The End of the Coupe?

Posted on by Stacey Sandmeyer

The increased demand for SUVs and trucks in North America has, in turn, weakened (to the point of trying to find a pulse) the 2-door coupe market. “The coupe class in particular has really diminished over the years, though not solely because of the ongoing crossover craze. The 1990s and early 2000s are littered with discarded nameplates from a wide array of automakers.

Toyota’s Supra and Camry Solara are no more, ditto for the Mitsubishi 3000GT and Mazda RX-7. Mainstream Japanese performance two-doors have almost completely faded away and things are hardly any different in Detroit. Chevrolet’s Monte Carlo is long gone and so is the Chrysler Sebring range. After a brief resurrection, the Ford Thunderbird is once again no more.” (Autoguide.com)

Cross-overs offer drivers higher seats and easier adaptability for recreational and family use. But we can all appreciate the fun in driving a Mustang, so don’t pull the plug quite yet.

Here is a list of Ford 2-door coupes that you may remember:

Mercury Cougar (1999–2002)

You may be familiar with the Mercury Cougar nameplate, but we bet you did a double take when you saw this short-lived eighth-generation version. Introduced for 1999, the last Cougar (remember, the Mercury brand evaporated from Ford’s portfolio in 2010) was the first ever to have front-wheel drive. It also took a hard left turn away from the doughy, vinyl-roofed personal-luxury-coupe persona the Cougar breed had rocked since the 1970s—which was no accident. The adventurously styled Cougar was originally intended to serve as the sporty Ford Probe’s replacement; in fact, outside of the United States, it was sold as the Ford Cougar. Underneath, it used Ford Contour running gear and that car’s available 2.5-liter Duratec V-6, which could be paired with a manual transmission.—Alexander Stoklosa

Ford Thunderbird S/C (1989–1995)

An incognito Mustang-slayer, the Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe looked like something your grandpa would drive to church, yet it came armed with a 210-hp supercharged 3.8-liter V-6 (which was upped to 230 horsepower in later years). It even rode on a four-corner independent suspension (take that, stick-axle Mustang!) with electronically adjustable shocks. Stir in its limited-slip diff and seats with power-adjustable bolsters and lumbar support, and the Super Coupe was truly super for an early ’90s American car.—Mike Magrath

Ford Tempo / Mercury Topaz (1984–1994)

These twin blights on the ’80s and ’90s American automotive market would have left a permanent stain on the Ford Motor Company’s reputation had they not been so easy to forget. Despite being based on another four-wheeled tragedy—the U.S.-market version of the awful Ford Escort (the European Escort was completely different and infinitely superior)—the Tempo and its Mercury-badged Topaz sibling somehow looked decent. Ten points for those designers, who managed to hide the Tempo/Topaz’s bottom-feeder hatchback origins.—Rich Ceppos

images courtesy: consumerguideauto.com and drive.com

2-door coupe mercury tempo thunderbird