Here’s something different–a Mercury Bobcat drag car. I had not seen one of these L-M Pinto knockoffs in about twenty-five years, so out came the camera. The 1979 model got this new nose with rectangular lights, the last cosmetic update they would receive through swan-song ’80.
This one also had the optional all-glass rear hatch, similar to the one offered on the 1971-73 Volvo 1800ES, though the Bobcat wagon would more closely approximate the classic Swedish sportswagon profile-wise.
Actually, I have always liked the Pinto/Bobcat wagons. How about a wood-sided Villager in orange? I like!
image: Boss Mustang’s photostream on flickr
Before this one, the last time I saw one was when a friend of my dad’s at the marina had to borrow his brothers mint-green Bobcat coupe when his ’82 Olds Delta 88 diesel was being worked on. It was a pre-facelift version, with the mini-Marquis schnoz. That was probably in about 1989-90. So, when’s the last time you saw a Bobcat?
I have not seen a Bobcat in . . . good question. I always thought the early Bobcat hood and grille looked good on the wagon, less so on the hatchback. Likewise, I liked the Bobcat front better than the final Pinto front.
Thinking about Pintos all day, I recall that a law school professor drove a red 1980 Pinto Wagon. I graduated in 1985, so it wasn’t really that old. However, it was the poverty-spec version with dogdish hubcaps and no trim at all. How grim, I thought – a law degree and a Pinto wagon.
I have never seen one til now,was there a big price difference between a Bobcat and a Pinto?
I am guessing very little price difference by that time.
Saw a first-gen Mercury Capri drag car this weekend at the Atlantic Nationals car show. According to the numbers on the window it was a sub 10.8 car. He was a hoot to watch at the burnout competition last night. Not what you’d expect for sure.
There was also a Pinto wagon (woodgrain and all) at the show. It was refreshing to see it cruising amongst all the muscle cars.
I had no idea that huge hatch-window option existed!
It actually started being offered in 1977 and is lighter than the steel and glass version so no big surprise to see it on a drag car.
The Bobcat was what Ford did to help Mercury attain a better CAFE mpg average. No one was asking for a Pinto with Mercury badges upon them, but with the Bobcat, Lincoln Mercury dealers had a small car to meet demands for fuel efficiency which was everywhere by the Carter years, (the peak malaise years).
Smaller cars were expected by the buying public by the time the second gas crisis occurred. A Bobcat was an acknowledgement to the market at that time that Mercury would not ignore the writing on the wall and would enter the small car market.
It was pretty embarrassing for a Lincoln Mercury dealer to park a Bobcat next to a Town Car of that era and pretend it was a new Mercury to traditional Mercury owners. Many Lincoln and Mercury buyers could be expected to move down in size to the formally styled Monarch and Versailles, but the Pinto body style did not permit a credible broughamification as a Bobcat.
It was Mercury’s Packardbaker when it appeared during these years.
Sorry but CAFE stands for Corporate Average Fuel Economy, it is not BAFE plus it had not be enacted when the Bobcat was introduced. So no the Bobcat was not introduced for CAFE reasons. It came about because Canadian Mercury dealers wanted it and once they had it and the US Merc dealers saw the fact that the Pinto was on the way to becoming the best selling vehicle in 1974 they started crying for their own.
Also, after the 1973 oil embargo with resultant price hikes, Ford scooted the Bobcat out the door as a 1974 model. They had no way to know it during the 1973 planning, but with the economy going into the dumpster in 1974-75, L-M dealers probably sold a lot of these.
Bobcats were still in showrooms when CAFE took effect for the 1979 model year. However, these and Pintos were antiquated cars by then and were not selling all that well, which was one of the reason Ford axed the 460 from Lincolns after 1978. Had Ford’s small cars been selling better, the 460 might have stayed in Lincolns (at least as an option) that final year of the cycle.
Only Canadians got 1974 Bobcats, the US ones were marketed as 1975 models even though they were introduced in late spring/early summer 1974. Even until the end the Pinto/Bobcat sold relatively well moving something over 200K in the final years, yes a far cry from it’s 500K heyday but not too shabby, and still one of the leaders in the size class. I believe the Pinto only sales figures of 185K in 1980 still put it in the top 10 best selling cars.
Echoing what Eric said above, I’ve always been struck that the Pinto sold pretty well in its later years, when you consider 1) the age of its design; 2) the fact that it wasn’t a great design to begin with (only came as a 2-door, not very space efficent for its size, designed in an era when small cars were almost afterthoughts to the Big Three); and 3) the negative publicity from the explosion lawsuit. I think many people today whose knowledge of the Pinto is confined to knowing that it was “that car that exploded” and seeing it on “worst cars of all time” lists would be shocked to see how many Ford was still selling even as late as 1979 or 1980.
On the other hand, while it sold pretty well considering all of the above, I wouldn’t say it just plain sold well. It was definitely a weak point in Ford’s lineup after 1975. Chevrolet was doing much greater business with the Chevette, and some of the import brands (VW, Toyota, Datsun) were probably outselling Ford in this segment.
I don’t think the Bobcat ever really sold in big numbers. I guess it was felt that Mercury needed a small car, but they didn’t seem to place a whole lot of marketing emphasis on it. It was apparently a situation where few L-M customers wanted a subcompact, and few subcompact buyers had to have an L-M product (as opposed to a cheaper Ford).
So its still only a half baked MK3 Cortina no surprise they couldnt be sold outside N.A.
Love that last 1979 brochure pic. “Time to take the bobcat down the ‘ol jeep trail”
To answer the question though, last time I saw a Bobcat, I saw TWO at the same time/place in 2008(maybe 09) at one of the local wrecking yards. One I parked right next to in the parking lot and low and behold there was another inside the yard being picked over by someone(I wonder which car he owns outside???). I’m not sure I’ve seen one since. I don’t think I’ve even seen a Pinto since then either.
I see a pretty thoroughly beat ’79 or ’80 Bobcat on the prowl in the East Village occasionally, but I’ve only ever seen it at night when the camera on my phone doesn’t work. It’s baby blue and also has the glass hatch if I’m remembering correctly. That’s the first and only Bobcat I can ever remember seeing, and if I ever see a Pinto, it usually looks like the tubbed-out dragster in the first pic.
Didn’t CC feature a red Bobcat Villager once?
Yep, I did. It was one I found on ebay.
I knew a guy in high school who had one, but I graduated in ’81 so that was a long time ago. Same grille as the green one above, but it was white and had that weird option where you could get the woodgrain sides on the hatchback (I think they only offered this for a year or two).
I haven’t seen a Bobcat since the mid-80’s. A friend from school had one (or more correctly, her mom did). It was a ’79 or ’80 with the glass hatch.
Were I to buy a Pinto — and don’t think I haven’t considered it — the practical choice would be a later model, with the square headlights. They’d worked out all the kinks by then. But I just thought the Pinto didn’t wear this slab of a front end very well. And they redesigned the dash to be more square, too, and it doesn’t look right either. Take me back to 1972 or 1973, please.