Mercury Cougar Eliminator: The Password for Action (1969 & 1970)

The Mercury Cougar Eliminator has been widely regarded as the ultimate street light predator produced by Mercury.

Its reputation as a true muscle car is backed up by a 1970 advertisement that boldly stated: “New Cougar Eliminator. Password for action. Spoilers hold it down. Nothing holds it back.”

And that was no exaggeration.

The Eliminator’s powerful engine options, performance-tuned suspension, and front and rear spoilers made it a force to be reckoned with on the streets.

Its menacing appearance and unmistakable badging only added to the intimidation factor.

The Cougar Eliminator lived up to its name as it eliminated the competition, leaving many in the dust.

Table of Contents

Mercury Cougar Eliminator Highlights

Aspect	Description
Eliminator Package	The Cougar Eliminator was a high-performance model of the Cougar, produced between 1969 and 1970, which showcased the perfect blend of luxury and performance in a muscle car.
Bold Exterior Colors	The Cougar Eliminator was available in various vibrant exterior colors, including Competition Orange, Bright Blue Metallic, and Yellow, making it stand out on the streets and adding to its unique personality.
Powerful Engine Options	This muscle car came with several engine options, including the 351 Windsor, 390 FE, and the highly coveted 428 Cobra Jet, offering buyers a choice of power and performance to suit their preferences.
Performance Features	The Eliminator package featured numerous performance enhancements, such as a performance-tuned suspension, front and rear spoilers, a hood scoop, and optional Ram Air induction, which improved handling and aerodynamics.
Luxurious Interior	The Cougar Eliminator boasts a well-appointed interior featuring bucket seats, a center console, and optional leather upholstery, providing a comfortable and luxurious driving experience.
Limited Production	With only 2,250 units produced in 1969 and 2,268 in 1970, the Eliminator is a rare and valuable collector’s item, appreciated by muscle car aficionados for its unique blend of style and performance.
Distinctive Badging	The Eliminator model stood out with its distinctive badging and graphics, including the bold “ELIMINATOR” decals on the rear fenders and the Cougar emblem on the grille, emphasizing its high-performance nature.
Enduring Appeal	Though the production of the Eliminator was short-lived, it remains a cherished classic among muscle car enthusiasts, celebrated for its marriage of performance, luxury, and eye-catching design.

What is a Cougar Eliminator?

1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator Photo — The 1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator in Competition Gold—a high-performance masterpiece that helped define the muscle car era.

The Eliminator was a two-year-only appearance package built on the Mercury Cougar platform.

From 1969 to 1970, the Mercury Cougar Eliminator had all the right stuff to be one of the greatest American Muscle Cars during the Muscle Car Era, including vibrant paint colors, striping, a hood scoop, spoilers, and many high-horsepower engine options.

In many respects, it was Mercury’s answer to the Pontiac GTO Judge, Oldsmobile 4-4-2 W30, and the Buick GSX.

With vibrant paint colors, striping, hood scoop, spoilers, and high horsepower engine options, it couldn’t help but turn heads and burn tires between stop lights.

First, Mercury took the Eliminator name straight off the race track famous for two-vehicle, tournament-style drag race eliminations.

Second, Larry Shinoda designed the 1969 Boss 302 Mustang and crafted the 1969 Mercury Eliminator’s intimidating appearance package.

Third, you could choose from four performance engine options, including a 351cid Windsor, Boss 302, 390cid, and 428 Cobra Jet.

And it didn’t stop there.

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Quick Comparison

Specification	1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator	1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator
Engine Options	5	3
Paint Color Options	4	10
Cost of Eliminator Package	$199.50	$357.60
Base Price	$3,294	$3,783
Production Numbers	2,250	2,268

Let’s look at all the details surrounding the 1969 and 1970 models, shall we?

1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator

The Cougar Eliminator debuted as a prototype at the prestigious Los Angeles Auto Show in October 1968. Its sleek design, aggressive styling, and powerful engine options garnered an immediate positive reaction from critics and car enthusiasts alike.

In response to this overwhelming response, Lincoln-Mercury executives fast-tracked the release of the Boss 302 version of the Cougar Eliminator for a mid-year release.In contrast, the remaining three engine options were released in the early Spring of 1969.

Once the Cougar Eliminator was officially released, Mercury wasted no time in meeting the demand for this impressive muscle car. In 1969, they built 2,250 Cougar Eliminators.

The Cougar Eliminator option combined three options: the Eliminator Package ($129.60), the Eliminator Decor Group ($69.90), and the Performance Tire/Handling Group.

This combination of options ensured that the Cougar Eliminator was powerful and fast and looked the part with its distinctive badging and styling cues.

Appearance

1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator — The ’69 Cougar Eliminator in Competition Orange is a striking example of American muscle cars, with its bold color and sporty design.

Distinguishing a standard Cougar, XR7, or GT from a Cougar Eliminator was easy to do thanks to the Eliminator appearance add-ons and unique paint colors.

Appearance Package

The 1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator was a high-performance pony car designed to compete with other pony cars of the era, such as the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am and Chevrolet Camaro.

One of the standout features of the Eliminator was its unique appearance package, which included a range of options and upgrades that set it apart from the standard Cougar.

The package included distinctive styling elements such as racing stripes, front and rear spoilers, a hood scoop, and vibrant paint colors.

Visual Elements

Front air dam
Body-colored rear spoiler
Styled steel wheels
Black-out front grille
Body-colored hood scoop
Eliminator body side stripes (white or black)
Driver’s side remote racing style mirror
12-slot styled steel wheel

Paint Colors

In its debut year, the Eliminator was only available in four eye-catching colors, including white, blue, orange, and yellow.

Wimbledon White
Bright Blue Metallic
Competition Orange
Bright Yellow

Interior

The interior of the 1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator was just as impressive as its exterior, with a range of features that made it a comfortable and stylish driving experience.

The hi-back black bucket seats were a hallmark of the Eliminator’s sporty design, providing both support and comfort for the driver and passenger.

The center console featured a storage compartment, a clock, and a tachometer, essential for monitoring the engine’s RPMs.

The Eliminator also included a woodgrain steering wheel and simulated woodgrain on the dash and door panels, adding a touch of elegance to the car’s overall design.

With its combination of style and comfort, the interior of the 1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator perfectly complemented its high-performance engine and distinctive appearance package.

Three interior color choices were available, including black, white, and blue.

Interior Highlights

Hi-Back bucket seats in Comfort Weave
Black Dashboard
Black “camera case” instrument panel with 6,000 RPM tachometer (8,000 RPM with Boss 302)
Full instrumentation (Tachometer, Rallye Clock, Warning Lights, Trip Odometers, etc.)
Custom door trim
Rim-blow steering wheel
Rear seat armrests
Door courtesy lights

Engine Options

1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator Boss 302 Engine Photo — The Boss 302 engine’s impressive performance and success on the racetrack helped to solidify its place as a legendary engine in the muscle car scene.

To avoid any false starts regarding engine options on the 1969 Cougar Eliminator, Mercury offered five performance V8 engine choices.

These options included the G, M, Q, R, and S codes, ensuring buyers could choose an engine matching their performance preferences.

In addition to these five engine options, the 1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator also featured the 351 Windsor and 390 engines, exclusive to that model year.

The 351 Windsor was later replaced by the 351 Cleveland, a popular engine choice in later model years. Meanwhile, the 390 engine was discontinued after 1969.

The engine options for the Mercury Cougar Eliminator ranged in price from $199 (for the 351 Windsor engine) to $603 (for the 428 Cobra Jet engine). The Boss 302 engine cost an additional $394.

Engine Specs

G Code Boss 302

Type	8-cylinder
Displacement	302cid
Bore & Stroke	4.00 x 3.00 in
Horsepower	290
Torque	290 lb-ft

M Code 351 Windsor

Type	8-cylinder
Displacement	351 Windsor
Bore & Stroke	4.00 x 3.50 in
Horsepower	290
Torque	385 lb-ft

Q Code / R Code 428 CJ

Type	8-cylinder
Displacement	428cid
Bore & Stroke	4.13 x 3.98 in
Horsepower	335
Torque	440 lb-ft

S Code 390

Type	8-cylinder
Displacement	390cid
Bore & Stroke	4.05 x 3.78 in
Horsepower	320
Torque	427 lb-ft

Performance & Handling

1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator Taillights Photo — The rear of the ’69 Eliminator was all business. The only clue it was a threat was its rear decklid spoiler.

Quarter Mile Performance

The 1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator was a natural-born predator on the track. When equipped with a 428 Cobra Jet, it was as fast as its Ford cousin—the 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1.

In the 1969 Supercar Annual magazine, a Mercury Cougar powered by a 428 SCJ, C6 SelectShift automatic, and a 4.31 rear gear ran a 13.90-second quarter-mile, traveling 101.2 mph.

While not outfitted in Eliminator attire, this Cougar utilized the same 428 CJ powerplant, so it’s as close as we’ll get to a published recorded elapsed time.

Handling

The Eliminator was equipped with a Performance Handling Package, which included a larger sway bar, tubular shocks, heavy-duty coil springs, and semi-elliptic leaf springs in the rear.

This package was mandatory for all Eliminators, and it helped to enhance the car’s handling and performance on the road.

Another standard feature on all Eliminators was the F70 Goodyear Polyglas tires, which provided excellent traction and stability.

Combining these tires with the Performance Handling Package allowed a smooth, controlled driving experience.

For the four-speed Boss 302 and 428 CJ Eliminators, staggered rear shocks were triggered to help suppress wheel hop during extreme acceleration.

This feature helped to prevent the wheels from hopping or bouncing off the road, which could cause the car to lose control.

Overall, these features helped to make the 1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator a true powerhouse on the road.

1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator

The Cougar Eliminator in 1970, now in its second year of production, received several updates to build upon its early success.

In addition to a wider selection of paint colors, the available power plants were also revamped, ensuring buyers could find the perfect combination of power and performance to suit their needs.

Despite its immediate success the previous year, the 1970 Cougar Eliminator failed to generate higher production numbers, even with the $3,395 bae price.

Mercury only produced 2,268 Cougar Eliminators in 1970, only 18 units more than the previous year.

This limited production makes the 1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator a rare and valuable collector’s item, appreciated by muscle car enthusiasts for its unique blend of style and performance.

Even with its relatively low production numbers, the Mercury Cougar Eliminator has remained a cherished classic, celebrated for its marriage of luxury and power, making it a true gem in the world of classic cars.