Welcome to 1989, another special year for the COUGAR CLUB OF AMERICA and all our membership. With more people intereste in COUGARS, we had more inquiries and interest in our Club than ever before. More magazines have done articles on COUGARS this year than ever before. I get more calls from people looking for our "CATS" than any other time in my tenure as President. The Club has had so many new members that we ran out of newsletters already in October!

MOTOR TREND magazine named the COUGAR as one of the top ten collectible cars. That really started the phone ringing & filling the mail box with inquiries!

Since this year is the 50th Anniversary for Lincoln-Mercury, we will be invited to attend some special events sponsored by Lincoln-Mercury. They will give us the opportunity to show off our cars. More details will be coming in the next isue.

LIFE magazine & MOTOR TREND magazine did some special layouts on the 50 Years of Mercury including the part COUGAR played in its 50 year history.

We got the impression from the MOTOR TREND article that if the COUGAR had not come along when it did, Lincoln-Mercury might not be as prominent in the automotive industry as it is today. The COUGAR was a big boost for Lincoln-Mercury in the late '60's.

With the Club growing we need to take into consideration the possibility of having 2 National Meets. We know not everyone can attend every national meet because of location. The Nationals have been moved around to 8 different states through the years. Our idea is to have an EASTERN NATIONALS & an WESTERN NATIONALS. The Mississippi River will be our dividing line. Let of know what you think of this idea. We would also like to see more regional shows held. As you can see from the articles further on in this issue, we are getting responses from Regional chapters, but there are a lot more out there that we are not hearing from.

My "New Year's Resolution" is to work closer with the Regional Directors & get the regions more active for '89.

We would like to welcome Jim Severson as our new REGION 2-North Director. Jim owns a very nice '68 XR-7. Jim is very active in the Wisconsin Cougar Club & we are looking forward to working with Jim in his new position.

We would also like to thank Scott Plowman for his work in the past few years as the REGION 2 North Director. Scotty has been very active in the past, but slates new priorities as a little girl named Katie & a new son named Eddie. When Eddie gets a little older, I'm sure Scott & Judy will be looking for a COUGAR for him as his first car. Thank you Scott & Judy for all the work & effort you put in for us in the past!! KEEP IN TOUCH!

As you can see, this is going to be a very important & busy year for us as COUGAR owners. We will be anxious to see old friends & meet new friends through these car shows coming up. So start getting that COUGAR ready and make it to as many of these meets as you possibly can. We don't want anyone to miss out on the fun of the 1989 "YEAR OF THE CAT"!