The Truth About Cars » Comet

Junkyard Find: 1975 Mercury Comet Sedan

Murilee Martin — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:00:04 +0000

A Maverick in a junkyard is a rare sight indeed these days, so you can imagine my surprise when I found this badge-engineered Mercury Maverick just a few rows down from yesterday’s ’75 Ford Maverick Junkyard Find. There wasn’t much difference between the Maverick and the Comet, though the Comet was marketed as being somewhat classier.
You aren’t going to see a sticky vinyl interior in this weird green color these days.
Check out these futuristic taillights!
The 1975 Ford Maverick four-door listed at $3,025 with 200-cubic-inch six-cylinder engine. The 1975 Mercury Comet four-door listed at $3,236, with the same engine. It’s hard to imagine the tiny margin of bragging rights the Comet might bestow over the Maverick, but some felt the extra $211 was worth it.
The 1992 Sci-Fi Channel button on the inside of the C pillar is a nice bit of personalization.

Junkyard Find: 1964 Mercury Comet

Murilee Martin — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 14:00:46 +0000

Some of our sharper-eyed readers noticed that the car parked next to yesterday’s Junkyard Find (this 1965 Mercury Park Lane Breezeway) was also a mid-60s-vintage Mercury. It’s the upscale version of the Ford Falcon, the car that the Edsel Jihad still hates as a symbol of Robert MacNamara‘s misplaced— and probably Communist-inspired— priorities. Yes, Ford CEO MacNamara killed the Edsel in favor of the Falcon, right before he masterminded the not-real-successful war effort in Vietnam; the Edsel Jihad can forgive the latter but never the former.
I found these two doomed Mercurys side-by-side at a Northern California self-service yard last month. Both seem quite restorable, but more complete Park Lanes aren’t too expensive and nobody seems to want Comet sedans. Next stop: Chinese steel factory via the Port of Oakland!
This one is free of serious rust, but: four doors.
Comet V8 options in 1964 were 260- and 289-cube Windsor V8s, but this looks like a more recent swap. 302, probably.
Whenever I see these old factory radios, I have to resist hoarding impulses. They’re just so cool-looking, but hoarding car clocks is bad enough!
It’s possible that this car was driven by Apple Computer’s oldest employee in 1990… but I doubt it. Still, Cupertino is upscale enough that it’s hard to imagine an original-owner Comet being driven there.

Car Collector’s Corner: 1965 Mercury Comet-Rescued From Pasture

J Sutherland — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 09:37:34 +0000

One of our favorite stories is boy-meets-car, boy-sells-car, boy-finds-long lost car, boy-buys back-long lost-car. George Ouelette was able to make this storyline have the same happy ending in his life. He purchased his 1965 Comet 2 door hardtop back in 1966 when it was a solid courting car that he used on dates.

Things kind of worked out for George because he ended up with both the car and a new bride in 1968. The three of them were along for the honeymoon together and thus began a beautiful relationship. However a honeymoon two-door hardtop car is a little less practical as a family-hauler, so the car was traded away in 1971.

It was a moment of instant seller’s remorse for George, but he was a practical man with family obligations, so bye-bye Comet. In the early 80s, George decided that he wanted another Comet as a reminder of the first one that was so important to him in his younger years with his future bride.

Little did George know that he would find his own beloved Comet alone and unloved in a farmer’s pasture. The years had not been kind to his old friend-it had no hood, no engine, and no hope for a better life until George found it.

It was definitely his car-some of his old ID was still in the car. The Comet had spent some hard years on that farm hauling calves to town and rocks out of fields, so it was a major restoration project. But George was a lucky man because his lovely bride also had a soft spot for the long lost Comet.

It required a major financial commitment from both of them to restore the car back to its former glory. The Comet had to look just like the day it took them on their first date. George even managed to locate original factory upholstery for the car. The Oullettes wanted the Comet to be perfect.

The original engine was a six cylinder and the replacement was also a period six banger with the Blue Oval pedigree. The results of this restoration were nothing short of spectacular for the Comet because it is exactly like the first day George drove it in 1966.

The biggest highlight of the Comet’s post-restoration life was its place of honor at the Oullettes’ daughter’s wedding in the early 90s. It seemed fitting to invite this old family friend to that family wedding.

For more of J Sutherland’s work go to mystarcollectorcar.com

Trio of Doomed Fords Destined To Become Geely Hysouls, Universe Keeps Expanding

Murilee Martin — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:00:17 +0000

After being away from the quick-turnover self-service junkyards of Northern California (where Guangzhou-bound container ships full of crushed vehicles leave the Port of Oakland every day) for a few months, I decided to check out one of the biggest when visiting from Denver last week. I found a ’62 Comet, a ’65 Fairlane, and a ’72 Mustang huddled together in The Crusher’s waiting room.

I’ve always preferred the Comet to the Falcon, and not just because Charles Bukowski drove a ’62 Comet. The first-gen Falcon was built in Argentina until 1991, but early Comets— even six-cylinder sedans like this one— are quite rare. In a couple of weeks, the number of ’62s will be reduced by one, because Schnitzer Steel will be mashing this battered-but-not-particularly-rusty example into a cube and shipping it off to China.

As I contemplated the demise of the Comet, I saw the snout of another vintage FoMoCo product peeking out from the endless line of Tauruses and Tracers. Is that an early-70s Mustang?

Why, yes, it is! About 125,000 ’72 Mustangs were built, which makes it rarer than the ’62 Comet and much rarer than its mid-1960s predecessors. Still, a higher percentage of these cars survives today, plus many of the components on this one have been harvested to keep living examples on the road, so I’m still more bummed about the Comet sedan.

Holy crap! Whoever did the bodywork on this car must have bought Bondo by the 55-gallon drum.

Is it possible that there’s a third old Ford nearby?

This 1965 Ford Fairlane coupe, complete with V8 and Cruise-O-Matic transmission, looks like it was in fairly decent shape… before someone decided to take an orbital sander to the paint. How? Why?

One rainy Bay Area winter is all it took to complete the damage. Next stop, Chinese steel factory!