The Pick of the Day is a 30-year-old cat with purrrfect records
It’s not every day that a car is offered for sale with baseball cards as an add-on, but the 4 packs of Tops baseball cards that come with this Cougar are a nod to nostalgia as we consider the highlights of 1990.
The Pick of the Day is a supercharged 1990 Mercury Cougar XR7 in Oxford White with only 46,000 miles, according to the Mount Dora, Florida, private seller advertising the car on ClassicCars.com.
The Cougar and its Thunderbird peer were Ford’s answers to a wave of import luxury vehicles that begin to make their way to the states in the late 1980s and early ’90s. Though the Cougar had been around since 1967, the seventh-generation came out for the 1989 model year as the flagship of the Mercury division.
At the top of the trim lineup was the XR7 model, outfitted with such niceties as electronically adjustable suspension, sport seats, and a two-spoke steering wheel.
Power for the XR7 came from a 210-horsepower supercharged V6, which was later replaced by a 5.0-liter V8. This Cougar is equipped with the former, and it has been fueled with only 93 octane ethanol-free gas, according to the seller. Full documentation is intact and there is recent service indicated, including a new battery and new serpentine belts.
No wonder the seller says this car “looks like a gem, runs like a gem, and drives like a gem.” Best of all, the seller is including the 1990 Cougar brochure to accompany the car, as well as that 4-pack of Tops baseball cards from that same year to add to the period-correct feeling.
This supercharged XR7 seems like a stunning example of Mercury’s flagship sport coupe from the era. The asking price is $12,900 or best offer.
To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.
Do you have any pictures of the dash? Do you have the original window sticker? I guess the first question should be do you still have the car?
Have I e-mailed you yet? If not how good is the cougar, as good as the picture. Can you tell me hpow long it is, to see if it fits in my garage, I think its around 203 inches.
Thank You,
Nick
Where is the car located?
Mount Dora is just NW of Orlando
There were 2 models, the base and more luxurious XR-7. The XR-7 model brought a wood-grained steering wheel, 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, and leather or vinyl seats. There was also a sport-oriented GT package that could be had on either the base or XR-7. Unlike the Mustang, the Cougar offered no six-cylinder engines; its base engine was the 200 hp 4.7L (289 cid) V8 on both the base and XR-7, while the GT had the 6.4L (390 cid) V8 as standard. Either engine could have a 4-speed manual or 3-speed automatic transmission.
FYI-There was only a V-6 offered on either the ls or xr7 1990 year models. The 3.8 had 140 hp in the ls model while 210 hp with supercharger in the xr7. I have the red xr7 along with the brochure and specs for that year as bought it new. The variations referenced by Francesca are not for 1990 model year.