Sun Star 1:18 1967 Mercury SCCA Trans-Am Cougar, Hildebrand When Rich told me he wanted a sweet little cougar, I thought he and the Mrs. weren't gettting along. Turns out he meant a Mercury.... Review by Rich Sufficool

Overview

This car was originally driven and constructed by Dave Tatum who, as operations manager of Burien Lincoln-Mercury convinced the ownership to sponsor an SCCA Trans Am car. In 1967, Mercury was very interested in securing a Trans Am championship, so David got the expertise of Ford luminaries like Jack Roush and Lee Dykstra, free parts and expertise from Ford contractor Kar Kraft and a base black coupe delivered to Burien without engine but with the top loader transmission and 9 inch heavy duty rear end. The end result was a state of the art, acid dipped Trans Am racer. And since 1967, this car has almost never left the track. Now fully restored to its original configuration, it is still a perennial favorite in the historic Trans Am race events.

Sun Star has recreated the image of this iconic racer from its stock Cougar tooling with a totally new interior, engine bay and chassis modifications which compare remarkably well with the 1:1 as it exists today. The finish is flawless, the livery is vivid with perfect color separation. The working suspension gives the model the proper stance and the unique blue 5 spoke wheels are shod in the correct white lettered Goodyear tires.

There's a lot here to wow the collector and I'll let the pictures do the talking. [Editors Note: If you are reading this in the Mr. Magneto feature, the full car review has far more pictures. There are few concessions made to keep this model in the $40 price range and I would say the obvious feature would be the sealed trunk, but the overall look is that of a model selling at twice the pricepoint.

I always saw that vintage Cougar as a pretty design, but rather soft and almost decadent. In race form, however, this feral cat looks like a true predator and , for me, it's the one Cougar variant I want in my collection.