The Mustang’s sibling may not be as celebrated, but 1967 Mercury Cougar no less cool.

Going into the 1967 model year, Mercury was adrift. The model line had devolved into pale, redecorated Fords with awkward names like “Park Lane” and “Montclair.” Maybe there was some excitement in the Comet Cyclone, but not that much. Then came the Cougar.

The Mercury Cougar was the Mustang’s rarer and more luxurious cousin, and it carries that distinction nicely.

While it was obviously a riff on the Mustang, it managed to have its own vibe. Hidden headlights in front, a cabin stretched out over a 111-inch wheelbase (three inches longer than the Ford), and a tail with sequentially activated tail light segments, meant the car looked naturally more elegant, more grown up and more sophisticated than the horse next door.

Suddenly, Mercury seemed kind of relevant. And an astonishing 150,893 were sold that 1967 debut year. All were hardtops and 27,221 were high-end XR-7 models.

To put that 150,893 number in perspective, Mercury sold 122,169 full-size models – that’s Monterey, Montclair, Park Lane, and Marquis – across four names. That number drooped to 113,726 in 1968 and never recovered from there.

Mercury supported the Cougar’s launch with an aggressive assault on the SCCA Trans Am series that year led by Bud Moore with road racers Dan Gurney and Peter Revson doing most of the driving. All-star superstud Parnelli Jones and NASCAR’s David Pearson also jumped in occasionally.

The Cougar team won four times. Once each with Gurney and Pearson and twice with Revson. However, Mustangs also won four times that year to take the manufacturers’ championship.

With such a stunning success, Mercury became “The Sign of the Cat” in advertising and promotions for years to come. Lots of ads of fantastically dressed models out walking their exotic felines became an ongoing element of the Mercury marketing aura. The Cougar growl ended every Mercury ad.