Media

If you’re trying to visualize ideas such as modifications or paint schemes for your Cougar, you can get a great head start by using the royalty-free black-and-white line art below. We created them with you in mind: if you want to draw flames, scallops, or stripes, or just want to visualize a set of rims before you buy them, this line art provides a great starting place. We’ve provided a view of the front, back, and both sides for each model year. And you can import them into your drawing program of choice and do all of your rendering digitally. The sky is the limit!

MODIFICATIONS

All drawings have correct ornamentation for their particular model year; however, we have omitted the hood ornament and antenna for aesthetic purposes. Also, the wheel styles have been omitted from all drawings so that you can add your own.

LICENSE

The images below are royalty-free and can be freely used, modified, and distributed by anyone. There are no costs involved and no legal penalties will be assessed as there are no copyrights on the images.

FILE FORMATS

There is a .zip file for each model year and style. The .zip file contains the following:

Vector: Adobe Illustrator native (.ai), Illustrator EPS (.eps), AutoCAD (.dwg)
NOTE: All points and line widths remain intact, and all text has been converted to paths (outlines).

Raster: JPEG (72 dpi, RGB)
NOTE: Vector EPS format can be converted to high-resolution raster EPS using Photoshop or equivalent program.

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One of the most “1980s” things about these cars is the unabashed retro look and feel of that decade. In a lot of ways, the Cougar was the epitome of its time: formal, elegant, futuristic, but in a rounded-square sort of manner. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Our eye tends to look for recognizable shapes, and our cars sure had them in droves.

In doing some research for this site and for my parts collecting, it occurred to me that I never recalled seeing an actual font that was used in the nomenclature on the Cougar. Other Ford and Mercury vehicles used the same typeface as well, and they harken back to at least 1978-79. Yet there was no trace of this font anywhere. So I decided to make one, based upon the nomenclature.

How does one start this task? Quite literally, scanning the emblems then tracing over them with a vector image program. Then output all characters and import into a font building program. This sounds easy but it’s a lot harder than it sounds. There is a steep learning curve to all of this, and the programs can be a little counter-intuitive at the start. But in the end I accomplished what I wanted.

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Download: OTF | TTF

Download: OTF | TTF