Custom Cougar

Custom Cougar was sculpted by Harry Bradley off the 1967 Mercury Cougar and was one of the sixteen castings that launched the Hot Wheels line in 1968. Early production runs had a painted "tooth" in the center of the grille, a detail dropped on later releases, and color-keyed interiors were common on the first colors offered, Spectraflame Blue and Orange. Mark Jones retooled the casting in 2018 for the HotWheelsCollectors.com Original 16 series, adding an opening hood, and it was retooled again for Mattel's 2025 80th Anniversary Original 16 Rally Case set.