We got a good dose of negativity the other day here about Lincoln’s reuse of the Zephyr name, even though they used it first. But obviously, most folks are going to think Mercury Zephyr, although I suspect a lot of people don’t even remember even that very well. It’s not like many are left; I was quite happy to see this survivor the other day.
It’s certainly distinctive in today’s traffic, or parking lots, especially its roof and rear end. They don’t make them like thta anymore, by a long shot.
The sign of the Z. based on the dual exhausts, I’m assuming there’s a V8 under the hood.
The front seat is pretty intact still.
Unlike the back.
Very different indeed from all of these hatchbacks. My, such long overhangs you have…
The Escort Diesel I saw at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago had its rear seat missing too! And here we have a rare Fox-Body variant photo-bombed by an Astro in the 1st picture & a Nissan Leaf in the 2nd! A Sprinter is in the background of the final picture as well.
First thing to usually go is the door cards. I guess the back seat follows!
So that’s what a Leaf looks like!
I would think for Lincoln’s core older demographic 13 years ago the Mercury Zephyr would be a fresher memory. I wasn’t particularly aware of either the Fairmont based namesake or the original Lincoln one at the time, but I wasn’t shopping for a new Lincoln on a learners permit.
I love coupes, overhangs and I even like Fairmonts but the Futura/Z7 don’t really do it for me, I like the Durango quite a bit, however.
I wonder what Z-7 was supposed to mean. I mean, what happened to the Z-1 thru Z-6? Regardless, I liked it better than the Futura; it had a better looking grille and taillights.
In fact, as was mentioned before about the truly lame Fox-chassis 1980-82 Thunderbird, slap on some hidden headlights, and this is what the downsized Thunderbird should have been. But I guess Ford was figuring the basket-handle 1977-79 Thunderbird had run its course so they shifted that styling downmarket for Fairmont-based sporty coupes and came up with the quite stunted Fox Thunderbird in its place.
I have been thinking that myself for some time.
Agree on all counts, Rudiger.
Nevertheless, there was something just kind of “off” about the proportions of these. I can’t put my finger on it though.
Agreed, Will. I think it might be the length of the rear deck.
I think it’s that it’s trying to look like a late ’70s personal luxury coupe, but lacks the long front hood due to the Fairmont carry-over front section.
I’m imagining it with the rear side windows about two inches deeper and the deck two inches lower.
Pennzoil had Z-7 in it, did it not? Possible connection? 😄
Possible copyright violation? 🙂
Same could be asked where was XR 1 through 6 for the Cougar? In fact that may answer the question, it was all Mercury’s sign of the cat tie in. XR7, Z7, LN7…
I agree this would have made a more passable Fox Tbird than the 80. Ford may have felt the basket handle roof ran its course but they clearly had nothing to properly succeed it either.
So if it was a cat tie-in, shouldn’t it have been 9? 😉
That’s what I was thinking! I guess Saab beat them to it…..
Here’s a wild guess: seems like after the sweetheart Chevrolet deals, John Glenn began driving Mercurys. Maybe the ‘7’ was a way for Mercury to associate with the ‘Mercury 7’ astronauts?
The sort of thing that passes unnoticed until one guy thinks of it sixty years later. 🙂
Them’s the kind of overhangs what make a car look like it’s understeering even when it’s standing still.
Although the aftermarket wheels/tires mask it a bit, Ford products of that era always seemed to be too narrow in respect to front/rear track as well.
We had a ’78 like this from ’94-’98. I bought it from a friend who was in the Air Force in Colorado Springs, and towed it backwards with the rear on a dolly back to Northwest Indiana when he left the service. It was repainted gray and badly oxidized, but completely rust-free. It had 90,000 ish miles on it It wore the turbine hubcaps, had purpley window tint (the film type, scratched up), had a rebuilt C3 and a 200 inline six with a teensy-weensy carb. It ran very poorly, but only needed a timing advance as it was tuned for high altitude. It slipped out of gear a lot. Ended up that the trans mount was in upside-down. It had spacers in the rear springs to raise it up slightly. I got it for $500 and the repairs cost a little more. I gave it a tune-up. Every so often it would idle rough, and needed the carb bolts tightened. It’s catalytic was completely hollowed out and devoid of any catalyst. The last of it would blow out the tailpipe like popcorn. It had numerous vacuum leaks and I solved it all by removing all of the emissions stuff. It still passed emission tests somehow anyway, because the converter was still visible and the exhaust was clean enough for the lowered expectations. It was as simple as a lawnmower to work on. The rear main seal leaked and I added about a quart a week of 15/40 diesel oil I stole from a drum at work used for the TRAIN and only changed the filter, as the oil was always clean. It started to eat starters, and I realized the flywheel was worn out. For a year, I manually turned the engine by the fan to find a good tooth for the starter to grab. Once all the good teeth were gone, I had to have someone replace the flywheel, as this repair was over my head. That was the only real expense I had to deal with. I got it used white-lettered tires and painted the rims new black, with trim rings from an S10. It actually looked kind of cool. It had red plaid seats and a chrome shifter handle. I was exactly as fast as a ’93 Escort because we used to race to work together. (And by fast I mean dog-slow) I usually won because I could force oversteer around corners and he could not. (We did this on the long road to our industrial complex, not public roads)
I have a lot of good memories of the Zephyr. It ended up in Wyoming because my wife after I were going there to get a classic Jeep Wagoneer to sell here where they were/are more valuable. But the rear main got really blown halfway through Iowa and it used half our trip budget in oil, so we had to leave it in Wyoming with the guy I bought the Jeep from. I mailed him the title and I heard as of 5 years ago the Zeff was still being driven around town there, and I assume got it’s seal fixed.
One more thing…On the 1500 mile drive to Wyoming, somewhere in South Dakota it was so cold that the throttle froze in an open position. The fan was always moving because it was belt-powered, so I had to stop on the side of the highway with the engine racing (we had been going 75) and the fan blowing the -20 degree (F) air on to my face and hands while I cupped the throttle linkage to thaw it. The whole engine was covered in frost! Guess I shoulda done the whole cardboard-over-the-radiator-thing but it had no temp gauge and I didn’t wanna take a chance on it overheating. Not a thing to worry about, as it turned out.
I’m replying to myself!
I just remembered the tires I put on were wider in the back and from a Ford Ranger, white-lettered Firestones. The fronts were an off brand white-lettered “GT” ish tire. With the back slightly raised it did have a generic “shackled-up” look to it. It’s shifter was between the bucket seats. It had dealer air on a weird separate, big black control panel with it’s own vents, but actually worked quite well.
Wow, I sure typed a lot about the Zephyr. But I keep thinking of new details which are probably only interesting to a select few Zeff fans. I was quite happy during the time we had it so my memory of it is tinted rose color.
I have a family connection of sorts to the Zephyr. My mother’s high school friend was a chain smoking night nurse who in her time had among other cars a green 68 Mustang v8 as a daily driver. A few cars later…around 1980.. she bought a blue Zephyr just like this one but with three or four speed manual. I thought it was a pretty cool car and 5 of us took a road trip from the Detroit area to the Cedar Point Easement park down near Sandusky Ohio in it. RIP Hattie!
I have elaborated on my 78 Z-7, bought new, before.
The dual exhaust is aftermarket. Mine had a 302, and blew carbon through a single pipe. A coworker bought a 79 Mustang 302, new. He had an aftermarket dual exhaust fitted. His blew massive amounts of carbon too.
Kill Fox bodies with fire!
You’ll notice many of the Fairmonts and Zephyrs still around have custom or alloy wheels and upgraded tires, as it helps significantly in making them less stodgy looking. I don’t feel the Fairmont Futura (or the Mercury Zephyr Z-7) aged especially well. The roof treatment looked neat at the time. For a very short time. But the overall boxy styling, and bolt upright grilles looked dated by the early 80s. As I’ve suggested before, the Fairmont/Zephyr’s styling looked frail/fragile to me. Especially, after their initial popularity faded. The later sloped grille on the fox bodied LTD helped some.
Put original Ford wheel covers on them from the late 70s, and the Futura/Z-7 very quickly looks like a grand dad’s car. Beefier wheels and tires give them that look of muscularity and robustness, these cars really lack otherwise.
Do a Google search of Fairmonts and Zephyrs, and regrettably many owners picked unflattering modern wheels. But some work well, and show how they rescue these cars from looking fragile, and somewhat geriatric. Not sure if these are Mustang or Fox LTD wheels, but these are a vast improvement.
Daniel M.,
I think those are from an ’86 Mustang GT. In any case, the look works.
Those were used on Thunderbird Turbo Coupes and Cougar XR-7s as well. They were the corporate sporty wheel of the times.
I feel 70s era Ford’s benefit from beefier wheel and tire treatments in general, the Torino looks downright oafish on its factory equipped rubber, but throw on a really wide set of mags and it’s the star of a TV show.
I think it’s the noticeably flared wheel arches, Ford styled them into everything until the Taurus smoothed them out for aero. That styling appendage is right at home with big wide tires but on factory rolling stock they just look tippy toed. The AMC Hornet/Concord/Spirit is another good example
Yes. Ford also struggled for much of the decade attempting (largely in vain) in various efforts to combine brougham and sporty. The results being just really tacky.
…overall boxy styling, and bolt upright grilles looked dated by the early 80s
Compared to what Ford had been turning out in the mid 70s, the Fairmont/Zephyr’s clean, trim, styling came off very well.
Remember the Elite?
I demo derbied a 6 cyl 4 door Zephyr. It was nothing more than a rebadged Fairmont with squishy seats. Got hit super hard right below the A pillar and it almost rolled over. Not an impressive automobile.
Like the Aries/Reliant, the Fairmont/Zephyr perhaps carried their squareness in their designs too far. They approached looking generic. The Mustang and later Fox LTD, came off better IMO. Whereas the Fox Granada, again looked quite stodgy in four door and two door sedans versions. Due to the distinct squareness of its formal design.
The Elite was overstyled.
(This comment is in reply to Steve.)
+1 on Daniel’s point of the Elite being overstyled. I won’t gloss over the bloated nature of the 72-79 intermediate chassis or debate practicality vs flair in car styling, but the fact is the Elite shared almost 100% of its sheetmetal with the Montego, which happened to be the significantly cleaner looking design on this shell when compared to the Torino’s heavy sculpting.
The Elite covered it all up with layers of puffy vinyl, massive side moldings, opera windows and chrome to differentiate itself. Ask yourself, is this gingerbread in fact the real source of overwroughtness in the Elite or is it this core shape?
Ask yourself, is this gingerbread in fact the real source of overwroughtness in the Elite or is it this core shape?
All of the above. Opera windows, hood ornaments and overtrimming were a thing in the 70s. The mid 70s were almost a rerun of the late 50s in overtrimmed, awful handing, cars. To appreciate the awfulness better, consider when the Montego became the next gen Cougar.
The Fox bodies broke that trend. The problem was that Ford did such a cheap job on the engineering and build quality.
I don’t feel that answers my question, I’m not talking weight or handling capabilities(that’s engineering, not styling) – I’m asking on a purely aesthetic level, was the core 1972 Montego I attached really that overwrought of a design at its core, prior to both the Elite and Cougar adding heaps of trim to thinly hide the origins?
The Fairmont followed a styling trend towards boxy just as much as the 1972 intermediate body followed the styling trend towards muscular fuselage. A base stripper Fairmont could certainly be interpreted as a symbolic breath of fresh air in comparison to the extremes of the Elite, but the reality is much of the same overwrought trim used by the Elite/Cougar to gussy up the otherwise relatively clean Montego body was available as optional extras on the Futura, just look at the beige one Daniel posted above – hood ornament, thick side moldings, puffy vinyl roof, pinstripes, extra chrome, white line tires… it’s a straight up mini-Tbird. With all of that overwroughtness available , what trend did the foxbodies break exactly? The 80 Tbird and Cougar begs the same question two fold. They’re just smaller uglier bodyshells with all of the gingerbread of the previous decade carried over.
It was Lee Iaccoca, obviously. Mr. Brougham. The basic Fairmont, which was a huge break form the usual at Ford, was way too much of a 1960 Falcon for him, so he made sure that all the usual brougham accoutrements were also on tap.
… it’s a straight up mini-Tbird. With all of that overwroughtness available , what trend did the foxbodies break exactly?
Bulk. Shear bulk for the sake of bulkiness. My mom had a 72 Gran Torino. Between the high back seat and the fat rear of that car, it was just about impossible to see anything out of the rear window. I had visibility out of my Z7 like I hadn’t had since my 66 Plymouth Belvidere.
I found the 79 Capri hatchback particularly attractive too.
The 80 Cougar…umm…
Perfect example! If the choice is the bulk of a no frills equipped 1972 Montego or the styling of the 1980 Cougar, I find the bulk far less offensive to my senses.
The core shape isn’t bad at all. Would look even better with six inches less front overhang.
Would look even better with six inches less front overhang.
The “long hood, short deck” styling theme went way into overdrive in the 70s. I remember reading a road test of the 69 Grand Prix where the scribe lifted the hood and commented there was enough room for two engines in there.
Adding length ahead of the front wheels is cheaper than adding it within the wheelbase, as overhang doesn’t carry load other than it’s own weight, so the structure can be flimsy. Cheap is good, so the extra length the stylists wanted went into overhang.
AMC could not afford to stretch out the entire front end, so to make the cars look longer, they put a bump in the grill.
That’s the thing with 70s era Ford’s, these didn’t have long front overhangs out of cost induced compromise to make the nose longer like AMC had to do for the basic 1967 vintage Matador(Rebel) bones. This was an all new car, a body on frame one at that, and it can only be speculated that the long overhang was done on purpose for the purpose of looking long.
My reference to the name Zephyr was for the first car I remember we had growing up in the early 60’s. As we lived in Victoria, BC (more British than Britain) it was neither a Lincoln or a Mercury. Dark green, sitting in the one car garage is all I remember. I just look sort of befuddled when I hear Zephyr applied to other cars.
+1 I grew up in the 1960’s with a 1959 English Ford Zephyr as our family car. In suburban Philadelphia it was very unusual.
My driver’s ed car was a 1979 Zephyr four door automatic, with 200 six. It struck me as a good car in many ways. It started, ran, and drove okay. It had good visibility. There wasn’t much to go wrong in these cars but there was loads of crapola parts in an early Fox body.
Thinking back, there have been several Zephyrs in my surroundings. It’s just that they are, and were, such forgettable cars. I wrote one up a while ago with clear plastic seat covers and I do note it’s daily driven even now.
I considered a Volare Slant Six wagon a much better car overall as the Ford 200 six was always a total dog and the 2.3 Lima was even worse.
@ Steve and several other people: What a breath of fresh air these were when they appeared. Ford had lumpy, bumpy, overstyled, ugly cars prior to and the worst space efficiency and worst power to weight ratios of any of the big 3 and the wallowiest pigs on skates handlers. These had reasonable accommodations for 4 or 5, reasonably sized, rational, clean, attractive if a little bland styling, and a new platform which made them steer and handle to some extent. Considering what a cramped, bloated, ill mannered, wheezy, ugly pig the Torino had been, this was amazing. I liked the Zephyr coupe styling and it looked sharp, and certainly sharper than the other boxy two door.
Then the FWD X car and K cars appeared and that was the short, stunned life of the Fairmont.
How does the BACK seat disappear and why? I have a car in which the front seat is torn to shreds because it’s so old and the back is pristine, but I’m guessing . . . dog transport? Why would the back seat be gone? it looks like it may have been originally a forest green and repainted? It also looks like those seats may have been transplanted from a later car. Someone may have had dreams for this car as a tubbed drag car and then gave up and now it will live the rest of its life trundling back and forth to the grocery store and post office and dry cleaner and auto parts store.
Nice find Paul!!! As nice as these are…….i prefer a 78 Fairmont 4 door based on it’s sheer simplicity!!
I think this would have been more successful as the ’80-’82 Thunderbird than the car that actually was.
Those rims! Those rims! I have never liked those rims. They just look so cheap and cheesy every time.
My parents bought a Zephyr, new, in 79, a 4 door sedan. Their’s was that same pine green this car shows with the rear seat removed. Unfortunately, the interior was a pumpkin colored orange that stained easily.
Fun car with the 302, though.
I had a girlfriend with one of these (or was it a Futura?) In the early 80s. Powered by the inline 6 and equipped with lifeless steering and a stiff-shifting automatic that would get stuck in park on the slightest grade, I always thought of that car as peak malaise. Nice to see one still on the road, but that was one of the very few cars that I would not bother to drive again if given the option.
Is a roll cage going into the back?
I have been mulling over this car all day and I have finally decided that more than anything it was the 1978 version of the 1947 Studebaker Champion Starlight Coupe.
Hear me out. The roof treatment is an obvious similarity with the thick B pillar and the gobs of glass around the sides and back. But more than that it is the thin-ness and lightness of the construction.
American Cars of the 70s were mostly thick and fat, as cars of the 40s had been. But both the Studebaker and the Fairmont were designs that emphasized maximum size for minimum weight. Unusually thin doors were a feature of both cars. And the Stude was a little undersized for a “normal” low priced car, just like the Fairmont was a bit light for the mid-size market it came to occupy. When you add the relatively anemic powerplants the comparison between the 47-52 Champion and the Fairmont are complete.
Good one! I fully agree.
Stude – one real fender vent
Zephyr – two fake fender vents
This is my 1978 Mercury zephyr. I bought it in Springfield Oregon.