Hecho en México: Thunderbirds and Cougars south of the border

XR7-4.6

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1994 Cougar XR7 DOHC TR3650
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It may not come as much of a shock to learn the Thunderbird and Cougar didn't quite have the makings of a "global car". Sure, there was much well-publicized global influence, such as the E24 BMW, Audi 100 and many aspects of Mercedes trickled all over the place. All the same, big, heavy coupes tended to be a USA phenomenon, and in an ever-homogenized modern world even that has largely gone by the wayside recently. Still, that doesn't mean the MN12 platform was confined only to stateside borders.

Canada was the only country the MN12 platform was officially "exported" to, as many of our northern members can affirm. Those cars had certain regional changes from US models such as daytime running lamps, speedometers with KPH as the primary printing, temperature displays defaulted to Celsius and, in 89-93, standard shoulder/lap belts (Canadian law had no mandate for passive restraint at the time). A quirk all of our MN12s possess due to Canadian export regulations are 5 MPH impact bumpers, an artifact of the 1970s that was relaxed to 2.5 MPH in the Reagan era. Canada never actually let go of it, and due to that our bumpers actually exceed domestic regulations.

But what of our southern brethren? MN12s sold in Mexico were not manufactured in the US and shipped to Mexico like with Canada. MN12 production in Mexico was actually done at Ford's Cuautitlán Assembly, which unlike Lorain, Ohio, is still manufacturing Ford vehicles - currently the "Mustang" Mach-E BEV crossover.

Though models destined for Canada had a few specific features for the region, they were in all other ways identical to their domestic US counterparts. Due largely to the shared assembly at Lorain, but as well as similar cultural demands, this is true down to specific options, exterior and interior colors and availability of submodels like the LX, SC etc. Since Ford opted to produce the Mexican bound models in Mexico, the cars were tailored more uniquely to the demands of the region. To US/Canadian readers you may be in for a few surprises!


1) There was no Mercury in Mexico - BUT both the Thunderbird and Cougar were sold there.

How? Both were Ford products - "Ford Thunderbird" and "Ford Cougar". For most of us they're basically the same car, minus the styling with perhaps an ever-so-slightly more premium reputation with Mercury than Ford. Truthfully, they were both virtually identical in both options and MSRP. In Mexico, with both sharing a blue oval on the decklid, there was a much more distinct hierarchy. Thunderbird was noticeably low-end and Cougar was high-end. This is true even in SC form, which we typically associated as "loaded" full of options. For now though, keep this basic hierarchy in mind as it contextualizes many of the disparities we'll go over which distinguish them from their Lorain produced cousins.

2) The SC and XR7.

First, as we know (or you should!), in the US the T-bird SC was produced from 89-95 and the XR7, that is to say the "premium" XR7, was made from 89-92. After that all 93-97 Cougars shipped as XR7s in the same way all T-birds became the LX. All T-bird SCs were supercharged 3.8s, used ground effects and were loaded to the deck with model-specific options like auto ride control, ABS, inflatable lumbar/bolster seats and more. 89-92 XR7s were much the same as SCs, though for 91-92 the SC 3.8 was replaced by the 5.0 HO as standard equipment (92 is a little unique but that's for another article).

This is NOT the case in Mexico. There is a Thunderbird SC and there is a Cougar XR7, both with the familiar SC 3.8L engine and ground effects, but that's where the similarity ends. Due to the model hierarchy between T-birds and Cougars, the SC was very limited in terms of features and options. It did not come with ABS or ARC, or even cruise control. Manual transmissions were standard as well. See the images below and note the various interior "deletes" and lack of distinct ARC covers. It also used flat seats like a plain LX, but did come with seat covers unique to Mexico.

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Cougar XR7 was fairly conventional, with all the usual trimmings of a US produced XR7 with the lone exception being the deleted/covered Mercury badges and replacement Ford blue oval. Unlike its US counterpart however, the automatic transmission was standard equipment (being a more premium car). Perhaps most shockingly, this supercharged, premium form of XR7 lasted not just to 1990, not to 1992... but all the way to 1995 just like the Thunderbird SC. There was no V8 substitution, no dumbing down of the XR7 package. It remained in its early powertrain configuration form as long as the SC did, and went through the same US styling updates which made for some truly unique aspects.

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3) LX and LS

They don't exist!

Well, they sort of have a Mexican equivalent, but without the alphanumeric affectation we're familiar with. Thunderbird was simply Thunderbird and Cougar was simply Cougar. They do have some unique traits, however.

The Thunderbird (once again being lower-end than Cougar) came with the 3.8 NA as standard equipment, but also with the M5R2 5-speed manual with the automatic (AOD) as an option. Since the manual trans requires a different console top it also uses the parking brake lever, and a unique delete plate eliminating both the ARC and fog light buttons (which all US versions of this plate have some combination of this).

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Digital dashboards also seemed to be standard, at least in the early years; an interesting extravagance considering their relative sparseness elsewhere. Perhaps for the switchable metric speedometer?

4) Styling:

There isn't much difference here from US equivalents. All changes major or minor were reflected in Cuautitlán production, but there are some unique qualities.

Used on US 89-95 Thunderbirds (LX, Base and Sport) were taillights/reflectors/LEDs with black strips at the bottom, with brand badging on the left lens. On Mexican models, they used all red taillights, similar to the type used on the SC and 96-97. Unlike true SC taillights, they did stick the Thunderbird badge on the left lens like US models, creating a unique look.

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Cougars omitted the usual LS tail lamps with the brushed metal lower strip in 89-90 only (91 used the US LS reflector however, sans LS emblem of course), using the XR7 units.

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89-95 Cougar front bumpers all have an embossed MERCURY script, but Mercury never existed in Mexico which caused an incongruity. Cuautitlán assembled the cars but most components were shipped from the same suppliers Lorain used, so the solution was a plate with raised COUGAR lettering simply affixed over top of the Mercury script.

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The rear is relatively simple by comparison. 89-93 Cougars all have stick-on chrome letters designating model, submodel and brand, so all that was needed to Ford the Cougar was leave the Mercury emblem off and tack a blue oval on the trunklid.

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94-95 Cougars are special, as they use spear-shaped chrome trim with embossed lettering. Omission wasn't an option, so the left piece was unembossed and totally unique.

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Since the US-made Cougars were all XR7s, they use the regular US production piece. Non-XR7s however have a blanked out piece with only the embossed Cougar, making both pieces unique to Cuautitlán assembly.

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The most unique of the bunch (in this author's biased opinion) is the 94-95 Cougar XR7. These are SC-spec 94-95 Cougars, made long after the demise of this package stateside. They are complete with the full US SC interior with a unique black airbag, an XR7 fender badge (where one might expect a V8 emblem) and the 16x7 "turbine" wheels that were only used on the short-lived (and very rare) US 1992 XR7.

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