Mercury Comet

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Mercury Comet
Production period: 1960-1977
Class : upper middle class
Body versions : Sedan , station wagon , coupé , convertible
Successor: Mercury Zephyr

The Mercury Comet was a vehicle that was built in three versions from 1960 to 1977 by Mercury , a brand owned by Ford Motor Company . After initial planning, the model was to be sold under the Edsel brand , but ultimately appeared as Mercury after they were discontinued. The model history is confusing because the Comet was offered in different vehicle classes in the course of its production: the compact Ford Falcon served as the technical basis from 1960 to 1966 , from 1966 to 1969 the mid-range model Ford Fairlane and from 1971 to 1977 again the compact Ford Maverick . In addition, the model names changed repeatedly in the late 1970s. The Comet was at times the smallest model offered by Mercury.

First generation: Compact

1st generation
Mercury Comet (1960)

Mercury Comet (1960)
Production period: 1960-1965
Body versions : Sedan , station wagon , coupé , convertible
Engines:
Petrol engines : 2.4-4.7 liters
(63-202 kW)
Length: 4950 mm
Width: 1790 mm
Height: 1380 mm
Wheelbase : 2900 mm
Empty weight : 1076-1296 kg

prehistory

The Ford Falcon, introduced in autumn 1959, was an instant hit. It showed that not all Americans wanted to drive a large road cruiser, but that there was also a market for smaller cars. To build on this success, Ford brought out the Falcon-derived Comet in March 1960. It was classified as a compact car by US standards . Initially, it was planned to sell the Comet under the Edsel brand . After they were discontinued at the end of 1959, the Comet was transferred to the responsibility of the Lincoln Mercury Division, which also organized sales. In 1960 and 1962, the car appeared without the Mercury brand name only as "Comet". It was not until 1963 that the Comets were formally part of the Mercury brand.

The rights to the Comet name originally belonged to the Comet Coach Company, a US coachbuilder that manufactured ambulances and hearses and was closely associated with GM's Oldsmobile brand . Ford bought the naming rights in the summer of 1959. The body shop then traded as Cotner-Bevington .

Model description

First series (1960–1963)

The Comet appeared in several body versions in 1960: It was offered as a two-door coupé, a four-door sedan and a station wagon with two or four doors. In 1963 a convertible and a two-door hardtop coupé were added.

As is common with Mercury models, the Comet was also slightly larger than the Ford model it was based on. The wheelbase of the Comet (with the exception of the station wagon) exceeded that of the Falcon by around 12 cm. In addition, the Comet was better equipped, so that it was overall heavier than the Falcon. However, it had the same six-cylinder in-line engine with 2400 cc and 85 SAE PS (63 kW at 4200 rpm), so that it had poorer performance compared to the Falcon. To remedy this deficiency, there was an optional slightly larger engine with 2800 cc for model year 1961 from autumn 1960. From spring 1963 there was even a 4700 cc V8 engine.

Individual design details on the body changed almost every year. In the first model year, Ford used numerous add-on parts from Edsel for the Comet, including some light units and control elements. They were replaced by Ford or Mercury components at the beginning of the second model year. For the 1962 model year, when the Comet officially became a Mercury model, the designers revised the Comet's rear end. Here more family resemblance to the large Mercurys should be established. The shape was adopted for the 1963 model year, apart from further detail changes.

Second series (1964–1965)

Comet Convertible (1964)

For the 1964 model year, the Comet and the Falcon were given a new, more angular body without tail fins, with unchanged technology. The slightly convex grille was similar to that of the contemporary Lincoln Continental . Two-door coupes and convertibles as well as four-door sedans and station wagons were also on offer; the two-door station wagon was omitted. The engine range has been expanded. There were two in-line six-cylinder engines with a displacement of 2.8 or 3.3 liters; In addition, eight-cylinder engines with a displacement of 4.3 or 4.7 liters could be ordered. A sports version with a 7.0 liter eight-cylinder engine was finally produced in around 50 copies. The names of the equipment lines were changed: the previous base became the 202 , the custom the 404 , and the top model was the Comet Caliente . The sporty version of the Comet was finally called the Cyclone . This later became a separate model series.

After only one year, the front section of the Comet was revised again. It now carried twin headlights arranged one above the other.

Success of the series

A total of around 803,000 copies were made of the first Comet generation. During this time, the Comet replaced the similarly sized but more expensive Mercury Meteor , whose production was discontinued at the end of 1963.

Second generation: Intermediate

2nd generation
Mercury Comet (1967)

Mercury Comet (1967)
Production period: 1966-1969
Body versions : Sedan , station wagon , coupé , convertible
Engines:
Gasoline engines : 3.3–6.4 liters
(116–250 kW)
Length: 5160 mm
Width:
Height:
Wheelbase :
Empty weight :

The second generation of the Comet, introduced in the autumn of 1965 for the 1966 model year, was no longer based on the Falcon, but on the next larger model, the Ford Fairlane . The Comet was now 5.16 m long. From now on it no longer belonged to the compact car category, but to the American middle class (so-called intermediate ). This was based on the assumption that Mercury customers, who were typically wealthier than Ford customers, would prefer a bigger car than the Falcon. Accordingly, the engines were also larger compared to the first series. The basic six-cylinder now had a displacement of 3300 cm³, the eight-cylinder ranged from 4.7 to 6.4 liters.

First series (1966 and 1967)

For the 1966 model year, the Comet received a completely new body. In general proportions it corresponded to the Ford Fairlane; Like this one, the Comet also had curved rear fenders in the so-called Coke Bottle Line . As with the previous model, the front section had twin headlights arranged one above the other. As body versions, Mercury offered a two-door coupe with a semi-hatchback, a four-door sedan and a two- and a four-door station wagon. A convertible version was no longer in the program.

Starting with the 1967 model year, in which only minor changes were made technically and stylistically, Mercury gradually gave up the model name "Comet". In 1967 it was only used for the very simply equipped basic version. In the higher-quality versions, the original name of the equipment version was made the model name. The 1966 Mercury Comet Capri was sold as Mercury Capri in 1967, the previous Comet Caliente as Mercury Caliente and the Comet Cyclone as Mercury Cyclone .

A Mercury Comet Convertible was the official pace car for the Indianapolis 500 in 1966 .

Second series (1968 and 1969)

Mercury's entry-level model: Mercury Comet (1968)

For the 1968 model year, Mercury's mid-range series received a completely new body with unchanged technology. It now resembled the Ford Torino introduced in the same year , which was a better equipped sister model of the Ford Fairlane. This year, the previous designations Caliente and Cyclone were dropped for the higher-quality models: These series were now called Mercury Montego , with the Capri becoming the basic version of the Montego, while the Caliente was marketed as the Montego MX. Only the very simply equipped basic version of the Montego was sold as the Mercury Comet until 1969; it was only available as a two-door hatchback coupé. The sport version, however, was still called Mercury Cyclone.

As the basic version of the mid-range series, the Comet was equipped as standard with an in-line six-cylinder engine with 3.3 liters of displacement and an output of 116 kW. A 4.7 liter eight-cylinder engine was optionally available for the Comet. Mercury's larger eight-cylinder engines, on the other hand, with displacements ranging from 5.0 to 5.8 to 7.0 liters, were available in the better-equipped Montego and Cyclone models, but not in the base Comet. The base price of the Comet cost about US $ 20 more than the largely identical Ford Fairlane.

The basic Comet of 1968 and 1969 did not sell well. In 1968 only 16,693 units were sold, in the following year there were only 14,1904 vehicles. The Montego and Cyclone models were significantly more successful in comparison. In 1968 Mercury sold over 70,000 Montegos, in 1969 there were more than 90,000. More than 13,000 vehicles of the high-priced Cyclones were built in 1968 and another 9,000 copies in the following year.

Third generation: Compact again

3rd generation
Mercury Comet

Mercury Comet
Production period: 1971-1977
Body versions : Limousine , coupe
Engines:
Gasoline engines : 2.8-4.9 liters
(61-103 kW)
Length: 5160 mm
Width:
Height:
Wheelbase :
Empty weight :

In the late 1960s, there was a growing demand for smaller cars in America. Numerous European import vehicles were successful in this segment. The Comet-Montego series, so far Mercury's smallest model, now seemed too big, so that Mercury had to expand its range downwards with smaller models. This function was taken over by the third generation of the Comet presented in the fall of 1970 for the 1971 model year and the even smaller Mercury Bobcat , which was derived from the Ford Pinto .

The new Comet was technically and stylistically a variant of the Ford Maverick , whose production had started a year earlier. Unlike the previous generations, the new Comet did not have a longer wheelbase than the Ford version, and the body was largely similar to that of the Maverick. Outwardly, the Mercury version differed from the Ford model mainly through a more pronounced radiator grille (so-called Knudsen nose), and the taillights of the Mercury Montego were used. There were other differences between the two models in terms of equipment options.

Like the Ford Maverick, the Comet was available in two body versions: from the start, Mercury offered a two-door coupé with a hatchback and a four-door notchback sedan that was slightly longer than the coupé. Mercury made almost no stylistic changes to the Comet during the entire production period. Only the introduction of safety bumpers in 1974 was externally recognizable, the legal requirements followed and the coupé made 64 mm and the sedan 100 mm longer.

The engine program was also the same as that of the Maverick. There was a six-cylinder with either 2800, 3300 or 4100 cm³. In addition, a 4942 cm³ V8 engine was offered for those customers who did not want to do without an eight-cylinder engine in the compact car segment.

This Comet model, like the Maverick, was built until 1977; a total of 487,000 copies were made.

Successor models

The model class was continued by Mercury afterwards; The successor models were also based on corresponding Ford models. The model types followed one after the other (Ford basic models in brackets):

Web links

Commons : Mercury Comet  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • John Gunnell: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975 . Krause Publications, Iola 2002. ISBN 0-87349-461-X , pp. 519-547.
  • James M. Flammang and Ron Kowalke: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1976-1999 . Krause Publications, Iola 1999. ISBN 0-87341-755-0 , pp. 629-636.
  • Richard M. Langworth: Encyclopedia of American Cars 1930-1980 . New York (Beekman House) 1984. ISBN 0-517-42462-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Compact Car . In: Motor vehicle technology 4/1960, p. 143
  2. ↑ Richard M. Langworth: Encyclopedia of American Cars 1930–1980 . New York (Beekman House) 1984. ISBN 0-517-42462-2 , p. 450.
  3. ↑ Advertisement for the Indy 500 Pace Car 1966 on www.lov2xlr8.no (accessed on September 22, 2015).
  4. ↑ Richard M. Langworth: Encyclopedia of American Cars 1930–1980 . New York (Beekman House) 1984. ISBN 0-517-42462-2 , pp. 461 f.