Long before the Mercury Cougar became one of Ford Motor Company’s most recognizable muscle-era nameplates, Ford used the name on something considerably stranger. The 1962 Ford Gullwing Cougar 406 was a one-off two-seat show car with electrically operated doors, concealed headlights and enough V8 power to embarrass many production performance cars of the era.
It also became a movie star, disappeared from public view and eventually turned into one of Ford history’s more intriguing missing-car mysteries. For years, enthusiasts knew the Cougar 406 had once survived, but nobody could say with certainty where it had gone. Then, in January 2026, researchers finally reached the person who owns it.
Ford’s Gullwing Had 405 Horsepower
The Cougar 406’s story actually began years before its 1962 debut. Designer John R. Samsen created the basic shape in the mid-1950s while Ford was studying possible successors to the original two-seat Thunderbird. Ford ultimately took the Thunderbird in a different direction, transforming it into a four-seat personal luxury car, but Samsen’s low, two-seat design did not disappear completely. The idea resurfaced as Ford prepared a show car to demonstrate its latest performance hardware.
The finished Cougar 406 was anything but a static styling model. Famed customizer Dean Jeffries later recalled building the gullwing car for Ford, and underneath its sleek body sat Ford’s new 406-cubic-inch V8. In its hottest form the engine produced 405 horsepower and 448 lb-ft of torque, paired in the concept with a Cruise-O-Matic automatic transmission. Ford’s original publicity emphasized that the car was meant to combine European sports-car flavor with American comfort and performance.
Its most memorable feature was overhead. Two electrically operated gullwing doors opened into a cockpit with bucket seats, an aircraft-inspired instrument panel and a panoramic windshield. Concealed headlights rotated into position at the leading edges of the front fenders. At only about 49.5 inches tall, the Cougar looked considerably more exotic than the production Fords surrounding it when it debuted at the 1962 Chicago Auto Show.
Hollywood Gave the Cougar a Second Life
The concept car did not disappear immediately after its auto-show career. Ford sent the car to California, where it was repainted from its original blue-green color into a much brighter red and prepared for a new role. In 1963, the concept appeared in the romantic comedy Under the Yum Yum Tree, driven on screen by Jack Lemmon’s character. Unlike many movie cars that were barely functional props, the Cougar was a real running automobile, making its Hollywood appearance one of the best pieces of evidence that Ford’s spectacular show car was more than a fiberglass shell.
Then the trail became difficult to follow. After its show appearances and movie work ended, the Cougar faded from public view. Stories placed the car in California, Canada and eventually the Detroit area. At various times enthusiasts feared it might have suffered the fate of countless other obsolete concept cars and been scrapped once Ford no longer needed it. Others insisted the car had survived in private hands but had simply been hidden away.
That uncertainty gave the Cougar a peculiar status. Photographs proved it had existed. Period Ford material documented its specifications. A Hollywood movie showed it moving under its own power. Yet one of Ford’s most dramatic early-1960s concepts had essentially become invisible. By the 2010s, reports suggested that a collector in the Detroit area had owned the car, but even people researching its history noted that it had not been publicly seen in years.
In 2026, the Search Finally Reached Its Owner
The mystery took an unexpected turn early this year. Automotive historian Howard Kroplick and the Vanderbilt Cup Races website revisited the Cougar 406 in January 2026, asking readers whether anyone could establish what had happened to the long-missing concept. Tips began arriving almost immediately. On January 27, Kroplick announced that the search had produced an answer: he had spoken directly with the car’s current owner. The Ford Cougar 406 still exists.
There is still plenty we do not know. The owner has chosen to remain anonymous, and researchers have not publicly disclosed the Cougar’s present location. Its current condition has not been fully documented either. Older accounts suggested that the car survived in unrestored condition and was missing some components associated with its complicated gullwing doors. That means the basic mystery has been solved without completely removing the intrigue surrounding the car.
The Cougar 406 therefore occupies an unusual position in automotive history. It is no longer a lost car, but it remains largely unseen. More than six decades after Ford showed off a 405-horsepower gullwing that looked like an American answer to something from an Italian coachbuilder, the only known example is apparently still sitting somewhere in private hands.For years, enthusiasts wondered whether Ford’s first full-size Cougar had survived at all. Now we know that it did. The next mystery is whether the public will ever get to see it again. Like this? Read about the Chrysler concept at the bottom of the ocean.
