(first posted 1/5/2018) The holiday season for many – not for all, but for some – is one of family reunions. Just a few weeks ago, I had profiled a 2.3L four-cylinder ’88 Ford Mustang LX that I had owned from my late-teens through my mid-20s. Even if the exact year and configuration of my Mustang didn’t set the world on fire, I loved it. It was the perfect car for me at that time, being easy both to fuel and insure, and I liked the way it looked. Have you ever seen a photo of an extended family (not necessarily your own), and wondered, based on appearances, how some of them could be as closely related? I now present my Fox-platform Mustang’s Aunt Gertrude.
Here she is, sitting bolt-upright, wearing her finest polyester slacks and matching blouse from J. C. Penney’s designer collection. She is a prim, no-nonsense lady. Well… maybe she’s just a little fancy. She is slightly upscale, being a Mercury, after all. She’s one of about 41,500 four-door sedans produced for ’79, in the Zephyr’s second-most popular body style of four that year – after 43,000 Z-7 coupes with their flashy, basket-handle rooflines. (Total Zephyr production that year was around 125,500 units, a figure less than one-third of that of its Ford Fairmont sibling.) With her costume jewelry, which includes a bright, shiny, stand-up hood ornament and Lincoln-style cooling slats on her front fenders, she takes pride in the restraint in her overall presentation.
She may be about as curvy and sexy as a Maytag washer, but obvious hotness was never Gertrude’s role, from the get-go. She is there to be as quietly strong, accommodating and efficient as possible – with just enough extra ornamentation to keep her from being confused with cars of lesser, more plebeian pedigree. “Kids these days, with all of their plastic scoops and spoilers and LED lights.” Hers is a name that can actually be pronounced with vowels and consonants, from The Sign Of The Cat. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, though, and Gert is attractive in her own way. After all, there is just a little Cougar inside of her.
Cultural Center, Flint, Michigan.
Saturday, June 25, 2016.
Related reading:
- From William Stopford: Curbside Outtake: 1978-83 Mercury Zephyr – That Very Rare Clean Design;
- From Paul Niedermeyer: Curbside Classic: 1980 Mercury Zephyr Z7 ; and
- From Jim Grey: Curbside Classic: 1979 Ford Fairmont – The Ur-Fox.
Neighbor had one in white when I was growing up, it fit the persona of the owner, she was a wee-Scottish Lass from Edinburgh – accent and all. it got demolished in the driveway one night in the mid 90s by a drunk driver.
I always did like it, and it went well with her housemate’s 67 Mercury Caliente sedan.
There was one of these occasionally in the church parking lot here at our little Catholic parish in Gallup but I haven’t seen it in quite some time.
Burnt orange (sienna or umber or whatever they call it) with a closely matching interior. I always wondered what was under the hood. In my fantasies it had a 302 V8 but in reality not highly likely.
I have a ’78 Fairmont with a factory 302 and I’m here to tell ya they ain’t very exciting LOL! A whopping 134 fully smogged horsepower!
You can double that…
If I’m admiring an elderly person’s car it’s usually because I’m thinking how cheaply it might go at the estate sale and how much potential it might have in the right hands.
My RWD Cutlass Supreme with 140 hp out of 307 cubic inches of Oldsmobile V8 wasn’t very exciting either but it was a dang slight better than the V6 version of that same car.
We had an ’85 Buick Riviera with that same Olds 307. Electronic carbs, if you don’t mind. It wasn’t very fast,.
Those cars still look good even today.
The only thing I don’t like is that stalk mounted horn on these cars
They must have gotten that horn idea from Peugeot. You can honk the horn without taking your hand off the wheel, which is a good thing once you’ve gotten so used to it that it’s a reflex. 99% of the time it’s a bad thing because every other car in the world (besides Peugeot) has a conventional horn, and when you need the horn you need it now.
A mild mainstream Mercury taking such an obscure feature from a French car. Bizarre.
Peugeot wasn’t the only European marque using the stalk mounted horn- Renault and a couple of others used it as well (Fiesta? Yes, I think Fiesta). Bean counters found this approach attractive because it eliminated the slip ring in the steering column, reducing costs, complexity and horn failures during the warranty period.
I’m sure the change was promoted as a “European design feature,” which was arguably true. What folks ignored is that it was a “Cheap European design feature,” since Mercedes, BMW and Jaguar all placed the horn button in the center of the steering wheel.
American roundly rejected the option, to the point that the cost savings was dwarfed by negative consumer feedback, and Ford quickly added a wheel mounted horn button.
Thanks! I wondered if there were other European “stalkers” (sorry). And I hadn’t thought of the bean-counter angle. I suppose if the bean-counters really had their way the horn button would be on the dash.
Which gets me wondering, how did the horn button get onto the steering hub in the first place? Did the first electric horns have their buttons elsewhere?
I wish I knew. I call the chrome horn ‘button’ in the center of my ’64 Falcon’s steering wheel “The Immovable Object”. The 1 accident I was involved in with the Falcon (on March 2, 1994) I hit the horn with my chinny-chin-chin. I chipped half a tooth.
The horn in my 29 Model A was in the steering wheel as part of the headlight switch. I would guess that this might have been used late in the Model T’s run too, but I am guessing.
Citroen also put the horn on a stalk, in their case the headlight switch, which was on the right side of the steering column. It made sense as with a one spoke steering wheel there is no hub to put the horn button on. My 2CV uses the company standard switch, and it is the least weird thing about the controls. The only problem I have had is that the gear shift sticks out of the dash and when you select reverse your wrist is very close to the stalk. I did honk the horn a couple of times, but I have adjusted.
When I was at university in the late 60s a friend had an Austin Healy Sprite MK 2 (later body but no roll up windows – side curtains). It had a large horn button in the middle of the dash, but I am pretty sure it was not original.
I believe the MGA had the horn on the dash as well, probably cheaper, especially as they had RHD for UK & LHD for export.
Ford used those odd horns on the Corcel II / Del Rey line (and maybe on other lines too) in Brazil in the 70s to 90s. Left side stalk, AFAIR
As for the featured car, I like it’s clean lines, even considering it’s a somewhat shrunken Panther
I had an ’82 Escort with the stalk mounted horn. This was not a show stopper for me as the Escort’s fit and finish was light years ahead of the Chevettes and Cavaliers my GM-oriented family members were pushing me to buy.
The stalk horn was Ford’s reaction to expected mandatory steering-wheel airbags, prematurely as it turned out. Maybe suppliers couldn’t figure out a way to put the horn switch safely in the center, but solved it later.
The other weird horn I remember, if memory serves, was in late 60’s Oldsmobiles, which had a rubber insert around the inside of the steering wheel. The idea was, I suppose, squeeze the steering wheel and you could sound the horn. Anyone else remember or have I lost it. Again.
I remember those “rim blow” steering wheels in two of my father’s Lincolns (70 Mk III and 72 Mk IV). I checked Wiki and it seems that all 4 US companies offered them at one time or other. I hated it. If you were a “10 and 2” guy they were probably OK, but with about any other way of holding the wheel made them difficult to operate.
I never understood the fender gills. I didn’t understand them on the Lincolns and I certainly didn’t understand them on these.
When these were still being sold alongside Granadas and Monarchs (1978-79) I considered these thin and cheap compared to the more “traditional” construction of the older cars. As time passed I have liked these more and more.
It did seem that Ford tried mightily to change the customers. The little “euro” touches like the fender gills, the horn activated by the turn signal stalk, and the no-frills interiors. It is funny though that Ford stuck to “American style” RWD while perpetually screwed up Chrysler brought out the first modern FWD platform that same year (1978).
Agree about those silly fender gills, which look like a desperate attempt at product differentiation. The Fox was as if designed by another company, for it inverted Ford’s usual pattern of luxuriant but flabby sedans. Only the drivetrain was reactionary; it took Ford too long to come up with a passable six-cylinder, plus the Bordeaux C3 automatic was more fragile than the old C4.
I don’t give Chrysler USA much credit, as the Horizon (like the Fiesta) was conceived in Europe, and Detroit merely rode their coattails. It was the K-car which really showed up Ford.
It is funny though that Ford stuck to “American style” RWD while perpetually screwed up Chrysler brought out the first modern FWD platform that same year (1978).
My theory is Chrysler had picked up the banner formerly carried by Studebaker and AMC, which read “we do radical stuff, because we have to to be noticed”, while Ford took the safe, cheap, route of more of the same, but cheaper.
Which explains my fascination with Mopar L bodies, along with Larks and Ramblers.
This being sometimes called the American Volvo,if that was indeed Ford’s benchmark, it makes sense to me that they would want to stick with the RWD platform. Volvo didn’t intro FWD (in America anyway) in what, ’93?
I drove this car’s 1979 Fairmont twin in St. Louis for a couple of months in late 1983. I was at a project site and the Ford was a company car. Red, four cylinder, automatic, A/C, and not much else. The car served me faithfully during my time there but the only really memorable thing was the damned horn button located at the end of the turn signal stalk. So many times I pounded the steering wheel hub in vain when I wanted to sound the horn.
St Louis Coca Cola Bottling had a fleet of bright red Squaremont 2 doors with the “dynamic ribbon device” painted on the sides…what a bunch of SLOW, crappy cars. I drove one that even had an ax handle in the trunk…to smack the starter if it wouldn’t engage. Fun times.
This is a car that seems to have something of a timeless element to it. At 40 years old they still just blend in with everything else in a parking lot.
+1
I concur; I think it’s amazing these Zephyr’s still blend as ‘just another car’ in a parking lot. My Dad owned 2 Zephyr’s — I forget the model years as I was still a mean widdle kid . . . but he had one and then traded it in for another and so I was riding around in Zephyr’s frequently in the early ’80s up until 1986.
I cannot remember the last time I saw a Zephyr ‘in the wild’. Been a long time . . .
I’ve seen a few Fairmonts here ‘n’ there, however, since moving to GA in 2008.
I’d completely forgotten about the ‘horn stalks’ on these cars until reading this Thread. Live and re-learn!
Brings back memories of elementary and middle school. A buddy’s mom had one of these and it was our ride to school most days. It was painted that super-common baby blue color. Had a straight six motor and I can still hear the wheezing sound it made in my mind’s “ear”. Never failed though, it was a good workhorse. Back then, I had no idea its platform was related to the Mustang!
My best friend in high school drove the Fairmont twin to this car, even in the same pale yellow. Oddly, for a new car, it was not very well liked or received. We jokingly called it the “Sexy Fairmont” as it was about the least sexy car one could drive to school in the 79/80 years.
I bought a ’79 sedan like this for my teenagers back in 2002. It was dark brown with tan vinyl roof and interior and had only about 20,000 miles. Oddly enough my teenagers were not super thrilled to drive it.
And did you remind your mopey teenagers they were still free to walk to their various destinations if they were so un-enthralled with the friendly old Zephyr? 😀
+1 ?
My father had a ’78 Zephyr wagon. The only reason he got it was because his previous ’77 Cougar Villager wagon was discontinued (which replaced his usual Gran Torino wagon). I really liked the Zephyr. Talk about tall windows and great visibility. It could also hold quite a bit and the pickup was great as it came with the 302 V8 (it was easy to spin the tires if you weren’t careful).
He actually ordered it with the Villager package. However, Ford made a mistake on the order and it came without that option. It had a beautiful dark blue metallic finish.
My mother-in-law had a Ford version, 2 door with the “basket handle” DLO. She was not a car person, but referred to it as her “little red sports car”! Perhaps compared to the HUGE, floaty 64 Mercury wagon she had before, it did feel sporty!! DFO
My parents had a near twin to the car shown in the brochure picture. It was the same green, had whitewalls, but unlike the car pictured it had “regular” hubcaps…not the fake wire wheels shown and the one pictured appears to have the optional vinyl roof and optional rear side window vents in the “C” pillars.
Dad’s Zephyr had the 302 and automatic combo, along with power steering and brakes, and it was his first car with factory A/C. The only downside to that car was that the upholstery was a pumpkin colored fabric that easily stained.
These things got really great reviews at the time. I guess they were light years better than the Maverick?
The Falcon was designed back in the mid 50s, the Fairmont was designed in the mid 70s.
Yeah, Ford learned a lot (particularly from it’s European arm) in the intervening 20 years.
Car & Driver called them “Ford’s Volvo” when new. I have their ’78 New Car issue.
The Fox platform ended up lasting until the 2004 Mustang, although renamed SN95.
I remember being impressed simply by what appeared to be a decent amount of room in the rear. Which was hard to come by back then. When I bought a new ’84 Toyota Camry I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.
Car guys love to make fun of the Fairmont, but then go on about the ‘cool’ Fox Stangs. Same platform.
Check buff book reviews of the time, and they were positive and the Fox body was a clean break from the aging Falcon chassis.
Those “car guys” who say that just want to sound smart, meanwhile I doubt any one of them who say it have been anywhere near a Fairmont, or even a Fox/SN95 Mustang – they all suck, of course, and their car is the greatest purist thing on wheels…
Anyone in the know is aware that whatever you can do to a Fox Mustang, you can do to one of these. Yes, theyre frumpy, dorky looking things…about as sexy as grannie panties, but that’s exactly why they make great sleepers. Ive seen more than a few Fairmonts of all body styles stuffed with hi-po guts. Catching people with their paints down with one of these things hot-rodded proper sounds like a hoot to me.
This one seems to be sitting unusually high up in the air. Can’t quite tell if we’re looking at the seldom-seen Mercury Zephyr Outback, or if it’s just because all the rest of the modern cars around it sit low and have bumpers that reach down to within three millimetres of the ground. I think its ride height is nonstandard—compare it to the green one in the brochure pic.
That’s a great observation, Daniel – especially with regard to the Zephyr’s height compared to the Civic behind it in the title photo.
I think part of the appearance of the Zephyr’s higher-than-normal height is enhanced by the fact that the strip of parking lot it sat on was slightly elevated, and the Civic is merely parked in the grass behind it.
(“Zephyr Outback” gave me a chuckle.)
Ah, I see what you mean about the parking lot vs. grass/dirt. Yes, that’s certainly exaggerating what I see, but even if I cover up the surrounding cars and just look at the Zephyr and the surface it’s parked on…it still looks lifted to me. Maybe new springs installed at some point?
I think for their times, these were great cars. My grandparents had an ’81 Wagon (I-6/automatic, AC, intermittent wipers and not much else) that was her daily driver (the Grand Marquis was their highway car). It was suprisingly cavernous, got good gas mileage, and didn’t handle too badly for what it was, though it always felt a bit light to me.
My grandmother got T-boned when it was 5 years old by someone who ran a stop sign at 35 MPH. Walked away, thankfully. It’s replacement? An ’86 Marquis V-6 wagon, its Fox-bodied successor. That car had a much more substantial character and was a better handler.
I too noticed a big difference in the subjective feel of the Fox Marquis/LTD and the early Fairmont. The 79-ish base level Zephyr I drove a few times felt very light and thin. The 86 Marquis wagon I owned felt surprisingly heavy and substantial. I have always wondered how they made a Fairmont/Zephyr into an 83-86 LTD/Marquis (beyond lots of sound insulation, thick carpet, etc.)
It’s my understanding that Ford beefed up the structure when it used the Fox platform to create the 1981 Granada/Cougar.
It’s a bit strange then Mercury dropped the Monarch name in favor of Cougar instead of keeping it for the 1981 model year. There’s a scan from a old magazine (Road Test? Car & Driver? Motor Trend?) showing what the car reporter thought it could be the new Monarch instead of Cougar. http://www.lincolnversailles.com/Monarch/1981%20Mercury%20Monarch.htm Giving us a interesting “what might have been?”
It’s a bit strange then Mercury dropped the Monarch name in favor of Cougar instead of keeping it for the 1981 model year.
Probably done because the Cougar had populated a higher price point, so people would think their tarted up Fairmont was a nicer car than it was.
When the Fairmont was tarted up, it was only called a Granada for a couple years, before being tarted up more and having the formerly much higher pricepoint LTD badge stuck on.
The 79-ish base level Zephyr I drove a few times felt very light and thin.
That was the way Ford designed cars in 78-79. When my POS 78 Zephyr was making it’s monthly visit to the shop, and I had exhausted all my vacation time from work for the year sitting in the dealer’s waiting room, the dealer handed me the keys to a new, downsized 79 Marquis. Miserable, tinny piece of poo. The entire car shuddered with every pothole.
A Marquis should not have been that bad, especially a full size one like what they had in 1979.
It must have been braced a bit more underneath, as it was such a better handler. I would also say that a big part of the new substantial feel was the fully redone interior — borrowed the Thunderbird/Cougar XR-7 dashboard, full door panels with better upholstery, really good split bench seat, and surely some more insulation.
I’ll stand up for the Fairmont/Zephyr anytime, even if Ford seemed to be working hard then to make a clean-lined car “fancier” in Mercury trim.
I think this ad highlights its appeal: a lot of car for the money, a “clean” look, and darned good mileage if you were willing to accept the modest acceleration of the 140CID/2.3L Pinto/Mustang engine (durable though it proved to be). I keep my eyes out for a decent-survivor wagon–happy this one is so many miles away: https://knoxville.craigslist.org/cto/d/1980-ford-fairmont-wagon/6404653838.html
This ad mentions a 4 speed. Rare, I would imagine. Not an easy car to love.
Friends of my parents bought one to replace a series of Dodge Darts when the k-cars came out because they didn’t want anything to do with that “,foreign” front wheel drive stuff.
It was replaced in short order with a K-car.
I think that about sums up their opinion of the Fairmont.
Great write-up and very appropriate description of the Zephyr.
That, Sir, was hilarious! I love the way you draw subtle parallels which then, of course, appear so logical.
You’ve obviously spent a lot of time observing cars and people in great detail, what a strange child…Nevermind, it’s our gain now.
So here we have Aunt Gertrude, what of Frank and Joe? The hapless Fenton? Never mind Laura, she was never sketched out enough to be other than a caricature.
Hahaha! Jim, I’ll take all of that as a compliment. 🙂
Never intended any other way!
Now, out into the snow with you to hunt some more.
Great read Joe. I actually had an aunt and uncle who had a 1980 Zephyr Villager wagon from new. My aunt pretty much drove the car exclusively, and she actually did kind of match your description of Aunt Gertrude. To add to that, when my cousin turned 25, he bought a brand new 90 Mustang GT. At that time he was still living at home so the two cars shared the driveway for sometime. Even though they shared the same Fox platform those two cars couldn’t be further apart in how they drove. That Mustang was a rocket (for the day) with tight reflexes, while that Zephyr was slow and softly sprung.
My Aunt had that car for 16 years until it was sold off. Rust and reliability were becoming issues, but I don’t think the car even had 100K miles on it. Even though she has owned her next car for just as long, that Zephyr wagon is the car I still associate with her to this day.
In 1983-84 I went to community college (a tech trade school, not university up here in Canada) with a German guy who after the first year traded in his ’72 Super Beetle for a really nice ’78 Fairmont Future with the basket handle, in red with white viny roof and red/white checked cloth seats. It had the 200 six and was very comfy to ride in.
Fast forward to the early ’90s and my BIL had as his first car a ’78 Granada, followed by an ’81 Fairmont. They were both strippers but the Fairmont was by far the better car. It rode better and had more interior room – those really thin lightweight doors helped a lot in that area. Lots of glass too so visibility was great.
What I noticed was the black and white Michigan license plate. I haven’t seen one of those in ages!
The license plate was what gave me a (potential) clue as to this Zephyr’s exact model year. 🙂
I remember when the Michigan plates changed from black w/ white letters to blue w/ white letters, and the newer ones seemed a bit “off” to me – at least for a while. Nowadays, they’re “picture plates”.
We’ve had a number of Fox bodies in my extended family. My oldest brother bought a 1978 Mercury Zephyr ESS (2.3L & 4 speed), special order from the factory. I’ve written about this car here before, it was not a great piece of engineering, but he kept it for eight years. My mother-in-law’s 1979 Fairmont Futura (3.3L six & auto) was a great car for “granny”. I had a 1980 Mercury Capri RS, which I loved, but was a total POS. My mother had a 1981 Ford Mustang Ghia hatch (2.3L & auto), which turned out to be the second best of the Foxes we (collectively) had. My wife and I had a 1985 Mercury Capri RS 5.0L and a 1986 Mercury Capri 5.0L Sport Coupe. The 1986 was the best, but I’m a bit biased in that respect.
Yes, the horn on the stalk was kind of dumb if you ask me. My brother’s Zephyr was a light car (like JPC noted), but it handled well on the steel 14″ wheels/tires and had a lot of room inside. The oddball thing was the intrusion of the front wheel wells into the passenger area. It reminded me of early FWD cars. The trunk, while wide and long, was shallow. Back in the day, your groceries came in nice paper bags, but they barely fit in the back of the Zephyr. If you got a non-standard bag, your stuff was going to get crushed by the deck lid.
My Capris were night and day; the 1980 was light and zippy, the 1985 & 1986 V8s were heavier in feeling but still very tossable. The interiors seemed to get better with the passing of time, but after a certain point, I only had seat time in more expensive Foxes, maybe the rental-grade Fairmonts and LTDs were equally awful as they were in 1978 for all I know.
Nice find and nice premise for the article, Joe!
My son has a 1981 Mercury Zephyr. We recently yanked the 4 cylinder, C3 auto and 7.5 in rear end drive train out and replaced it entirely with a 5.0 engine, aod auto trans and 8.8 rear end from a GT mustang that had been totaled. Big, BIG difference!
My 1980 Fairmont was the elusive brown manual wagon (sorry, no diesel available). The transmission was an unusual four-speed with direct third and overdrive fourth.
My friend’s mom bought a new 78 Fairmont in that beige yellow. I lost touch with them for a bit, then in 1980 happened to see the car again and what I noticed most was how the dashboard was starting to crumble on the top and I remember feeling sorry for her since I knew she was still making payments on such a crappy car. These were probably the low point of American craftmanship.
When I was in high school In the early 90’s, I got to pick out my first new car. The stipulation of keeping the car was I had to maintain an after school job. This job of choice was pizza delivery. Perhaps not the best choice. To save the new car from getting run into the ground, I found a ’79 Zephyr. Bought it from a farmer selling it in his front yard for very little money.
It was in sad shape. Pre-dented flat silver of various shades outside, nasty whorehouse red inside with the 2.3L 4 cyl and 4 speed on the floor. Everything was manual, had non-working radio, installed but not functional cruise and dead AC.
Despite the good intentions, the car was so bad I’d only drive it at night. On a good note, I did learn how to drive a stick in it. The throttle would stick all the time and the car routinely caught fire under the hood from the many oil and fuel leaks under there.
One of the other drivers at the pizza shop was missing most of his right arm (didn’t ask why) and drove a very tired 1st gen RX-7. It crapped out during a busy weekend shift. I ended up selling him the car with a handshake deal for a few bucks which never did get paid. Still now sure how he pulled off driving a manual without a right arm, but his RX-7 was also a manual and didn’t seem to have any trouble. Sadly enough he kept that car longer than I kept my then-new one.
Along with learning to drive the manual, I also learned having a stick was a very good way to keep friends from asking to use your car.
Overall “Aunt Gertrude” and her “siblings” just seemed like more rugged descendants of the bullet proof Falcon lineage.
Worst weakness I recall is that the glued-retained tail-lamp lenses tended to lose bond in extreme cold or heat and could drop out.
Anyone selling 79 zephyr 2 door z7
I “inherited” my wife’s grandfather’s ’79 Zephyr (6 cylinder auto) in 1996 after his passing. My 1990 Plymouth Omni was near its end and it was a welcomed upgrade in comfort and power. It had 76,000 miles but the NJ weather was not kind to her body. I drove it daily for work for close to five years before the engine blew a cylinder one night heading home. I drove it to the firehouse, walked the keys over to the Police dispatcher’s window. Told her I’d be back in the morning with the title signed over to the FD for a dollar and to clean out my stuff and take off the plates. I never saw the car ever again. I soon after bought a traded in 1994 Ford Taurus from a friend for $700 and drove it for another 10 years until a deer suicided itself on Christmas eve.
OH BROTHER.
For those who do not remember 1978. The road was loaded with personal luxury coupes with opera lights, long hoods, stand up grilles, faux spare tire bumps in the trunk lid, padded vinyl roofs, crushed velour interiors, shag carpeting, little opera windows, plastiwood dashes, curlicue striping and often lacking in interior space for more than two adults and a kid trapped in the rear bordello room across tufted pillow rear seating.
THAT WAS THE NORM
Suddenly out of Dearborn comes the Fairmont. It looks like nothing produced in the US in over 15 years. It is unadorned. It is unfestooned. It is lacking a looooong hood. The corners are sharp, the windows are bright and sunny, and it was a shock to see. A Kleenex box on wheels.
The 1980s arrived and the padded tufted polyester luxuries of the 1970s was HISTORY. Efficient design was the new style. Clean was the look. Light was the word. Ford – the same company that produced a 1974 Torino-based Mercury Cougar XR-7, had done a complete 180 degree design spin.
You see, the Fox body cars were RADICAL.
Remember that when you look at them today and dismiss them as being boring. In 1978, they were not boring at all.
Aunt Gertrude was a anarchist bomb thrower that only looked like the town librarian. She made the 1970 cars look like cheap harlots.
Funnily my Aunt Gertrude’s last car was a
blue ’81 Fairmont which she had well into the 90s. Car never hit 50k miles. It seemed old and very base compared to the GM H-Bodies and derivatives my grandparents and their friends all seemed to own back then.
These were also among the last products built in Mahwah NJ 20 min from where I grew up. That plant opened in 1955 at the height of American auto optimism and closed in 1980 during the depths of the malaise.
“The road was loaded with personal luxury coupes with opera lights, long hoods, stand up grilles, faux spare tire bumps in the trunk lid, padded vinyl roofs, crushed velour interiors, shag carpeting, little opera windows, plastiwood dashes, curlicue striping and often lacking in interior space for more than two adults and a kid trapped in the rear bordello room across tufted pillow rear seating.”
In other terms: The road was loaded with ‘Murrican cars.
Recollection of these cars’ appearance leads me to the memory of wondering why Ford was bringing out a car to compete with a same size and purpose car – The Granada/Monarch. Never made sense to me.
My Dad had a ’68 Renault R10 with a stalk mounted horn. Sure it simplified things not needing a clockspring for the horn, albeit it isn’t something you reach for naturally having driven most American cars…but on the other hand, we’ve gotten used to stalk mounted wiper and high beam controls…but it seems like most cars have so many other buttons on the steering wheel plus the mandatory air bag, so I guess the clockspring has to be there anyhow, just more functions so you might as well have a horn control on the wheel.
But in ’78 when these came out, we didn’t have any steering wheel controls, nor airbag, so putting the button on a stalk probably saved something in the bill of materials and reduced complexity, at the cost of maybe a bit more difficult ergonomics especially if you drove several cars, having to remember where the horn was on this. What I remember most about these was the “Mercedes Style” (what I called them then) side view mirrors which migrated up the door to the corner of the A pillar, I think this was the first Ford to do that. I worked for Hertz as a transporter in ’77 and ’78, so I drove plenty of these in ’78….interestingly never drove Maverick or even Pinto either year, though I think these replaced the Maverick.
A co-worker bought a new one in ’80..well the Ford version (Fairmont). I thought it a bit “fuddy-duddy” for a 22 year old though he did put in a nice Jensen stereo (wow, that takes me back…haven’t put in a stereo for years, the stock one has become fine for me). Not that I was driving anything much more exciting till ’81 when I replaced my ’74 Datsun 710 with a Scirocco. The funny thing to me is that I was in a carpool with 2 other co-workers, and none of us had a 4 door, and all of us had subcompact cars (Scirocco, ’78 Ford Fiesta and ’79 Datsun 310 coupe). Fuddy-duddy or not, his Fairmont had a decent amount of room, had he lived in my apartment complex he’d be a natural for a carpool.
Main incentive was better parking space for carpool we lived pretty close (a few miles) from work all city driving but not bad traffic usually.