Ford was on their color naming game in this era, as they referred to this burgundy over orange 1980 Mercury Bobcat 3-Door Runabout as being “Dark Cordovan Metallic over Bright Bittersweet”. The passenger door appears a shade darker, and this car is usable but also a bit of a project. They have it posted here on craigslist in Grafton, North Dakota, and they’re asking $2,400 or best offer. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Tony P. for the tip!
Grafton, North Dakota is a nice little town. With around 4,100 people, it has North Dakota’s 17th biggest population, believe it or not. It has a huge Marvin Windows plant, employing around 500 people, and is 45 minutes northwest of Grand Forks. Grafton has actual bobcats, but we now know there’s at least one Mercury Bobcat there. Although at this asking price, it may not be there for long.
Canada, only 45 minutes north of Grafton, got the first Mercury Bobcats in 1974, and we received them a year later here in the U.S., in this 3-Door Runabout body style, and also the 2-door wagon and fancy 2-door Villager wagon, comparable to Pinto’s Squire woodie wagon. Speaking of the Pinto, they were offered from 1971 through 1980, and the Bobcat hung around until 1980 as well. You can see that this car needs some help. The seller shows one underside photo, and there’s a fair amount of heavy surface rust visible. An all-glass hatchback door was an option.
The next owner will be spending some time on the interior. The dash has cracks and general wear and fading, and the driver’s seat vinyl must be in tough shape, as there’s a seat cover on that side. The good news is that this is a 4-speed car! They say the interior has been cleaned out, but I’m not sure what that means. The carpet and back seat need to be reinstalled. The floors in back look almost like new, so that’s a great sign. The rear cargo area looks solid, other than needing struts to hold open the hatchback. Easy stuff there compared to having to do major work.
The engine is Ford’s 2.3-liter OHC inline-four with 88 horsepower and 119 lb-ft of torque when new. It’s sent through that 4-speed manual to the rear wheels, and they say the AC and heater both need work, but it has new tires, belts, hoses, battery, starter solenoid, steering slave cylinder, and a new thermostat, and a new exhaust. The gas tank issues were a distant memory by 1980, and I think this would be a fun car to tinker with.
Burgundy and orange, well I guess it **was** 1980. This Bobcat looks well-used, which of course calls the mileage into question. But we’ve all seen low-mileage cars which were abused, and high-mileage cars which were babied. It seems, for a 45 year old car, it’s the condition, not what the odometer says.
Anyhow, this might be (really) cheap wheels to, as Scotty says, tinker with. It’s a 4-speed, which would make it more fun to drive. Does have some new parts. And the rust we can see isn’t horrible, which is half the battle.
I agree with you Bob. Some cars we see here have 180,000 miles and they look like they have 45,000. Others, not so much. The burgundy and orange actually work on this Bobcat, totally 1980 for sure. The price for entrybis really not bad for this one. That console looks like it needs to be replaced, or if possible repaired. But who knows what will happen with this one. I’d like to see it get saved.
I can’t decide whether or not I am buying the claim of 23k miles.
Bobcat… little later Mercury had the small Lynx model.
Not bad for 423K, see what Scotty did there? In the banner headline “only 23K miles”, as kind of a conversation starter, but neither him nor the seller actually claim it’s 23K. The Bobcat shown here, was the epitome of the Pinto and probably had 23K when the Ol’ Gipper was president. I read, the Bobcat cost about $4700 new, almost $600 more than the Pinto. IDK, a more obvious badge engineered example of a car that was the norm of the day. I suppose to some who held the Mercury name dear, it was worth it. This car was just about to be hauled away, when the kid said, let’s try and sell it. I think a clean Bobcat would be attractive, being the last of anything, the Pinto/Bobcat sure made its mark in history, but I’d call the wrecker company back and say come and get it. Who is going to sink thousands into this today?
I had a bobcat wagon automatic and it was great until the timing belt let go and I had to get rid of the car . They used a rubber belt instead of a timing CHAIN which made it crap out
Almost all OHC cars use a belt and still do. They work fine, but have a life cycle.
rough for 23k miles. not buying that
Wagons never had an issue with the fuel tank.
That’s a “challenging” color combo. 😬
This could be a good grocery getter for someone. Just fix the driver seat and use some license plates where there is floor rust? Spray some rust preventative in places. What else?
My right brain sentimental function likes the car because I owned a red 1980 Mercury runabout with the automatic transmission in 1988-1989 while I was stationed in Germany. Took many European day trips with my girlfriend who became my first wife. The automatic was much easier to drive in city streets. My left brain practical side says this is a stick shift and there is a host of cosmetic fixes and repairs to be done. I immensely enjoyed the post about a 1980 Bobcat. But sadly the pretty girlfriend and my American car that was well suited to narrow roads and tight parking places are just pleasant memories.
How is this still for sale for under $2,500 in 2025 dollars? The location maybe, Grafton, ND isn’t exactly an inexpensive shipping journey from most locations filled with Pinto buyers. I mean, Bobcat buyers. Although, Grafton is close to I-29, a major north/south freeway, which intersects the east/west freeways, so maybe that isn’t it.