This Cougar Brings A 16-Year Family History, A Son’s Dedication to His Mother, and Josh Dowies Introduction to Drag-and-Drive!
Auto enthusiasts can be drawn to a particular vehicle for several reasons. It could be the styling, the power, the handling, or even the chance to fulfill a dream of owning one when you couldn’t earlier in life.
But then there’s cars and trucks with history, or a family connection, and the bonds and memories created with these rides can be some powerful ones.
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The 1968 Mercury Cougar of Josh Dowies has a sixteen-year history in his family starting when his father bought the car for his mother to drive. “She always wanted to have a little hot rod to cruise around,” said Josh. “She passed away back in 2017, and the car sat until 2022. I ended up buying the car from my dad, then and started building on it.”
Josh had a desire to participate in drag-and-drive events, and the Cougar would be his ticket to do so. “Getting to build this car has been as much for me, as it has been for my mom and in memory of my mom,” Josh said.
The Cougar originally came with a 289 cubic inch small block Ford engine, along with a 4-speed manual transmission. But by the recent Edelbrock Sick 66 event, Josh had made a few changes. “I swore up and down I wouldn’t LS-swap it,” he said. “I rebuilt the 289 four times, then wanted to build a nice small block Ford engine.
“After pricing that out, I just couldn’t make sense of the cost. Then I wanted to coyote swap it, but back to the budget. After about two months of the motor being blown up, I started staring at the LS engine I had laying around, and the rest was history.”
The Gen 4 LS engine still sports the stock bottom end, and Josh kept the manual transmission in play with a T-56 6-speed behind it. “It was a 4-speed manual when I got it, and I have always loved racing manual cars, so wanted to keep it that way,” said Josh. “Prior to this before I had kids, I had a fourth-gen Camaro SS that I absolutely loved, and it was a 6-speed. So I knew what I wanted backing the LS going into it.”
After clocking a best of 13.98 at 95 mph during the 2024 edition of Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks, Josh stepped to the better performance of the LS-swap for Sick 66. An 8.04 at 86 mph on day two at Mo-Kan Dragway would be Josh’s best run during the event, but just a couple days later, we caught Josh with his LS hanging from an engine crane.
“Oklahoma roads got me after all,” Josh said. “Scraped about half-an-inch off the oil pan, the rear end shifted and a couple other things vibrated loose.” Thankfully, he got the oil pan replaced, back on the road, and he completed the week with an 8.31 average.
In planning for his 2025 drag-and-drive season, Josh will once again step up the power of the Cougar, with a couple of additions in the form of twin-turbochargers. “The turbos are On3 Performance 64-millimeter units I picked up after Sick 66,” said Josh.
He also added a Tick Performance billet low pro intercooler intake, and although Josh figures the new setup should easily make 1000 horsepower, he’ll have to turned down to around a 650-700 horsepower level at Sick Week.
“I want to try and make this stock T-56 hang on for dear life,” said Josh. “Just building up one piece at a time as the wallet allows, but it’s been a childhood dream come true being able to do these drag-and-drives and build this car.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and Josh Dowies.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com