One of our more prolific Cohort car spotters is nifticus, who hails from British Columbia. He lives in an area that is Eugene-worthy in the number of old cars on the streets, and this shot is a nice triple. The four door Comet is bestowed with the Custom Exterior option, which included the very chic body-color matching wheel covers and the padded vinyl side rub strip, as well as the vinyl top, natch. Yes, this is the kind of car I drooled over in 1973…
Not. More like some other bodily fluid…
I had a hard enough time with just the basic Maverick, but the more it got dressed up, including Mercury duds, the harder it was for me to relate to it. Well, these were old lady-mobiles from day one. But it’s an amusing time capsule now.
Here’s the exact same car in a brochure, but there’s not a lot of reality in it (is there ever?). Right; this attractive young bike riding couple just bought this Comet to take them into the great outdoors. Comets were scared of nature; they preferred church on Sundays and the Safeway on Wednesdays.
Betcha’ this one is so well preserved because that’s how it spent most of its life, and in a garage too.
There is a lot of familial resemblance between this and the British Ford Cortina 4-door of the same era.
That’s what I thought too.
The Cortina resembles Ford, not vice versa.
If you look at Ford-Europe and Opel during the 1960s, they tended to emulate their American owners.
And Ford tended to emulate GM.
GM came out with “Coke bottle” profile in 1965. The Opel Rekords and Kadetts of the late 60s had Coke bottle profile.
And Ford copied GM’s look in the US in the late 60s, and in the European Cortina and Escort of the early 70s “emulated” Dearborn.
Note it is specifically the Comet with the hood bulge that the Cortina resembles, not the Ford (Maverick) in this case, also both cars were released in 1970. Chances are the cars shared some common design staff and regular communication even if they were on different continents.
A neighbour had a Mk3 Cortina which I’m sure was the same shade of brown.
This is so like a 120% Cortina its uncanny. When did the Comet come out?
1960, it was supposed to be a compact Edsel based on the Falcon. It was sold as a Comet for a couple of years before becoming a Mercury Comet. My first American car was a 64 4 door 6 cylinder Mercury Comet.
This particular generation of comet came out in 1971, but the Maverick it basically shares everything with came in 1970.
The 4-door body style was added to the Maverick lineup for 1971. The Maverick came out as an early 1970 model in the spring of 1969, but was available only as a 2-door for the 1970 model year. The Comet debuted for the 1971 model year, with both body styles.
As Gem alluded to, Mercury had also used the Comet model name from 1960 to 1969, on a somewhat larger vehicle which started out as a “senior compact” and eventually evolved into a midsize. The 1960-65 Comet was based on the Falcon, but with a stretched wheelbase. (This car was originally intended to be sold by Edsel, and 1960-61 models carry no Mercury badging, just Comet.) 1966-69 models were based on the Fairlane. Starting in 1968, most Mercury midsizes were marketed under the Montego model name, and in 1968-69 the Comet name was used only a single low-end trim level.
As a weird aside, a hearse manufacturer had rights to the Comet name in the US. FoMoCo bought the rights to the name, and the hearse company became Cotner Bevington…they built mostly Oldsmobiles until 1975, as I recall.
http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/c/cotner_bevington/cotner_bevington.htm
Gramps had one, all red. He kept it looking showroom fresh at all times, even though it was his daily driver. IIRC it gave good, reliable service.
Sweet looking car. I’ve always liked both the Ford Maverick and the Mercury Comet. And I still do. I know it’s not sought after by collectors today, not like the Mustang/Cougar, but I’d buy one if it were in decent condition. It doesn’t have to be perfect, better than showroom condition, but if it’s driveable, safe to drive, then I’d be happy.
The Mercury had a “Power dome” hood, “Styled in the Lincoln Continental tradition” no doubt.
That and the grille seem to be the only “Mercury” styling cues on the car unfortunately, the front turn signals and rear lights don’t look like they belong on a Mercury to me.
Those are the same taillights the ’70-’71 Montegos used. Looked OK on those cars IMHO.
Time capsule indeed! My best friend and I collected stray hubcaps in our adolescence, and we found one of these along the road one day, only in that color I can only describe as Nuclear Butterscotch. Gad.
The first couple of years of these made nice looking little sedans, especially when dolled up like this. Not that they were all that successful in hiding the car’s penny-pinching design. Then came the big bumpers, and that was that.
That wheel cover may have been painted in Medium Yellow Gold. This picture of my Maverick LDO was taken in August 1972, a week or so after purchase. Unfortunately the photo doesn’t do the color justice – it was bold.
At least the 1972 did not have the big bumpers though the more stylish smaller ones were pretty weak. The interior was very plush, with soft vinyl bucket seats and deep pile carpet (but no glove compartment – as per the original “penny-pinching design” you note, though the open shelf was carpeted!). And the 302 had enough power to move it along. However, overall it was not a very good car (unbelievably bad gas mileage) and it developed a host of problems early on. Not a great era for quality at Ford.
I’d rather have what appears to be a turquoise ’65 Impala hardtop in the background!
IIRC – these were my Dad’s neighbors at the time – the first car is a 66 Impala 2 door hardtop, the car next to it is a 66 or 67 Malibu, and the car in front of the other two is a 67 Impala two-door hardtop. A real Chevy family.
My mother owned a green 73 Comet 2dr. Replaced
her ’66 midnight blue mustang at the insistence of my
father! I was 3 in 1973.
Comet had the vomit-tan interior, buckets with the
tall headrest option.
I have always been a ’70-72 Maverick fan. Still am. But when the 4 door Mav came out, I wanted to vomit. Driving a 4 door back then was like french kissing your sister.
The license plates on that car are quite newly issued; perhaps it recently changed hands.
This is the first car I can remember riding in. My parents had one when I was in preschool. It was all white. They had the exterior painted yellow sometime in the early 80s. I vividly remember being picked up from my mom and dad, in that car, in a driving rain. My dad had a fur-collared leather jacket and a nifty paperboy hat on in grey checker. They were so exited to see me, and took me to mcdonalds as a treat. It makes me smile every time I see one. Thanks for posting.
It looked something like this.
Those hubcaps appear to be from another Comet. The proper ones would be brown like the body paint.
Marlon: love that yellow Maverick. My Grandmother had the first Grabber in town in the same color.
I looked closely at the first picture, and believe that this car is equipped with the custom exterior and interior option. (This is the equivalent to what I believe was the Luxury Decor Option on the Ford Maverick.) The interior featured “super soft” vinyl seats with high “European” headrests, when all other trims on the sedan had low wide headrests. The trim also included upgraded cut-pile carpeting, wood tone appliqués, and different door trim. There MAY have been a leather trim option in later years. A Comet Brougham!
A buddy had one of these in high school. It was a simple honest car with a modicum of style (at the time) the Falcon had missed.
Mavericks had the LDO option in one group, while L-M decided to split the interior & exterior packages for some reason. I’ve only ever seen one that didn’t have both, this one had the nice interior with the low rent exterior.
My high school friend had one 1975 in dark blue/light blue, which he drove for a several years until he graduated from the university.
He was so proud of his so-called batting rams, i.e. massive rail tie bumpers, and often stand on them above the crowd for a better view of amateur games. Other motorists seeing those batting rams wisely distanced themselves from his car.
One day, he drove hard on the way to Abilene, Texas for his university. The temperature warning light came on, and the burning smoke soon followed. He pulled aside and shut down the motor. Opening the hood, my friend was amazed to see the six-cylinder engine glowing in a dull shade of red and smoke venting out of one of the core plugs. It turned out that the core plug seating gradually disintegrated and allowed the core plug to fall out. At the repair garage, the mechanic replaced all of core plugs and seatings then filled cooling system up. The car was good to go!
That F-150 with the Explorer package could use a closer look…
I agree. I’ve always liked the old (full size) Ranger and Explorer trucks – I’ve seen a few nice late ’60’s – early ’70’s examples tooling around recently. Not many left here in Ontario thanks to our salty roads, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they originally came from BC or a similar environment.
Here’s what I have to say about the Maverick/Comets:
They were better than the Granada/Monarch duo.
You have to admit the interiors were quite striking. Few American sedans at the time had bucket seats, let alone bucket seats that reclined.
Ick. That is just ungainly. I love my Brougham as much as the next guy but the 4door Comet and Maverick were just plain ugly.
I wouldn’t mind that Explorer across the street though!
These cars weren’t so bad, better than the dull-as-dishwater Falcon. The luxury décor group helped a lot, and I don’t even mind the big bumpers and colour keyed wheel covers. Wonder if this was the inspiration for AMC’s Concord several years later, they sure do seem to have the same styling elements. I remember seeing lots of these things running about when I was a kid in the early-mid ’70s. Ah, memories!
Tail lights on the Mavericks and Pintos were the same. When I had my Pinto, I thought about installing Comet tail lights for a different look. The holes are probably the same, so there would have to be matching studs.
The taillight panel is totally different, you’d need to know how to weld.
The “attractive young bike riding couple” just got their clothes on before an old man and his dog drove up in this Comet. That’s why they are so happy.
I want to see just how attractive he is after he takes the first off-road bump with his ten-speed road bike.
One of my “little” sisters had a 2 door Maverick version of this car while my parents had a 75 Comet 4 door.
My sister’s Maverick was a real “accident magnet”. That poor car was involved in 3 different fairly serious collisions and when the body shop repaired it they would just guess at the color brown to paint the damaged areas. At one point, that car had 2-3 different shades of brown paint on it. The 3, most serious accident, saw the car get a complete paint job in a “root beer” metallic paint instead of the “correct” cocoa color.
I like the looks of these cars, though the 73s look awkward with their mis-matched bumpers, but they are seriously let down by their “lifeless” power steering and marginal brakes.
Our next-door neighbors in Pittsburgh had a base 1971 Mercury Comet 4-door in red back in the day. They had been Ford lifers as long as I could remember but switched to Mopar for their next car, a 1976 Plymouth Valiant or Dodge Dart.
My parents had the 1972 version of this in gold with all the boxes checked. This is one of those cars whose personality is highly dependent on the option list, and ordering them all was the only way to turn a penalty box into a decently comfortable conveyance. The 302 had adequate go, and would spank any Granada with the same engine. The brakes sucked (4 wheel drum) and discs were not an option until ’74.
The HVAC and cooling system was weak, one time the thermostat stuck and left us stranded, and the water valve for the AC failed, leaving us with no heat in the winter.
It also ate bypass hoses. Another early failure was the brakes, not only needing a reline at about 24,000 miles but also a master cylinder. The U-joints also got loose and clunky, although that could have been a result of my hooning.
On the plus side, it handled decently for the time, and because of the options combo, it came with max tire size, ER70-14, BF Goodrich radials with an unusual block tread pattern. Those tires still had lots of tread on them at 44,000 miles, when the car was traded. We got several compliments on the interior from people, also.
I began carrying spare bypass hoses – it was positioned in a way that it took too much engine heat and failed frequently. I also had radiator issues, water pump failures but no problems with the A/C itself, which worked quite well, even the vacuum controls. The upper control arm bushings lost lubrication and squawked like those on the early Mustangs. Mine had the infamous Firestone 500 radials and for whatever reason lasted over 40,000 miles without any issues.
Window sticker attached – did your family’s car have more options? I know a rear window defogger and small console box were available. Indiana dealers only got a very small allotment of the LDOs and they were all equipped like mine except for a couple that had the 250 six.
Ours had all of the above plus the rear defog. I was pissed that it didn’t have the consolette and the old man didn’t want to order one through the parts depatment.
I hade a 74. Worst car I ever had.
Jeeze ~ I’m old and I hope I never want one of these…..
Basic and usually reliable , I didn’t care for them when new but they were dead easy to maintain .
-Nate
These curbside classics were in east Vancouver. You’re right, Paul: the area has a lot of CCs (I haven’t been to Eugene yet so I can’t compare).
What’s sad is that as Vancouver changes due to extremely high real estate prices, the areas with all the old vehicles get redeveloped and the curbside classics disappear. A few years ago you could find cars like this all over the city. Vancouver is only 30 miles from the Washington border so our climate is similar. When I cross the border into Blaine or Lynden, WA there are so many more old cars (not to mention Bellingham and Seattle).
What makes this even worse is that Vancouver is one of the few areas in Canada with a mild enough climate (not much snow) where cars don’t rust away after a few years.
I spent many hours in the back seat of a friend’s mother’s red Maverick and it’s replacement, after a wreck, a frosty blue Comet, and I was repulsed by them from the second I saw them. They were almost total strippers, they came with no radio, and of course, no A/C. My comment when I saw both of them was the same, “Jeez, your dad is cheap!”. Both did eventually get junkyard radios put in them, over his dad’s objections. He drives an old S-10 pickup now, as stripped as I’ve ever seen one. His wife left him a long time ago, and married her high school sweetheart, who “Isn’t a cheapskate, thank god!” as she says constantly.
These just don’t appeal to me. I could see myself driving a Dart or Valiant from the same era, but NOT a Comet. My first wife had a 75 Nova when we met, and that was a steaming pile, so GM is out too…guess I need to find a nice Dart and be done with it.
It may not seem like much today, but the Maverick and Comet with the Luxury Décor Option (LDO)/Custom package were really the first true luxury compacts. They had nice bucket seats, very plush carpeting and – drumroll, please – “European” style door armrests. All of which was pretty heady stuff for a domestic compact in 1972-74.
I think the 62 Buick Special Skylark and Olds Cutlass coupes were luxury compacts a full decade earlier. In high school I had a friend who had the Cutlass, red on red, bucket seats, chrome-handled floor shift, high quality carpet and vinyl. Pretty plush for the time.
BTW, those armrests of which you speak were poorly attached – after my 72 LDO went out of warranty the armrest popped off the door! The exterior door handle also came loose. Ford quality was not that great in those days.
My great aunt bought one of these in ’71- 4 door with the 302. ‘Twas excellent for brake stands. Great sleeper!
I’d drive it–it’s a true 70’s time capsule. Plus I’m a sucker for color-keyed hubcaps.
I found this car’s big brother curbside a few years ago–a full-dress optioned out mid 70’s Gran Torino, triple brown with fender skirts. I’ll have to find those photos…
Makes two of us 🙂 . IMHO the 4 door M/C’s look better than the 2 doors.
I don’t see any resemblance between the Comet and the MkIII Cortina. One is an attractive, well-styled car which should have been sold in the US. I remember C&D compared the Maverick against the MkII Cortina, which was sold here, and the Maverick did not come out ahead. By the way, I assume the MkIII was not sold here because it would have cannibalized sales of the new Pinto. Does anyone know if Ford ever considered a 4 door Pinto?
My mother had a dark blue 1974 Ford Maverick 2-door with the LDO package, vinyl seats, 302 V-8 and automatic transmission, front disk brakes and air conditioning and AM radio.
Here’s what I remembered about the car:
– Most annoying feature was the ignition-seat belt interlock feature that forced one to buckle up in order to start engine. Otherwise the buzzer would sound off in lieu of engine starting.
– Also 1974 was the last year before catalytic converters arrived on the scene in 1975 and was able to take leaded gas, which was cheaper than unleaded at the time.
– Had big, heavy front and rear bumpers that could take a 5mph tap without damage.
– Had great acceleration due to the 302 V-8. Fuel mileage wasn’t so great.
– That fastback window was hard to see out of when it rained.
Had the car for 13 years.