I was bopping down 19th Avenue, about ten blocks from our house, when I came across this scene. Oh oh; the Z7 is getting hauled off; must have broken down. But wait; it’s being unloaded, and the rear bumper is damaged. And I can already see the front end is even more damaged. And its owner, head is looking mighty glum, despite her BF’s attempts at consoling her. Is it coming home to die?
This fine Zephyr Z7 coupe (I’m guessing at the exact year) showed up here about six months ago, and it soon succumbed to my ever-eager camera, parked across the street that particular day. These aren’t exactly common anymore, but I’d put off writing it up because Jim Cavanaugh already did a fine CC on its badge-engineering mate, the Fairmont Futura.
Well, that and the fact that my backlog of cars to be written up just gets longer and longer. One of my resolutions is to write them up right after I find them, while the energy is still fresh.
But now it’s worse for wear. The very bummed-out owner tells me that her car, which she bought about six months ago, was the “filling” in a “sandwich” accident. And it looks like the front end got the worst of it. You know whose fault that is, usually.
That does look a bit nasty. Of course, anything can be fixed, and with a bit of creativity, this might not be all to bad with some junkyard parts. And how many Zephyr front clips are out there? I hate to see such a nice condition car taken from out streets. But fear not, dear readers, there’s still a few other CCs around. Right close by, actually.
I step back across the street to get a profile, and before I have a chance to zoom out, another CC worms its way into the picture. It’s not really necessary; there’s already another one in the shot back there!
Zoom out a bit, and snap….damn; another intruder! Can’t a guy peel off a shot without everyone having to shoehorn into the picture? Are CCs that emotionally needy?
Can’t win. So I’ll go back to the older pics, and look for a few clean shots there. The Z7 has lots of distinctive details, including this fine hood ornament. Maybe that was bad luck?
Must have gills, or whatever one calls these. If the big brother Continental MarkV has three, surely the Zephyr rates two; Lincoln-Mercury’s version of the Buick porthole status ladder. Except Buick is one brand, not two.
The Z7 was of course the distinctive “basket-handle” roof version of the otherwise rather plain and boxy Zephyr. It’s been shown pretty convincingly that this roof line was obviously being considered for an early Fox-body Thunderbird (and Cougar, I assume), but Ford chickened out, kept the fat-boy T-Bird/Cougar around another year, and then graced us with the quite ugly versions for 1980.
The Zephyr two-door sedan arrived in 1978 with a rather odd insert covering up part of the rear window; a pretty ridiculous attempt to distinguish it from the Fairmont sedan. My father must have bought his red stripper two-door Zephyr in 1979, because that panel was standard on 1978 Zephyrs, and then optional. His 1968 stripper Dart two-door was still in good health despite ten years of the daily commute from Towson to Johns Hopkins Hospital in downtown Baltimore. No visible rust, and the 170 inch slant six was still perfect. He probably just had a hard time accepting that at least some American cars were still good to go after a decade and over 100k miles. Well, he had picked just about the most durable vehicle of the times.
I have no idea what led him to a Mercury dealer; but perhaps its because he knew what he wanted: a four cylinder, with the four-speed stick. Maybe the Ford dealer didn’t have a Fairmont thus-equipped handy.
My father’s interior was all-red (this one is obviously a later mix-and-match). And he had the much more attractive Plain-Jane two-spoke wheel with a little round hub in the middle. I’ve always rather hated this style Ford wheel, despite having one in my Turbo Coupe. With manual steering, the four speed stick, and the Lima 2.3 four, it was the closest approximation of an American Volvo ever. Hardly brilliant, but a capable enough basic car, and surprisingly tossable if not exactly brimming with power.
This one has the 85 hp 200 inch (3.3 L) six, that actually was rated at three horsepower less than the 2.3 four (88 hp). Very odd. But it had more torque, and was almost always teamed up with the automatic. The 139 hp 302 was available in 1978-1979, to be replaced by the feebler 115 hp 255 V8 in 1980.
Aw, honey; don’t be so glum; we’ll find you another one….
It’s not like there aren’t other old cars around here. Maybe one of the neighbors will sell you one.
I always find it sad to see a car of this vintage get into an accident. You know it will probably be junked. I thought these cars were very attractive when they came out, especially for an “economy” type car. I didn’t expect to see that luxury steering wheel in a Zephyr. That is cool, knowing it was also the same wheel that was used in the expensive Lincolns too. I expected the vinyl 2-spoke wheel which I think looked cheap in comparison. My Dad had the luxury steering wheel in his 1982 Country Squire. Ford was famous for upgrading you to the more luxurious wheel across their car lines if you got cruise control. It looks as if the featured car may have both cruise control and a tilt steering wheel but no A/C – some creative ordering was done here. On some rare occasions you would see that steering wheel as an upgrade without the cruise control – very rare indeed. I think the interior in our featured car was an upgrade as well – the back seat looks to be a little more “deluxe” than the norm. I hope someone saves that little Zephyr from the crusher – it deserves a second chance.
How about an LTD II front clip? Then it could be a Zephyr Victoria or maybe an LTZephyr…
And the angle of the LTD II nose might work well with the basket handle and the angled taillights. The original front bumper might replace the twisted back bumper.
Like this one?
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iTbRwduI6mY/TrYyExwjGRI/AAAAAAAABWY/Ek2h9KL8gUE/s1600/ford-fairmont-futura-2.jpg
Wow!That’s a makeover that looks great
My thought exactly. I LOVE that car!
Even though I’m not a fan of the Fairmont and Zephyr, this makes me sad.
I frequently borrowed a college friend’s ’79 Zephyr two-door, with the Lima engine and the stick. It was an awful car to drive. This would have been in 1985-6; the car wasn’t that old yet. It was terribly slow, the steering was loose, and its front end floated horribly as you put it down the road. I really had to steer that car to keep it straight. This seriously put me off these cars. But now I wonder if my buddy’s car just had a worn-out front end.
I think your diagnosis of your friend’s car is spot on, as my family’s ’78 Futura had none of that; it was enjoyable to drive & had very direct & nicely-weighted steering. Its 302 didn’t hurt, either. My only complaint was that cresting a hump would quickly hit the suspension’s downward stops, which is a design issue.
I have the impression that Ford factory shocks, flabby to begin with, didn’t last long; after I replaced my ’81 Escort’s, its handling improved dramatically. Either that, or I didn’t know any better.
Sad end to an under rated car.
Much more interested in the redhead owner of this car.
So is her boyfriend. Check out the second to last pic. Can’t even keep it in his pants.
I think he needs to see a doctor, though – it shouldn’t be that color…
I think we’re looking at the negative….
Negative.
@Mike — told ya. (i don’t think a pic was really necessary!)
I’d say, given the front bumper looks untouched, that heavy braking was in effect and the car in front was likely a pickup or SUV… I always thought of these as your dictionary definition of a generic car.
According to NADA guides, average retail for a 1980 Zephyr Z7 is $2,375. It was probably totaled. Not sure how much of a chance it has for being fixed or restored. Maybe if it’s lucky a fox body fanatic or perhaps a donker will give it a second chance on life.
Depending on the policy you can challenge the book value. I know a guy who had a Morris Minor van damaged and his insurer was going to write it off (total it) due to the book value, however he demonstrated by way of vehicles advertised for sale & sold that the book value was off by a factor of 2 or 3 – it wasn’t possible to buy a similar vehicle anywhere near the condition for the price they quoted. The van was repaired and is still on the road.
The paintwork looks similair to Black Cherry my favourite Mercury colour(and nail polish).I’m guessing it’s faded a bit over the years.
That blue Plymouth Voyager made my day Paul!
It’s an all-wheel drive model too! Rare, especially for Plymouths.
One thing that didn’t come up in the recent minivan love here is that both AWD and integrated booster seats got the boot in favor of Stow’N’Go when that came out.
I forgot about that. We’ll have to include that in the next minivan post. Yeah I could go either way on the integrated child seats, but loosing AWD in favor of Stow’N’Go was a mistake in my mind.
Stow’N’Go is a good idea in theory, but among other sacrifices are seat comfort. To be able to “stow”, the rear seats must be thin and small, thus lacking support and any rear comfort. Considering that probably 95% of the time, the seats are in use rather than stowed in the floor, I’d say it’s not worth it.
Chrysler now offers “2nd row Luxury Buckets” that don’t stow as an option.
I always kind of waited for a new Mercury Z8, but I guess that isn’t gonna happen.
In 1981-82 I had a “gently used” one for a while: Lima 2.3 and manual (like Jim Grey above). Today we’d call it s-l-o-w, but then it was no worse than many others. I have no particular memory about the steering, but *do* remember that, during that ’81-82 gas price spike (as high in constant dollars as it would be for twenty-some years), the thing got amazingly good highway mileage on the long trips. I don’t suppose its weight was any more than about 500 lbs. more than the Pinto, come to think of it. I still think of it as a clean-ish, if “generic,” design (I’d be very tempted if I found a clean Fairmont/Zephyr wagon out there).
+1 on the wagon especially woodys
Going by my local pick it pull it prices, under $500 in parts and an afternoon will fix it up to drivable condition. If the the radiator was TKO then factor in about another $100 or so for a new rad. Painting it might be a bit high but you can drive now and paint later
Thats the beauty of older cars, only hand tools are needed for most jobs.
Sorry, Pick and Pulls are great for drive line parts but sheet metal parts (especially grilles and bumpers) are trashed.
In addition, cars from the seventies are rare, and any Fairmont or Zephyrs would most likely be 4 doors. Junkyards typically have a good selection of mainstream models from twenty years ago.
If you want to buy a car and fix it using junkyard parts, get an SN 95 Mustang with a V6 and an automatic. I saw at least 15 of them at the Wilmington Pick & Pull this afternoon.
In the Pacific northwest that’s not true. A fairly high percentage of cars in wrecking yards are there because the tranny or engine broke, and they’ll have usable body parts that are likely also to be rust-free.
I needed to replace a fender on my 69 Valiant – total time including removing both fenders and replacing the one on my car was about an hour and a half.
I like the basket handle cars and also the coupes and think the ltd nose is a great idea as it gives the car a more agressive look(less genaric). If it wasnt on the other side of a different country I would take it off their hands and have a bit of fun with it. Maybe a hopped up I-6 and a five speed, maybe a coyote 5.0 and its matching drivetrain. Who knows.. But I do know it would get an ltd nose and some aftermarket suspension. As a kid I use to watch these race in a class called to “dukes” along with pacers/gremlins and novas. Has anyone else heard 80 or so straight sixes howling along the front straight? If not it is quite the sound and one I will not forget.
Heres a pic.
We had a ’78 Zephyr wagon in medium metallic blue with the 302. From what I remember, these were lighter than the Maverick/Comet they replaced with plenty more room – and I loved the gills on the side.
My only complaint was the Godzilla-sized tail-lights on the two door, four door and Future/Z7 coupes. The wagon had the smallest tail-lights out of all the body styles.
What was Ford thinking with such over sized tail-lights?
A second gen AWD Chrysler minivan, very odd indeed.
Especially since they were usually sold in snowy climates that made them rust out within 15 or so years and thus not survive in large numbers.
For the most part, cars that I liked as a youngster I like even more today. The list is long and includes such noteworthy entries as the BMW 3.0CS, first Seville and Mk 1 Scirocco.
Then there is a short list of cars that I didn’t care for when new but love today. Included are the Colonnades, Mercedes 126 (yes, it looked too aero back then) and Volvo 740 sedan (always loved the wagon). This list is still growing but rather slowly.
There is an even shorter list of cars that I liked when new and don’t now. This isn’t a hate list, it’s a don’t like list and it’s just about styling. The Fairmont sedans are included here. Oddly this list is growing too. I have recently added the ’84 Audi 100/5000 (too narrow track) and BMW 630 (too heavy looking). Maybe in time these will move back to the like list, I don’t know.
I do have a hate list which is lopsided with entries from late 70s, early 80s Ford. At the very top, right in front of the Mark VI, is the Ford Futura/Zephyr Z7. Oh God how I hated and still despise these cars.
The greenhouse aft of the B-pillar is the hardest part to get right but when you do get prepared to rake in the dough. Companies like GM in the mid-60s and pre-Bangle BMW (Hofmeister kink) were masters at this.
I can appreciate how hard it is to get this area right, without looking generic, on a crossover or SUV. But on a coupe?
Just when your eye was getting used to thin B-pillars and fat C-pillars along comes the Futura to shake things up. But it wasn’t just a fat B-pillar like on the 70s Celica. Oh no, it was a FORWARD LEANING B-pillar that extended down through the body! I really hated how small it made the door windows.
Then there was the awkward marriage of the Fairmont front end and doors, as rectilinear as it ever got, with (depending on how you looked at it) an aero rear clip or worse a Ranchero rear clip.
While I can breakdown what is visually offensive about the Futura I cannot figure out why, more than any other car, this one screams feminine. Not in a cute bunny way like the VW Cabriolet but in an old lady perfume way.
I wouldn’t kick it out of the garage, I always liked those cars.
A fender, grille, rear bumper, some hammering and a 347 stroker motor will get it back on the road. I know some Fox body guys that would love to have it, those cars have long disappeared from the streets here on the east coast. Occasionally, you’ll see a beat to hell 4 door sedan but the coupes are more rare than Boss Mustangs.
My 1980 4 speed, 4 cylinder, two door sedan was a decent car that had great steering and solid torque. I lived in hilly Ithaca, NY and that car always impressed my friends with its strong hill climbing ability.
So, who’s fault is it in a sandwhich? The one I witnessed a few months back in Portland was a zoned out person in an 05-08 Focus plowing into the back of an 08-13 Econoline which then got pushed into a 2000 Plymouth Neon. Neon was totally fine, Econo had messed up bumpers, and Focus was totaled.
I have seen vehicles in much worse condition driving around during my several month stay in the Pacific Northwest so this one should be fine; the radiator even looks undamaged.
No offense toward the Zephyr, but the vehicle in this post I really like is the 1991-1995 Plymouth Grand Voyager AWD.. I have a weakness for wanting another 94-95 Voyager base model. The 80s Caprice (9C1?) sure is lovely as well and I like that Hardbody by the older BMW.
I think that the clear front signal lights identify this as a ’78.
While I detested these with a passion as I owned one, low miles too, but ungodly slow, even for the 200CID inline 6 with autobox.
Mine was a very base ’78 Fairmont four door, and I will give credit where it is due, it had a nice ride that wasn’t bouncy or anything like that, and its steering was more precise than most, thanks to rack and pinion steering, but unremarkable otherwise, but it did make a decent highway cruiser. Part of that was the base bench seat was one of the better ones available at the time for long distance traveling.
I will agree that these basket handle 2 doors were the best, and most sporty of what was a basic, generic econobox, though economical, not as much as some rags liked to report, especially the city mileage. The larger 6 didn’t hit 20MPG highway, that’s for sure.
What a shame. Bye bye, Zephyr.
Agreed – this is a shame. When a new car gets in a minor accident, it will be fixed and fixed properly. Between limited parts availability and the cost of repairs compared to the value of the car, this one is unlikely to be fixed.
On a different topic, this seems to be another example of young hipsters rebelling against their CamCord driving baby boomer parents by running vintage American iron. If Detroit could figure out a way to bottle up this appeal and sell it, there many be an opportunity for them to win over some young buyers in a few years when the hipsters are a bit older and more affluent and ready to buy new cars…
My favorite hipster feature is the skull for the hood ornament. Check out the interior where the front seats were neatly replaced with black along with the dash cap. That took a lot of love and effort, no wonder she’s so sad.
If she could find a replacement fender and hood and just leave them in dk. gray primer it would match the look of the interior while adding even more hipster appeal. So there’s hope without breaking the bank.
She could use any year or model of F/Z grilles and headlamps, so that might not be too hard.
If I won the lottery and had too much free time on my hands, I’d probably be buying old wrecked cars like this one and fixing them for more then they are worth, although a Zephyr wouldn’t be my first choice. Also, I think it seems interesting that book values for cars of this vintage have for the most part stayed in the four digits despite now being about as old and rare as many of the well established, overrated, and overpriced classic cars were in 1993.
Interesting to see how Ford and GM spend soooooooooo much marketing effort, branding etc on basically a … shall we say primitive car? One have to wonder if 3/4 marketing money were spent on engineering to make more dependable and sophisticated cars.
You think that car is primitive? May I refer you to the Austin-Healey Bugeye post just above….
My first car was a 78 Zephyr Z7 – had the 302. Mom made me get rid of it because I wasn’t old enough to drive….
Here’s my 82′ Zephyr Z7 with 48k original miles. I always loved these cars even though most people hate the look. whatever. i love mine. got it for $900. I have the 200ci 6 engine. with a/c and rear defroster!!! Thanks for posting this. i hope it didnt get crushed. 10 years from now or less there will be so so few of these Zephys left IF any.
First car I bought new was a 78 Z7, 302/auto/air. Liked the styling. Always saw the wide B pillar and sloping rear end as based on the late 30s Ford 3 window coupes, with the roof extended for a back seat.
Worst POS I ever had. Amazingly bad design. No roof edge gutters or drip rails so water would roll off the roof, in the window and onto my sleeve. Windshield wipers so rigid they didn’t follow the conture of the windshield in cold weather, so most of the glass was not wiped. Single rail window track, instead of a sissors mechanism, that jammed all the time. Spent every day of vacation time for two years dragging that thing into the shop with a monthly failure list. New metering needle for the carb (the thing would flood whenever it was parked for a few minutes), new main and rod bearings (at 8,000 miles), multiple oil leaks, door lock malfunction, rattles, noisy brakes (which turned out to be adjustment needed as Ford had cut cost by eliminating self adjusting machanisms), corroding chrome plated metal (never replaced by dealer), chrome plated plastic trim turning a dull grey (never replaced by dealer).
If it had at least run decent, I might have put up with it, but no. Severe stumbling when cold, just enough of a shot from the accelerator pump to pull me into opposing traffic, then it would stop and sputter as the traffic approched, then lurch to life moments before the collision. Severe pinging. Put my foot in the gas, look in the rearview mirror and see an enormous cloud of carbon being blown out of the exhaust. A coworker’s 79 Mustang 302 ran exactly the same. The last straw was when the steering colum wiring harness shorted. Turning on the low beam headlights would also bring high beam lights, dimly, left turn signal and windshield wipers, as the dimmer switch and wiper control were together with the turn signal switch on steering colum stalks, .
A few months after dumping it, I dropped off my girlfriend one night and saw a silver Z7 pull in to an apartment nearby. I walked over for a closer look as the owner was getting out. Recognizing it as mine, I said “I used to own this car”. First thing out of the guy’s mouth was “you have a lot of trouble with it?” I gave him a quick rundown, then said “how about you?” In two months, he had had the carb rebuilt and the air conditioning had quit.
Several years later, my Dad passed away. I got the job of cleaning out his apartment and disposing of his stuff, including his car: an 81 Fairmont Futura with the Pinto 4 banger and automatic. Not another one! Got rid of the Fairmont like a bad habit. It ended it’s days as a delivery car for a pizza store.
Hey Steve, my first car was also a 1978 Zephyr Z7 but with the inline 6. It was black with the orange wheel covers. You either loved it or hated it.
I drove that car over 300,000 km in 10 years with minimal problems. I had to replace a tranny and a radiator which I remember because it hurt the pocket book. I never experienced the performance problems that you described.
I gave that car to my sister who drove it for a couple of more years. Not really sure if it finally died or if she sold it.
In those days there were many more lemons compared with today. Unfortunately it sounds like you ended up with one.
Tony, if you got your Z7 used, the previous owner might have gotten it sorted out.
The color scheme of yours, black with orange wheel covers, was probably inspired by the “John Player Special” Lotus F1 cars of the late 70s, which were black with gold trim. Ford imitated the colors because Lotus used the Ford Cosworth engine. I attached a pic of a JPS Lotus.
The first version of the color scheme was done on the German built Capri. All the bright trim was replaced with black anodized aluminum. The car was black with gold pinstriping. The interior was black with gold cloth inserts on the seats.
When Ford spread the color scheme through the rest of their line, they didn’t delete the chrome, just added some gold bits. I recall a lot of black Fords with gold vinyl tops, which looked more orange than gold.
Funny thing about my Z7. A few months after I talked to the guy who had bought it, I was thumbing through the newspaper used car ads, and the Honda dealer advertised a silver 78 Z7 with a 302, 21,000 miles. I didn’t bother to go see if it was my car, but from that mileage, the guy would have had to put 8,000 on it in 6 months as it only had 13K when I gave up on it.
Well here’s everyone’s chance. Look what’s getting auctioned off at the Eugene, OR Copart auction at noon on 03/04! Here’s its powerplant. The rest of the pics are at the link.
http://www.copart.com/c2/homeSearch.html?_eventId=getLot&execution=e1s13&lotId=34245433&returnPage=SEARCH_RESULTS
To let you know, that picture of the orange coupe with the horses behind it. As a buyer of a 78 Zephyr that I repaired from bumper to bumper for 18 years before it wasn’t worth another part. Those were not just inserts nor standard. They were a flow through ventilation option. The rear window was smaller than standard and there was a vent on the interior of the rear post that could be opened and closed and air did pass through, I tested it, presumably when the car was in motion too. It was a rare option I honestly might have seen two others that had it, I also ordered the rear anti sway bar which did seem to help the handling and the 3 spoke sport steering wheel. The Zephyr was a roomy car with a decent trunk, no power that suffered from being built in the 70’s when Ford built lousy cars with short life parts.
Does anyone know how many Mercury Zephyr Z7 4 cylinder turbo were build in 1980?
In ’94 I bought a ’78 Zephyr Z7 from a friend. It was completely rust free from Colorado. Needed some minor work like resetting the timing for low altitude. It was faded battleship gray with purple tint. I put white letter tires on it, painted the wheels black and put chrome trim rings on. Looked kinda tough in it’s own way.Straight six auto. Ugliest plaid interior ever. Brought our first child home in it. I Drove it 1500 miles to Wyoming in a very cold winter in ’98. The carb throttle froze open going 75 somewhere in South Dakota. The whole engine was frosted over. My wife and I were going there to buy a Jeep Wagoneer for a great price, as they rusted out long ago here. But the Zephyr blew it’s rear main seal on the way and we left it in Wyoming, for a credit towards the Jeep. Kinda missed it. Was simple as a lawnmower to fix too.