More good stuff about the Cougar II Coupe...
In the Styling X-Cars brochure (shown above), the Cougar II was described as, "A two passenger GT car designed for ultra fast highway travel." The brochure continues its description, saying, "The Cougar II, powered by a 260 cu. in. high performance V-8 engine, could be engineered to attain speeds in the 170 miles-an-hour range."
The Cougar II sat on a 90 inch wheelbase, with an overall length of 167.8 inches. It was 47.8 inches in height and 66.6 inches wide. Front and rear tread widths were 50.5" and 52", respectively.
The Cougar II dream car made its debut during the 1963/64 show season and was a Cat of an entirely different breed. During this period the big news at Ford was the company's corporate backing of Carroll Shelby's AC Bristol-bodied, Ford-powered Cobra, so it was only natural that Ford's design folks--then under the direction of Eugene Bordinat--would commandeer a couple of Cobra chassis to play with. Among the body designs they came up with was a sleek fastback that became known as the Cougar II.
Among the futuristic features of the Cougar II were a brushed metal top (similar to the 1957/58 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham), "pop-up" headlights and an "air pressure relief panel" located between the tail lights. The purpose of this panel was to relieve pressure build up inside the car at high speed, thus preventing the rear window from blowing out--a problem Chrysler encountered in their early testing of the Barracuda design.
A photo (above) from the Styling X-Cars brochure gives us a better perspective on the scale of the Cougar II. Compare the size of the passengers to the overall size of the car. This Cobra-based Cat was not intended for drivers of large stature.
The styling brochure describes the interior of the Cougar II as having "an all black color scheme with two individually adjustable bucket seats, a console-mounted four-speed gear shift lever and a straight-line array of gauges on the instrument panel. The wood and aluminum steering wheel telescopes for and aft with three inches of adjustment.
This brochure diagram (above) shows the unique window lift mechanism, by which occupants of the Cougar II could instantly raise or lower the curved side glass to any position. A single handle with a spring loaded tab could be moved up or down a ratcheted track in the door panel. When the tab was released, the window was locked in place.
The Cougar II's pop-up headlights were each driven by a small electric motor, so that, "At the push of a button, cover plates pivot forward and down, and the headlamps swing into place. Raising or lowering the headlamps takes less than three seconds."
"When interior air pressure exceeds fifteen pounds per square inch, a relief panel across the rear of the passenger compartment opens automatically. This device is necessary because of extreme pressure against the backlight (rear window) at high speeds."
(Thanks to the Classic Cougar Network (http://www.theclassiccougarnetwork.com) for this additional brochure info.)