Ponies in the Smokies 2026
April 6, 2026
Edit Template
THE AUTO BUILDER
Featured
THE HYDROGEN HIGHBOY
Enter Carl Casper, a man best known for building custom cars and promoting his huge custom car show every year in Louisville, Kentucky. Casper has long been a self-thinker and innovator with plenty of experience under his belt, and he was intrigued with the concept of alternative fuels, hydrogen in particular. During our conversation with Casper, he summed it when he said, “I feel many of the solutions will come out of the car guys. I want the mechanical wizards who have taken street rodding and auto racing to the highest levels imaginable to start putting their creativity into alternative-energy systems. I’m putting my money on them. Everyone seems to be waiting for the big corporations to pull us out of this energy crisis, and they tend to forget that from the very beginning of time it’s often the little guy with a shop behind his house who creates the next great idea or invention of our time.”
B-Series Bullseye: Part I
What can we say about VTEC Honda motors that hasn’t already been said thousands of times? Accolades have been bestowed upon the B-series Honda at an almost embarrassing rate—and we might add that all of its praise is well deserved. But we have already begun to turn our attention to the newer K-series motors, which by all accounts are even better motors than the B-series. They are sure to start a revolution of their own, but that is a discussion for a different day.
AIR SUPPLY
Air conditioning is a luxury that most early truckers agree they can’t be without, especially when they reside in a hot part of the country. But those big, clunky compressors, huge receivers hanging below the dash, bulky hoses running all over the place and extra wires showing are some of the reasons why air conditioning has deterred hardcore rodders for years. Of course, Vintage Air has eliminated those concerns with an excellent add-on system that not only works well, but also coexists with your engine compartment and interior aesthetics.
Vintage Air has kits that are designed for specific applications as well as universal kits. Its kits provide all of the required mounting hardware, brackets, vents, hoses, fittings, ducting, electrical wiring and switches needed to get you through your project. If you have any problems, Vintage Air has a tech support line that is second to none. You have a choice of either the internet or telephone (weekdays only).
Spotlighter
CAT-SCRATCH FEVER
One Cougar’s Ground-Up Rebuild
Author
Will Smith
Story & Photography
A Unique Passion for Cougars and Thunderbirds
Rod Maksimovich wears two hats: by day he’s a design engineer for a mining equipment company, but when he’s not designing new equipment, he’s thinking about Cougars and Thunderbirds.
Early Roots in the MN12 Platform
Maksimovich became familiar with the MN12 platform because parting these cars out is how he paid for his schooling at the University of Missouri, Rolla. He says that at one point he had upward of 20 parts cars, stripping them of all their usable parts before sending their twisted hulks to the scrapper. Indeed, his first car was an ’89 Cougar LS that he fitted with a 3.8-liter V-6 from a ’98 Mustang. After time, he began looking for another shell to work on, and he decided his ’89 was structurally too far gone to consider for such a project. His sister, though, had a ’90 Cougar XR7 that recently had spun a bearing.
Beginning the Cougar XR7 Project
Rod and his father, Rod Sr., stripped the Cougar at their home shop, Azzkicker Cars, in preparation for rebuilding it into something better. During this process, they added an extra crossmember to the roof for extra strength before turning to the bottom of the car to beef up the suspension.
Custom Suspension Modifications
In the back, aluminum lower control arms from a Lincoln Mark VIII save some weight over the Cougar’s cast-iron versions. Custom aluminum spring perches let the car use Vogtland springs instead of the Lincoln’s airbags, and KYB shock absorbers damp those springs. A 1-1/4-inch Addco sway bar keeps the Mercury level through the twisty stuff. The rearend is an aluminum Cobra centersection containing 4.10 gears and a Trac-Loc differential. Maksimovich designed a rear differential cover brace to prevent the rear cover from breaking under load, and MN12 Performance urethane differential mounts prevent changes in pinion angle.
Enhancing the Cougar’s Performance on the Track
The half shafts are thicker, stronger pieces from a T-bird SC, necessary when at the track and coupled with the 255/50R16 Mickey Thompson drag radials on 16×7-inch Cougar XR7 wheels. On the street, the owner uses fat 275/50R17 Nitto tires mounted on 17×9-inch replica Bullitt wheels.
Front Suspension and Braking Improvements
Up front, another pair of KYB shocks and Vogtland springs support the car, and another 1-1/4-inch Addco sway bar fights body lean. Spindles from a ’97 Thunderbird allow the owner to use twin-piston PBR calipers from a Mustang GT. Drilled and slotted rotors add to the looks, and braided stainless hoses improve brake feel as well. A B&M line lock activates the front brakes at the dragstrip for better launches.
The Heart of the Build: A New 4.6 DOHC Engine
As part of his business of parting out cars, Maksimovich came across a trio of brand-new old-stock 4.6 DOHC engines meant for ’94 Lincoln Mark VIIIs. Selling two of them allowed him to recoup his expenses and install the third in his Cougar, though it wasn’t as easy as that.
Custom Engine Bay Modifications
One major step the owner decided to make was to rewire every inch of the Mercury and upgrade it to OBD-II standard. This job was no easy task, but now that it’s done, it makes the car much easier to work on. Next, he deleted the EGR system and added a Meziere electric water pump for increased cooling at all engine speeds.
Powertrain and Exhaust Enhancements
Air enters the engine through a K&N filter hidden by a custom cold-air box and then flows through an 80mm MAF sensor and a reworked Lincoln intake tube. To activate the IMRC controls, Maksimovich installed an MSD 3,000-rpm switch and driver. Exhaust components include a set of Kooks headers, MagnaFlow stainless cats, 2.5-inch dual pipes, and a MagnaFlow muffler. House Springs Discount Muffler performed the exhaust work.
Built Transmission for Better Performance
The transmission is a built 4R70W utilizing a ’94 case and ’00 valve body. The valve body features upgraded accumulator pistons and reverse/OD servos, and the torque converter is a factory Mark VIII unit. A ’97-style deep-sump pan holds extra fluid, and a B&M transmission cooler with 8-AN braided lines prevents heat buildup in the fluid.
Custom Paint and Body Modifications
Maksimovich took the Cougar to St. Louis Auto Body for bodywork, where Dustin Heinicke applied the Twilight Blue Metallic paint and the Metallic Silver stripes. After taking the car home, the owner and his father painted the underside of the car flat black.
Completing the Look with Unique Exterior Details
They then turned their attention to the engine bay, which they painted in a gray base with black and white flecks for a granite-like effect that’s cool and definitely different. Then they used what they thought to be the best parts from each MN12 Cougar to finish the body, including ’91-’93-style taillights, ’94-’97-style roof rails, LS quarter windows and trim, a remote-open flat fuel door, a rear spoiler, and more.
A Customized Interior with Upgraded Features
The dash structure was modified to use ’94-’97-style dash panels with a gauge cluster from a Taurus SHO. These gauges wear custom white faces to make them more visible behind the original XR7 steering wheel. Additional Auto Meter Ultra-Lite gauges reside in a DIN panel in the dash.
A Family Effort and Show-Winning Results
Looking at this Cougar doesn’t really provide a true feel for just how radical this Cougar is, or how much work went into it. The car represents a true tires-up alteration, as almost nothing is exactly as the factory designed it.
A Tribute to Maksimovich’s Skill and Dedication
To our way of thinking, that result is Rod Maksimovich’s greatest success. Maksimovich takes the car to plenty of events, attending shows such as the WFC9, Hot Rods and Handlebars, the Supercoupe/XR7 Shootout, and the Show Me Mustangs 20th-anniversary show.
