1978 Mercury Cougar: Outside the Muscle Focus

Total 1978 Cougar production reached 213,270 cars, this record's own dek and production table agree, with the Cougar Club of America's registry table matching Wikipedia's figure exactly, this record's own note stating the club total is not shown to be an independent lineage from Wikipedia's. Of that total, 166,508 carried the XR-7 badge, this record's own production table states, while conceptcarz's own spec-page production figures give 21,398 two-door hardtops and 25,364 four-door pillared hardtops for the Cougar and Brougham lines, figures this record's own production notes point out sum with the XR-7 count to exactly 213,270, the total already in the table; no wagon figure appears in that reconciliation, and this record's own notes state plainly that whether wagons sit inside the two-door or four-door rows is not stated by conceptcarz.^1,2,3

Three engines are documented for 1978 by the Cougar Club of America's own registry: the 302 cubic-inch V8 standard across the line, the 351 required in California, and the 400 optional, this record's own engine table states, the 400 tied specifically to the XR-7 with Decor Option text the registry carries. None of the three carries a horsepower or torque rating in this record's own engine table, and this record's own transmissions section is left empty for the year, naming no transmission for 1978.²

Three option packages are documented for 1978 from the registry's own brochure text: the XR-7 Midnight/Chamois Decor Option, pairing a half vinyl roof with crossover strap, a padded Continental-type deck and midnight blue bucket seats with chamois inserts; the XR-7 Decor Option, adding styled road wheels, full-length colour-keyed bodyside molding, remote mirrors, Twin Comfort Lounge or bucket seats, Tiffany carpet and hood stripes; and the Cougar Brougham Option and Brougham Decor Group, named but not itemized. A citizens band radio, new for 1978 and requiring a radio already fitted, is the sole individually named option this record's own registry-sourced text carries for the year.²

The 1978 brochure's own "Cougar Popular Options" availability chart, spanning the Cougar XR-7, Brougham Option and Cougar lines, is this record's own source for fifteen further options: the 351-2V engine required in California and the 400-2V engine, both listed again here in the chart's own vocabulary; a Sports Instrumentation Group with ammeter, oil pressure and temperature gauges, clock, trip odometer and tachometer; a Class III trailer-towing package requiring the 6.6-litre engine; a power moonroof and bucket seats, both two-door models only; an AM/FM stereo radio with Quadrasonic eight-track player and a 40-channel citizens band radio; Glamour Metallic Paint and a Tu-Tone Paint Option; a Landau vinyl roof for two-doors, standard on the XR-7; cast aluminum wheels; styled road wheels, listed for XR-7 and Brougham but not the base Cougar; and wire wheel covers.

Paint and interior detail for 1978 draws entirely on the registry's own text: twenty-one colors are documented, the identical set this record's own paint table carries for the full 1977-79 span without a model-year-specific attribution, and seven interior descriptions survive without codes, six Cougar optional bucket seat colors in vinyl and the XR-7 Midnight/Chamois Decor Option's own midnight blue with chamois insert pairing.²

This record carries no 1978 price at all; its own price notes explain that a figure once shown here, sourced to J.D. Power's live valuation pages, was pulled from every page on the site because those pages can change without notice and cannot be independently checked, and that no replacement has yet been found, with a price elsewhere matching that figure exactly possibly quoting it rather than confirming it. No specifications, performance figures, identification codes, documented conflicts or unpublished leads survive in this record's own respective sections, all left empty for a year this record's own production notes describe as outside the 1967-1973 muscle focus, carrying only production totals, engine and option configuration, and paint and interior description for 1978.²