Here’s a 1980 Mercury Bobcat, a Ford Pinto with chrome, pretty much. This one looks pretty good other than that rust starting to appear on the bottom of the driver’s door. This Bobcat is on Craigslist with an asking price of $2,450 and it’s located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
This side looks much better! The Bobcat was Mercury’s first compact car first appearing in the US in 1975 and ending with the 1980 model year. The odometer shows 53,481 miles, could that be true?
Bumper bummer, it looks like someone either used it as a springboard or someone backed into something. Maybe that panel can be pushed back into place. Those are pretty sexy bumpers, no? Yeah, you’re right; no. This is a one-owner car according to the seller and it looks pretty good other than that rust on the driver’s side door.
Those seats! Nice, very nice. The automatic floor shifter! Not as nice. In a car with as few horsepower as this one (88), it’s always nice to be able shift through that limited power by yourself. Other than that, things look great on the interior. The back seats are even nicer than the front seats are, probably because they’re hard to get in to and hard to fit in to if you’re older than a teenager. There are no engine photos, but this car should have Ford’s 140 cubic-inch, 2.3L inline-four with 88 hp. If a person were completing their Mercury Bobcat collection and looking for a 1980 model to top it off, this looks like a good one!
I had an Escort 1.9, 5 speed wagon that I “upscaled” by placing wheels such as these on it. I also found a rare rear window air deflector. My interior was the same as this one, and I raided every Mercury (Pinto) variant for upscale parts to make my car unique. It got great mileage, was suprising quick w/ the five speed, and I regretted selling it! If only this car was a manual…. :-)
This is nowhere near as sophisticated as an ’86 Escort.
In 1973, Ford’s engineers created a cost-benefit analysis outlined in what has come to be known as the “let them burn memo.” The memo outlined the actual mathematical calculation used by the company to weigh the cost of human life against the cost of implementing safety design in the car. It showed the company knew its actions would result in burns and deaths. Yet Ford triumphantly rolled out the Pinto anyway as, “The Little Carefree Car.” Thumb it anyway you want, I said it and hope I never see these again.
When you see it…
That’s hilarious!
‘Merica
Scotty, what is your fascination with these crappy forgettable cars?
Enough already
Many folks would consider everything from AMC (other than a two-seat AMX) as a “crappy, forgettable car.”
Some people like these “crappy forgettable cars” so Scotty do not stop posting these odd ball cars.
absolutely unforgettable for me
In 1981, during senior year of high-school, my best friend and I drove my parent’s 1980 Sky Blue Bobcat from NH to Montreal- by ourselves. What possessed our folks to let a couple of 17 year-olds. To do something like that is beyond me, but in our defense we made it there in one piece, ran around a couple days in the city, and headed back. On the way through Vermont I was rummaging around in the back seat for the tape player (AM only in the Bobcat), and managed to swerve enough to snag one of those horrible cable style guard rails. We actually got snagged in it, and it proceeded to shred that car from stem to stern. As we stood there by the highway surveying the carnage, wondering how we were going to tell my Dad, a hippy in his VW bus (no lie) stopped to see if we were OK. The car was totaled, but we were fine. He suggested we say we hit a dog.
I purchased the same color/same year as your parents’. It was pretty decent basic transportation and I never had an issue with it. Strangely enough, I feel no attraction to this one though. lol Nice find – as my Brazilian wife ways, “For every pot, there’s a lid” so someone will find it attractive. No one who I know….but someone. lol
I used to call them Bomb cats back in 1980.
why does it have a pinto grill in it? bobcat grills were up and down
when did you sell this car
I had a 1980 Bobcat!
First new car out of college! Pretty much a trouble free car for six year. Just multiple power brake boosters replaced.
Great little car!