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I usually limit my cars-in-the-wild photography to street-parked machinery, but I had to make an exception for this fine motor vehicle that I spotted in a Denver parking lot. I’m pretty sure I’m seeing Chrysler K-platform ancestry here, but… words fail me.
Quite a bit of labor-intensive customization has gone into this machine, and I can’t tell whether it’s a K-based kit car with further modifications or a 200-proof, one-of-a-kind dream project.
If I had to guess, I’d say there’s a late-80s/early-90s LeBaron in there somewhere, with custom grill, custom hatch, custom taillights, and custom everything. Your thoughts?
43 Comments on “Mystery Car: Quick, What the Hell Is It?...”
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MN-12 Mercury Cougar
That’s what I was thinking too.
Yup. The rear taillights and quarter window trim give it away.
Here’s a real stumper: what car did that “hatch” glass originally come from?
+1, but in my case it was the front end who told the story.
Based on the creases in the hood, I’d say 1991-1993.
It must be a close cousin of the El Oldsmopile.
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/cc-capsule-1981-el-oldsmopile/
Too big to be a LeBaron. Mercury Cougar, they looked like what a two-door Acclaim would have been.
One other thought: Isn’t BMW getting a bit ridiculous about masking their future model?
It’s not that it TAKES all kinds, we just HAVE all kinds.
WTF?
I’d rather have the E28 5-series in the background…
Most definitely an early 90s Cougar. I’m jealous…my 1988 Cougar isn’t nearly as blog worthy.
89-90 Mercury Cougar or Ford Thunderbird. The door handles have been filled/shaved & they slapped on different ones, but you can tell by the body crease on the side, the plastic door moulding halfway down, the bottom of the car between the wheels and the hood shape and lines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:89-90_Mercury_Cougar.jpg
Front bumper is from a T-bird, though.
Heh, this isn’t *quite* the blog-worthiness you were looking for…
Murilee — come up to Boulder and see if you can find the Honda/Accura (?) re-skinned to look like a red 2+2 Ferrari 355. The sound and the back seat are a giveaway that it’s not from Modena.
Wonder if they started down this road slapping fake Buick portholes on a Toyota…
I can usually understand automotive styling, but that formal roofline on the aero T-bird body just doesn’t work.
If this is an MN-12 Cougar, the door handles have been changed.
I don’t think it’s a Cougar. I spent a lot of miles in an MN12 Cougar, and the hood and windshield shapes just don’t look right.
I think it’s a Chrysler LeBaron coupe from about 1990.
Bob
Whoever did this was more than capable of changing the door handles. I recognized it was a Cougar from the shape and size of the rear quarter. But the front fender and A-pillar also do the trick.
I thought it was a Topaz when I looked at the curve of the rear sidemarker-taillamp opening, but then looking down toward the hood, the length and angle wasn’t Topaz. The front pic gave it away, but only after a few seconds staring at the bumper … yup, its an MN12.
Well there again, if it’s a LeBaron, a lot of fabrication went into changing the door handles.
Owwwwwwww! My eyes!
Chrysler Daytona
That was my first thought, not Cougar but Daytona.
It makes the Belaro look pretty good, doesn’t it?
I wonder about the people who do this to a car. Is it a perceptual difference (cognitive dissonance) or are they trying to display an ironic sense of humor?
Or is it an art car and no one can tell the difference?
Whatever the case, someone put a lot of work into that thing. Not my cup of meat, but more power to them!
I keep thinking AMC…AMC…AMC….
John
It’s the awful spawn of a Lebaron…
http://chryforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Blue-Lebaron.jpeg
…that mated with a Daytona.
http://image.automotive.com/f/images/9630896%252Bpheader/0407_sccp_02_z%252B1992_dodge_daytona_iroc_rt%252Bright_rear_view.jpg
(The Daytona contributed the hatch.)
I do see some resemblance to the Cougar, but the wheelwells don’t seem to match. So I’m going with Mopar for this one.
Look at the rocker panels on a Cougar vs. a LeBaron. Completely different. Also, the ridging on the lower body – the LeBaron was clean. I had a LeBaron and the sculpting is different.
You make some good points there.
Also, you have me thinking that the awful cladding on the windows between the B- and C-pillars might have that Cougar roofline hiding underneath it.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/89-93_Mercury_Cougar.jpg
Absolutely 100% no doubt an MN12 Cougar. Lots of work was put into adding the old style door handles and making them work!
Looks like The Borg assimilated a Cougar, realized it added no useful technological distinctiveness and sent it back to a pharmacy parking lot…
Definitely a seventh-gen Cougar. look at how the A-pillar transitions to the fender. Compare with a LeBaron.
Somebody spent time and money cobbling that rolling abortion together… I just don’t understand why.
A special phrase is used by the true masters of automobile alteration: “Because I can.”
The nice fabricator who welded up the framework of a storage locker for my hatchback project has lengthened the nose of his chopped International Scout p/u truck by a foot. He did this not to make room for the lovely Viper engine sitting idle in a corner of his garage, but to allow enough room for 2 of GM’s 4.3L V6 engines joined at the crank to fit inside.
For an encore, someone else has commissioned him to replace the power train in a top condition 460 SEL with a crate LS9 and overdrive transmission package.
Mercury Fail?
I think it looks pretty sweet.
I once owned a MN12 Cougar (1997) and I am convinced this is also an MN12 after a closer look, though I wouldn’t have spotted it in a million years.
Well, there is someone who lives in my general vicinity that grafted the front of a 96 E class onto a Volvo 740. People do strange things.
This is clearly a later model year “Turd Coupe” that George Carlin was referring to in one his 70’s recordings my friend had.I didn’t know they continued to produce the Turd into the 1990’s.I now see how the clever use of Rubbermaid(To say nothing of its partnership with Builder’s Emporium for use in other trim pieces.)by the Turd in its roofing material into what many in the auto industry now regard as the pinnacle of modern vinyl roof/opera window design.Only Ford with its padded vinyl roof featuring the “Twindow” can come close in opera window design and technology.
Absolutely a 1989-1993 Mercury Cougar with custom side marker lights
After a close look at the early 90’s cougar and this abomination, it’s definitely a Coug that’s been radically modified and to be honest, it’s a botched job where a decent enough looking car was made into an I don’t know what and it’s not even well done to begin with IMO.
I can tell it’s a Cougar by the front quarter shot and if you look at the front side marker lights, they match up with this abortion of a modded car as one clue of many.
Its a Mercury Cougar, MN12, most definitely. It has been a project of a guy living over by DU for the past 3 years at least. I used to drive by it every day, it was terrifically interesting to watch it transform over the years.
Difficult to tell without being able to use my nose. But I’m pretty sure it’s a piece of shit.
I don’t know what everyone is complaining about, it’s not as ugly as a stock cougar. Really just take off the spoiler and hood ornament, change out the lights and a few other surface details, perhaps repaint and get some new bumpers, and it would look fine. Well fine-ish.