamps and vertical bars defined the front fascia—it was sometimes called the electric shaver grille. At the rear, a similar treatment saw the license plate surrounded on both sides with vertically slatted grillework concealing taillights (with sequential turn signals), a styling touch taken from the Thunderbird. A deliberate effort was made to give the car a more "European" flavor than the Mustang, at least to American buyers' eyes. Aside from the base model and the luxurious XR-7, only one performance package was available for either model: the sporty GT. The XR-7 model brought a simulated wood-grained dashboard with a full set of black-faced competition instruments and toggle switches, an overhead console, a T-type center automatic transmission shifter (if equipped with the optional Merc-O-Matic transmission), and leather/vinyl upholstery. The GT package, meanwhile, supplied a much larger engine, Ford's 390-in3 (6.4 L) FE-series big block to replace the small-block 289-in3 (4.7 L) standard powerplant. Along with this came an upgraded suspension to handle the extra weight of the big engine and give better handling, more powerful brakes, better tires and a low-restriction exhaust system. Introduced with the music of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass' The Work Song, the Cougar was a sales success from its introduction and helped the Lincoln-Mercury Division's 1967 sales figures substantially. The Cougar was Motor Trend magazine's Car of the Year for 1967. The Cougar continued to be a Mustang twin for seven years, and could be optioned as a genuine muscle car. Nevertheless, it gradually tended to shift away from performance and toward luxury, evolving into something new in the market — a plush pony car. The signs were becoming clear as early as 1970, when special options styled by fashion designer Pauline Trigère appeared, a houndstooth pattern vinyl roof and matching upholstery, available together or separately. A reskinning in 1971 saw the hidden headlights vanish for good, although hidden wipers were adopted. Between 1969 and 1973, Cougar convertibles were offered. Not much changed for the Cougar in its second year. The addition of federally mandated side marker lights and front outboard shoulder belts were among the minor changes, but the biggest changes were under the hood and in performance for the XR-7 model. A 210 hp (157 kW) 302-in3, two-barrel V8 was the base engine on all XR-7s and early standard Cougars. Three new engines were added to the option list this year: the 230 hp (172 kW) 302-in3, four-barrel V8; the 335 hp (250 kW) 428-in3, four-barrel V8; and the 390 hp (291 kW) 427-in3, four-barrel V8. In addition, the 289-in3 engine was made standard on base cars without the interior decor group midway through the model year. Mercury was serious about the Cougar being the performance icon for the company. The XR7-G, named for Mercury road racer Dan Gurney, came with all sorts of performance add-ons, including a hood scoop, Lucas fog lamps, and hood pins. Engine selection was limited only to the 302, 390, and 428 V8. A total of 619 XR7-Gs were produced, and only 14 Gs were produced with the 428 CJ. The mid-year 7.0-L GT-E package was available on both the standard and XR-7 Cougars and came with the 427 V8. The 428 Cobra Jet Ram Air was available in limited numbers on the GT-E beginning 1 April 1968. Conservatively rated at 335 hp (250 kW), the 428 Cobra Jet could produce much more (306 kW (410 hp)) from the factory. A total of 394 GT-Es were produced, 357 with the 427 and 37 with the 428. The GT-E came with power front disc brakes as standard. The third year of production, 1969, brought several new additions to the Cougar lineup. A convertible model was now available in either standard and XR-7 trim. These highly anticipated soft tops proved quite popular and today are considered, by many, among the most desirable of the '67-'70 production run. On the exterior, the grille switched from vertical bars to horizontal bars, and a spoiler and a Ram Air induction hood scoop were added as options. A new performance package appeared and several disappeared. The XR-7G and the 7.0-L GT-E disappeared, but the 390 and 428 V8s remained. The 290 hp (216 kW) 351 Windsor V8 was added to the engine lineup. The Eliminator performance package appeared for the first time. A 351-in3 four-barrel V8 was standard under the hood, with the 390 four-barrel V8, the 428CJ and the Boss 302 available as options. The Eliminator was the new top-of-the-line performance model of the Cougar lineup. It also featured a blacked-out grille, special side stripes, front and rear spoilers, an optional Ram Air induction system, and a more performance-tuned suspension and handling package. It also came in a variety of vibrant colors, such as White, Bright Blue Metallic, Competition Orange, and Bright Yellow. Only two Cougars came with the Boss 429 V8, making them the rarest Cougars ever built. Both were factory drag cars built for "Fast Eddie" Schartman and "Dyno" Don Nicholson. For 1970, the Cougar appearance was similar to the 1969 model, but numerous changes were made inside and out. It now sported a new front end which featured a pronounced center hood extension and electric shaver grille similar to the 1967 and 1968 Cougars. Federally mandated locking steering columns appeared inside, and the aforementioned new nose and taillight bezels updated the look on the outside. The 300 hp (224 kW) 351 "Cleveland" V8 was now available for the first time, though both the Cleveland and Windsor engines were available, if the buyer selected the base model two-barrel motor. The 390 FE engine was now dropped, and the Boss 302 and 428CJ soldiered on.

Total production: 1967: 150,893 1968: 113,720 1969: 100,069 1970: 72,343

The Trans-Am Series is an automobile racing series which was created in 1966 by Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) President John Bishop. Originally known as the Trans-American Sedan Championship it has evolved over time from its original format as a manufacturers championship for modified racing sedans to its current form as a drivers championship open to GT style cars. The series was formed at the dawn of the pony car era and was derived from the SCCA's A & B Sedan amateur Club Racing classes, based upon commercially produced cars which had been modified for racing competition. Originally the series was open to FIA Group 2 Touring Cars and it featured two classes, Over 2.0 Liter and Under 2.0 Liter, with both classes running together. The series was best known for competition among American V8 sedans such as the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, Plymouth Barracuda, Mercury Cougar (SEE PHOTO!), AMC Javelin, Pontiac Firebird, and Dodge Challenger in the 1960s and early 1970s. Marques such as Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Datsun, Mini Cooper, Saab, and Volkswagen competed in the series Under 2.0 Liter category. The Pontiac Trans Am was named after the series. According to SCCA archives, that brand has taken 7 wins in the 42-year-old series' 450+ events. The last win by a Pontiac Trans Am was in 1984. The Sports Car Club of America is the sanctioning body for the series and holds the rights to the "Trans-Am" name. The series has also been licensed by the Champ Car World Series and ran the majority of its races in support of the parent open-wheel championship. At first, the Trans-Am vehicles were primarily modified versions of the road-going car. The competition was divided into two classes- an "Under 2 Liter" class (predominantly small European sedans) and the "Over 2 Liters" class (displacement limited to 5.0 liters, or 305 cu. in.). The first race was in 1966 at Sebring International Raceway. The overall win went to Jochen Rindt driving an Alfa Romeo GTA (an Under 2 Liter entry), with Bob Tullius (driving a Dodge Dart) taking second overall, but first in the Over 2 Liter class. Allan Moffat in an Under 2 Liter Lotus Cortina won the third race at Bryar. Ford had full factory effort with the Alan Mann Cortinas but suffered from reliability issues. In 1966 the Over 2 Liter manufacturers' champion was Ford and the Under 2 Liter manufacturers' champion Alfa Romeo with the Kwech/Andrey GTA scoring 39 of the 57 manufacturers' points for Alfa. The Alfa Romeo of Horst Kwech and Gaston Andrey also scored the most points in the first unofficial drivers' championship, edging out Bob Johnson. In 1967 Porsche lobbied the SCCA to have the 911 accepted as a sedan and then dominated the Under 2 Liter field winning the manufacturers championship over Alfa Romeo. In Over 2 Liter, Ford edged out Mercury to win the manufacturers' championship. Jerry Titus won the second unofficial drivers' championship. These years were largely dominated by Mark Donohue, driving for Roger Penske. Penske campaigned Camaros through 1969, when he signed with American Motors to race the Javelin in 1970 and 1971. Donohue would chalk up 20 race victories between 1967 and 1970 and three unofficial drivers' championships, the third achieved in 1971. The 1970 Trans Am series is regarded by most racing historians as the high water mark of American road racing. Every "pony car" manufacturer was represented with a factory team and top driving talent: Chevrolet had the Chaparral Chevy Camaro Z28 team with Jim Hall, Ed Leslie, and Vic Elford. Ford's Bud Moore Boss 302 Mustangs were driven by Parnelli Jones and George Follmer. For Plymouth, the Plymouth Cuda' AAR (All American Racing) were handled by Dan Gurney and Swede Savage. Sam Posey, and occasionally Tony Adamowicz, drove Ray Caldwell's Autodynamics Dodge Challenger T/A (Trans Am), Jerry Titus had the Pontiac Trans Am, and Roger Penske's Sunoco AMC Javelin team starred Mark Donohue and Peter Revson. The Mercury Cougars were driven by Charlie Rainville, Bruce Jennings, and three other drivers in two races of the 1968 season. As evidence of the original modified production car concept, a fan favorite in the early 1970s was the "Grey Ghost", a '64 Pontiac Tempest, prepared by legendary Pontiac Chief Engineer Herb Adams and a group of his young proteges. The boxy six year old Tempest had once been Adams' wife's daily driver, with reportedly over 80,000 miles (130,000 km) on the odometer when it was turned into an A Sedan racer. It proved to be surprisingly fast, at a time when even a one year old car was considered out of step with the competition. It was entered in the opening round of the 1971 Trans-Am Championship. Unable to qualify, the car was allowed to start from the back of the pack. With Bob Tullius behind the wheel, it mowed through the field, and was running second behind eventual winner Mark Donohue's factory-supported Penske Racing AMC Javelin when the engine broke. Tullius would go on to win back to back Trans-Am championships in 1977 and 1978. Most of these cars have been preserved or restored and are still racing in vintage events today. The Historic Trans Am Group events often reunite drivers from the era with the cars they raced "back in the day". In 1969 the "U2" class was renamed when the engine displacement limit was increased to 2.5 litres. Porsche 911s and Alfa Romeo GTVs were dominant, until 1971 when the BRE Datsuns entered the series and dominated through 1972, when Alfa Romeo and BMW quit the series because an inability to beat the BRE prepared Datsuns. When these two marques dropped out interest in the series waned and the SCCA cancelled the series. Successful drivers included Peter Gregg, Horst Kwech, Bob Sharp, and John Morton. The Vintage Sedan Racers Group or VSRG is made up of vintage race drivers, car owners, car builders and enthusiast working together to bring the excitement of Trans-Am 2.5 and B-Sedan cars to vintage racing. Beginning in the 1970s, Trans-Am cars would also be seen competing in the IMSA GT Series. Rules evolved over the years, incorporating FIA touring and grand-touring classes as well as SCCA Club Racing classes. The different classes had restrictions placed on the allowed modifications in an effort to equalize competition between the different cars. In 1976, Trans-Am returned to the two category format, classifying FIA Group 4 and 5 cars as "Category II". During this time, Trans Am changed from a muscle-car based series to basically a support series for IMSA GT. This format was still in use when the series went on hiatus in 2006. In 1980, the SCCA developed a weight-to-displacement ratio for handicapping cars. Five-liter, 2600 pound vehicles dominated the field. Soon, tube-frame cars, often based upon commercially available and relatively inexpensive short-track stock car chassis, would begin to appear, eventually becoming the standard for Trans-Am competitors. Turbocharged, small-displacement engined cars would also appear and proliferate as the decade wore on. 1983 marked the emergence of a young African-American Formula Atlantic driver named Willy T. Ribbs, whose self-described "ultra-fast, aggressive, and smooth" driving style attracted the attention of Neil DeAtley, a wealthy contractor who was assembling a two-car team of racing Camaros for the Trans-Am series. DeAtley's major sponsor was Budweiser, the largest-selling beer in America, which also marked the association of truly major sponsor to the series. Ribbs came the team as the number two driver, with English Formula One driver David Hobbs driving the teams primary car. Ribbs agreed, and as a team, he and Hobbs dominated the 1983 season, with Ribbs winning five races and Hobbs winning four. The smooth driving veteran Hobbs took the Trans-Am championship with his more consistent finishes, while the more brilliant, yet aggressive Ribbs was named Trans-Am Rookie of the Year. During practice for the first round of the 1984 Trans Am season, Ribbs fought with fellow competitor, Bob Lobenberg, over an on track incident and was summarily fired from the team. Out of a ride for the first four events, Ribbs joined Roush Racing, who had entered into Trans-Am competition that season, driving Mercury Capris. With the help of Ribbs's 3 wins, Mercury took the manufacturers' title from DeAtley's Chevrolet. For the next six years Roush entries would dominate the series, winning 46 of the 83 races. Back with Roush again for the 1985 season, Ribbs scored seven victories and became the leading money winner in Trans-Am series history, yet finished second in points, as teammate Wally Dallenbach, Jr. used his consistently higher finishes to take the championship. 1986 was wildly competitive as the aforementioned Turbocharged, small-displacement engined cars would become more powerful and go from field fillers to race winners. The Roush Racing Mercury Capri V8s and Merkur XR4Ti turbo 4s were head to head against Camaro V8s, and the turbocharged Buick Somerset, when actor/race driver Paul Newman shocked everyone and took round 8 in his Nissan 300ZX Turbo. Dallenbach would again take the championship, this time in a Protofab Camaro. The Roush Merkurs won of Scott Pruett and Pete Halsmer dominated the 1987 season, winning all but one race, with Elliott Forbes-Robinson taking that win in his Porsche 944 Turbo. Pruett would take home the championship. In 1988, after years of rallying, Audi would enter the series with the 200 turbo quattro via the services of Bob Tullius's Group 44 Racing. As usual the car ran their trademark Quattro system. However this did not run without controversy as the car, piloted by Haywood and with both Walter Röhrl and Hans Joachim Stuck sharing duties, steamrollered the opposition taking eight out of thirteen wins. As Audi would defect to IMSA by the end of the season, the SCCA would change the regulation to a two wheel drive only and banning cars with non American engines from taking part. The Historic Trans-am & IMSA Group[8] is dedicated to the preservation of the cars that ran in the SCCA Trans-am series and the similar IMSA GTO class from 1980 until 1991. The variety of cars in these classes ran the gamut from turbocharged 4 cylinder Merkurs to Corvettes with 358 cubic inch V8s. In the 1990s Tommy Kendall, in a Ford, was the driver to beat- he would take four driver's championships in this decade. Chevrolet was also prominent in this time period, with 6 drivers' champions in their cars. Paul Gentilozzi rose to the fore beginning in 1998 with his first championship in Trans-Am. He would win four more championships, driving a Chevrolet, Ford, and Jaguar. These latter years also saw more marques enter the field, with exotics such as the Panoz Esperante, Qvale Mangusta and Jaguar XKR. Later in the 2004 season, a Rocketsports Racing Jaguar XKR raced with a production-based 4.5 liter 650 hp (485 kW) DOHC AJ-V8. Due to a lack of participants and interest, the series all but ceased operations after the 2005 season. However the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) continued to own the name and permitted Heartland Park Topeka to run two races in September and October 2006 using Trans Am rules and the Trans Am name. Fields were shored up by a makeshift assortment of SCCA GT-1 class amateur racers in town for the National Championship Runoffs later that week. It was announced on December 11, 2008 that Trans Am would be returning in 2009, with former champion Greg Pickett sponsoring the series with the Muscle Milk brand, using the SCCA's GT-1 category rules. The first race was held March 22, 2009. The revived series utilized the same vehicle rules as SCCA's amateur GT-1 class, providing top GT-1 competitors a professional series to progress to. Tomy Drissi was the first champion upon the series' return. The Trans Am Series has yet to re-establish a television contract, having lost its connections with Speed Channel upon the series' hiatus from 2007-08. Also, the World Challenge still receives priority on the Versus television network. In 2011, in an effort to increase grid sizes which typically numbered in the single digits in 2010, the Trans Am Series will introduce two additional classes of competition in addition to the 2010 spec which will race as "TA1". The new TA2 class will consist of SCCA GT2 and GTA class cars while the new TA3 class will consist of SCCA GT3 class cars. This is the first time that the series will feature more than one class of competition since 1979. The Trans-Am Series has used a tube-framed based format, similar to the original IMSA GT Series, since the early 1980s, with heavy emphasis on GT cars. The SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge racing series, run by the Sports Car Club of America and the Grand American Road Racing Association (respectively), utilize modified production-based cars sports cars and touring cars, similar in spirit to the original Trans-Am racers. With the rise of these series, Trans-Am saw decreased attention from the media. Speedvision did occasionally cover Trans-Am races until the series' demise in 2006, however. Trans-Am Manufacturers Championship points are awarded in both classes for 1st through 6th places, 9-6-4-3-2-1, with only the highest finishing example of a make receiving points. Beginning in 1972 SCCA instituted a Trans-Am Drivers Championship based on overall finishing position for 1st through 10th places, 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1. Beginning in 1990 the top 25 finishers were awarded points, 30-27-25-23-21-19-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-1.

The photograph that the winner of this auction will receive is a very nice and very rare non period photo that reflects a wonderful era of Mercury and Trans-Am automotive history in a wonderful way.  This is your rare chance to own this photo. It has a nice large format of ca. 8" x 10" (ca. 20 x 30 cm).  It makes it perfectly suitable for framing.