Vintage vroom: Local collector of Mercury Cougars enjoys taking them for a spin

View larger image Car collector Bill Dartnell stands beside three 1970 Mercury Cougars outside his Toms Brook home. Unlike most collectors, Darnell is not afraid to drive his cars. Rich Cooley/Daily View larger image Dartnell restored the classic tail lights of a 1970 Cougar. Rich Cooley/Daily View larger image Dartnell's 1973 Cougar has seen only about 15,000 miles of road. Many of the parts of a Cougar are interchangeable with those of the Ford Mustang. Rich Cooley/Daily View larger image One of Dartnell's 1970 Cougars displays a hood emblem. Rich Cooley/Daily View larger image The Cougar emblem on the front grill of one of Bill Dartnell's 1970 Cougars. Rich Cooley/Daily

By Amber Marra -- amarra@nvdaily.com

TOMS BROOK -- Collecting cars tends to entail maintaining a pristine sheen and a fierce-sounding engine, usually by driving the vehicles as little as possible.

Not so for Toms Brook resident Bill Dartnell and his collection of six vintage Mercury Cougars.

Dartnell began collecting Cougars because he liked the way the cars looked, and, more importantly, how they drove.

"I drive mine. I don't take them to car shows, because they're not much fun if they just sit in the garage," he said.

The former naval flight officer bought his first Cougar hardtop new in Portsmouth in 1970. It was the beginning of a collection that would extend to two more hardtops and three convertibles.

The convertibles and one of the hardtops are 1970 models, while the other two hardtops were made in 1973 and 1976. Though Dartnell drives most of his Cougars, the 1973 model has seen only about 15,000 miles worth of road.

A Cougar's unique features, such as sequential taillights and the classic car look -- with a long hood and short trunk -- attracted Dartnell to what he calls "a good-looking car."

Obtaining his cars over the years was not always an easy task. At one point, Dartnell's wife, a native of Japan, said he needed "another car like he needed a hole in the head," he said.

This only prompted Dartnell to purchase his 1973 hardtop while his wife was overseas. After putting in such effort to gain the cars he loved, Dartnell has only trusted JR's Autobody in Winchester to restore and touch up his cars for the last 20 years.

"Bill has the only [Cougars] we've ever worked on. This is just one of those instances where someone takes a fancy to a car and collects them because he is truly in love with Cougars," said Diehl Wilson, owner of JR's.

A full restoration can cost up to $25,000, Wilson said, but not all of Dartnell's cars needed extensive work. Wilson also says the cars were not difficult to work on, since most of the mechanical parts are interchangeable with the Ford Mustang.

Though Dartnell has led an extensively mechanical life, completing 500 aircraft-carrier landings and 50 combat missions in Vietnam and working at gas stations when he was younger, he leaves any simple repairs to Wymer's Auto Repair in Toms Brook.

"These are hard cars to find, but they're not bad to work on because they don't have as much electronic stuff going on as most new cars," said owner Chuck Wymer.

Many of the vintage Cougars still in existence are owned by members of the Cougar Club of America. The cars are generally used for show purposes, which has made seeing them on the road a rarity.

"It's just such a different car that if someone gets an attachment to it, like if a neighbor or family member from your youth had one, it sticks with them," said Randy Goodling, Cougar Club of America chairman. "I would probably liken [collecting] to an addiction without the adverse effects."

Unlike those car collectors who rarely drive their prized automobiles, Dartnell's cars can be seen parked outside the Hotel Strasburg on almost any given night of the week.

"There are some people who never take [their Cougars] out if there is a cloud in the Western Hemisphere," Dartnell said. "Not much point in having them if you're not going to use them."

Dartnell's Cougars will remain in his possession, along with a basement full of spare parts, until they are distributed with his estate. Each one of the cars is probably worth at least $25,000, he said.

For now, Dartnell maintains that his Cougars are classic and aesthetically pleasing, and always "a good-looking car."

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