1968 Cyclone GT 500 – Is this the final word?
It seems like we are getting very, very close to cracking the questions surrounding the 1968 Mercury Cyclone GT 500. This all started out several years ago when we ran a Marti Report for a Cyclone we had just acquired. The Marti Report came back saying it was a 1 0f 60 Mercury Cyclone GT 500! I had never heard of one, what the heck is a GT 500?
This all led to a lot of emails and speculation. A lot more research and questions. As stated in our last post on this topic we got confirmation that the Driveaway program at the Atlanta Motor Speedway was for the Cyclone GT 500. It was very successful and something similar was being considered for the Charlotte 600 in May of 1968. This made a lot more sense since our GT 500 was built May 4, 1968 much to late for the Atlanta race. Why would Mercury build promotional cars after the event was over?
We were just provided with this newspaper ad for a GT 500 promotion for the Charlotte 600.
If you can’t quite read the fine print here is what it says:
“The two cars shown above are being made ready for delivery now at the track in Charlotte, North Carolina. The lucky purchaser of either car, along with his wife or a friend will be the guests of Antietam for the weekend of May 25th. You leave Washington National Airport via Delta jet at 1:11 p.m. and arrive Charlotte, North Carolina, 2:14 p.m.”
“Reservations have been made for you at Charlotte’s famous Golden-Eagle Motor Inn. Sunday morning you have breakfast with Mercury’s drivers at the track. You take part in the winners’ parade, paced by Cale Yarborough in his #21 Cyclone. You then watch the running of the World 600. Then you enjoy the drive home in your NEW 68 Cyclone or Cougar. Sound Great? It can be YOURS!”
The dealership putting on this great promotion was located in Antietam Maryland.
This does bring up an interesting side note. There were two batches of GT 500s manufactured. The first of 126 cars for Atlanta and the second of 60 for Charlotte. All of the Charlotte Cyclones were believed to be Vermilion (Calypso Corral) with some of the 126 Atlanta cars painted Vermilion but most were Polar White. All of the Cougar 500s for Charlotte were Polar White.
At this time it appears that even less is known about the 1968 Cougar 500. They have 68 Cougar script on the rear quarters followed by the same block 500 letters then a Cyclone style checkered flag. They were also sold in the Atlanta and the Washington, DC DSO areas. According to Marti Reports they were all standard Cougars. and there were only 54 Cougar 500s built. 38 were 302 ci cars, and 16 were R-code 428 CJs. All were Polar White with red or black interior. Either manual or auto transmissions were available.The Cougar 500’s were all scheduled to be built on May 1 or May 2 of 1968.
If you have photos or any more information please pass it along to rfleener@comcast.net
Now youre talkin.Very interesting article.That will give hope to the cougar boys now.
If you need any additional info on the gt500 I have one in the shop, it is actually the same one you have pictured above I do believe.
Heath, I would very much like to see this car or otherwise document some of it. I will contact you by email.
I just saw a ’68 Mercury Cyclone GT500, yesterday, in Portland, Oregon. From a distance, I thought it was a Fairlane. When I got closer, sure enough, I saw the Cyclone GT500 script on the rear quarter panel. It was one of the white ones. It was beautiful!