1968 Custom Cougar


General information

Muscle car madness of the late '60s was in full swing, and Mattel's timing to enter the diecast market couldn't have been better. The decision to market realistic rods that emulated some of the most popular muscle cars of the day, and the use of ground-breaking high tech wheel bearings would revolutionize the diecast industry. These cars were eye-appealing in their dazzling "spectraflame" paint finishes, and boy were they FAST!! Almost half of Mattel's starting line-up included cars which were patterned after some of the most popular street rods and cruisers of the era. These scaled down and souped up miniatures of real 1:1 cars are referred to as "Customs" by collectors.


The Custom Cougar, based on the 1967 Mercury Cougar, was a highly detailed rendition of the real life car. The Mercury Cougar was a creation borne out of the success of the Ford Mustang. Mercury, a sister company to Ford, implemented many design elements of the Mustang into the Cougar, while establishing a more luxurious automobile. Luxury aside, a Cougar equipped with a 390 c.i. engine could run with the best at 16 seconds in the quarter mile.


The Custom Cougar held true to it's real life counterpart with features such as a "raked" stance, mag wheels and opening hood to reveal a finely detailed 8-cylinder engine. Also noteworthy are the beautiful body trim lines and exceptional front grill and tail light panel detail. Front bucket seats came standard!






The casting was produced for approximately two years and was manufactured at both the Hong Kong and US factories. HK-made Cougars include a much more detailed base than US-made cars, but other than subtle nuances, the general body shape is the same. Depending on the exterior color, Cougars came with the following interior colors: HK cars included white, silver, olive-brown, orange-brown, and light blue; US cars included white, champagne and dark brown. Steering wheel colors follow the typical pattern used on other first year castings in that HK colors will be black, while US colors will match the car's interior color. Windshield hues also conform to the typical pattern of HK tinted blue and US clear. To simulate the vinyl roof found on some 1:1 Cougars, some Hot Wheels Custom Cougars are found with a flat black painted roof. HK Cougars in spectraflame olive, gold, and the highly elusive grouping of red, aqua, green and purple received black roofs. No US Cougars were adorned with a black roof.



A feature found on some early Custom Cougars is a nose cone or "tooth", painted in the car's body color. This "painted tooth" variation can be highly elusive and will add a premium to the selling price, but buyers are cautioned to use discretion, as these can easily be faked. Production colors were limited to blue, orange and lime (see the Color chart for a full breakdown), and the process of applying this extra spot of paint was halted early on, most likely in an effort to cut costs and manufacturing time.

A "painted tooth" HK Cougar in orange.

Early HK Cougars also came with either two or four deep dish wheels (with the rarer "bubblegum" style deep dish wheel showing up on most). As shown in the 1968 collector's catalog, these cars were available only in blue and orange, and they were the only two colors produced with matching interiors (light blue and brown, respectively).

< An early HK Cougar with rounded "bubblegum" deep dish wheels.
Four different bases were cast during the Cougar's production: two for Hong Kong and two for US cars.

HK early or preproduction base without raised text bar or "Hong Kong" printed in rear section.


US early base with small gas tank.

HK normal production base with raised text bar and "Hong Kong" printed in rear.


US late base with large gas tank.
Variations: 21
Sort: Label   Toy number   Year   Name  
A2 Antifreeze - US
United States flag
6205 1968
Antifreeze - US
Packaging
Inventory: 0
B1 Aqua - US, Brown Int
United States flag
6205 1968
Packaging
Inventory: 0
C2 Blue - HK - Blue Int
Hong Kong flag
6205 1968
Packaging
Inventory: 0
C3 Blue - HK, White Int
Hong Kong flag
6205 1968
Packaging
Inventory: 0
C4 Blue - HK, Brown Int
Hong Kong flag
6205 1968
Blue - HK, Brown Int
Packaging
Inventory: 0
C6 Blue - US
United States flag
6205 1968
Blue - US
Packaging
Inventory: 0
E1 Brown - US
United States flag
6205 1968
Packaging
Inventory: 0
F2 Gold - US, Brown Int.
United States flag
6205 1968
Packaging
Inventory: 0
G1 Green - US
United States flag
6205 1968
Packaging
Inventory: 0
H1 Olive - HK, Black roof
United States flag
6205 1968
Packaging
Inventory: 0
H2 Olive - US
United States flag
6205 1968
Packaging
Inventory: 0
I1 Orange - HK
Hong Kong flag
6205 1968
Orange - HK
Packaging
Inventory: 0
I2 Orange - US, White Int.
United States flag
6205 1968
Packaging
Inventory: 0
Related Castings: 1
Main line: Custom Cougar (retool) (4)
A1 Gold
Malaysia flag
FTX84 2018
Gold
Packaging
Inventory: 0
B1 Orange
China flag
FCM81 2018
Orange
Packaging
Inventory: 0
Image Toy # Casting Variation Country Year Wheels Inventory
Antifreeze - US, Brown Int 6205 Custom Cougar A1: Antifreeze - US, Brown Int United States 1968 rlb
Antifreeze - US 6205 Custom Cougar A2: Antifreeze - US United States 1968 rlb
Antifreeze - US, Painted Tooth 6205 Custom Cougar A3: Antifreeze - US, Painted Tooth United States 1968 rlb
Aqua - US, Brown Int 6205 Custom Cougar B1: Aqua - US, Brown Int United States 1968 rlb
Blue - HK, Blue Int, Painted Tooth 6205 Custom Cougar C1: Blue - HK, Blue Int, Painted Tooth Hong Kong 1968 rldd
Blue - HK - Blue Int 6205 Custom Cougar C2: Blue - HK - Blue Int Hong Kong 1968 rlb
Blue - HK, White Int 6205 Custom Cougar C3: Blue - HK, White Int Hong Kong 1968 rlb
Blue - HK, Brown Int 6205 Custom Cougar C4: Blue - HK, Brown Int Hong Kong 1968 rlb
Blue - US, Dark Brown Int. 6205 Custom Cougar C5: Blue - US, Dark Brown Int. United States 1968 rlb
Blue - US 6205 Custom Cougar C6: Blue - US United States 1968 rlb
Light Blue - US, Dark Brown Int 6205 Custom Cougar D1: Light Blue - US, Dark Brown Int United States 1968 rlb
Brown - US 6205 Custom Cougar E1: Brown - US United States 1968 rlb
Gold - US, Dark Brown Int. 6205 Custom Cougar F1: Gold - US, Dark Brown Int. United States 1968 rlb
Gold - US, Brown Int. 6205 Custom Cougar F2: Gold - US, Brown Int. United States 1968 rlb
Green - US 6205 Custom Cougar G1: Green - US United States 1968 rlb
Olive - HK, Black roof 6205 Custom Cougar H1: Olive - HK, Black roof United States 1968 rlb
Olive - US 6205 Custom Cougar H2: Olive - US United States 1968 rlb
Orange - HK 6205 Custom Cougar I1: Orange - HK Hong Kong 1968 rlb
Orange - US, White Int. 6205 Custom Cougar I2: Orange - US, White Int. United States 1968 rlb
Purple - US, Dark Brown Int. 6205 Custom Cougar J1: Purple - US, Dark Brown Int. United States 1968 rlb
Red - US, Dark Brown Int. 6205 Custom Cougar K1: Red - US, Dark Brown Int. United States 1968 rlb
Gold FTX84 Custom Cougar (retool) A1: Gold Malaysia 2018 rlx
Orange FCM81 Custom Cougar (retool) B1: Orange China 2018 rlc
Red - Original 16 Rally Case Set JCP66 Custom Cougar (retool) C1: Red - Original 16 Rally Case Set China 2025 ncrl
Red - Original 16 Rally Case Set, Prototype JCP66 Custom Cougar (retool) C2: Red - Original 16 Rally Case Set, Prototype China 2025 ncrl