American Excellence 1971 Mercury Cougar
1:43 | $95
Mercury’s third generation Cougar was a significantly bigger and heavier cat. Although it shared the Mustang’s body shell, the Cougar managed to look quite different and was much more of a personal luxury car. This 1971 Cougar is the latest offering from American Excellence, and it gets very high marks for its body shape and even higher marks for detail. All the trim, including the thin wheel arch moldings and brightwork at the bottom of the realistic vinyl top, is done with carefully applied photo- etched pieces. Tiny chrome name scripts and red-on-chrome badges are here in scale relief (how do they do that?), as are the 71’s wrap-around turn signals and large rectangular grille. The car’s high-gloss paint matches “Ivy Bronze Poly” chips well; clear glass and low- ered door windows let you see the well-done upholstery, woodgrain dash, and recessed instrument face decals. Relief window cranks are neatly painted, but other inner door panel details haven’t been picked out. Overall lines match photos from any angle, and the wheelbase is right on 1:43, but body dimensions average 1:40 scale. We can’t spot the stretched bits—can you? – Wayne Moyer jmmodelautos.com
