“This is the tough little economy car that built a name for durability. Built of the same type high-quality steel as our biggest Mercurys. Solid unibody; sturdy side steel beams in doors. Big-car ideas, big-car stamina but priced down with the little imports.” So says a brochure showing the 1974 Mercurys, including the Comet. The seller has this example listed here on eBay in Fontana, California, there is no reserve, and the bid price is $3,050.
The seller calls this car Chippy. As you look at the dozens of great photos that they have provided, you’ll see why as there are all sorts of paint chips and other issues with the body. They aren’t hiding anything, they show this car inside and out, top to bottom. They have even provided a nice video here on YouTube showing the car running and driving. He talks about the automatic transmission having an issue and you can see the chips, rust, and other issues. The bumpers are crazy huge, thanks to federal safety standards that started in 1973 and continued in 1974 with a bigger front bumper and a big rear bumper to match.
Mercury offered the fifth-generation Comet, a cousin to the Ford Maverick, from 1971 through 1977 in both four-door and two-door body styles in base, a sporty GT, and a posh Custom trim level at different points in the run. I wonder what a station wagon version may have looked like… gggggg… (hands around neck)… There is rust on this car as you can see in the seller’s photo gallery and in the video. It’s not salty road rust as a lot of us deal with, but from water sitting in a crevice in the trunk. Overall, though, this looks like a pretty solid car.
I wish we got to see the seats without the plaid seatcovers, or blankets, but we don’t. This car appears to have been red at some point, maybe originally? I don’t think it’s a GT even though it’s painted in that livery and there are many issues with the paint as you can see in the photo above and every other photo. The dash has many cracks and this is the only photo showing the dash, but other than the cracked top, it appears pretty nice.
The engine is shown extensively in the YouTube video, including a water bottle scene that I was wondering about. It shows how smoothly this engine idles. It’s a Ford 302-cu.in. OHV V8, which would have had around 140 horsepower and 230 lb-ft of torque when new. How much would you pay for this Comet given the work that it needs?
$0
Sold with a 34 bids for $3,700.
Steve R
At least it’s a Mercury. But once took a road trip in a friend’s Maverick! 🤮. Even on expressways, every bump in the road resulted in my rear feeling like it hit the floor due to lack of support. My feet were almost straight in front of me. No air conditioning (hot summer). Wind noise from open windows made conversation virtually impossible. Couldn’t wait to get back home. Need I say more? OK! Old joke, When you cross a Valiant with a Comet you will get a really pukey🤮 VOMIT 🤢. 😅 🤣
I put 300,000 miles on a Maverick and never had those issues.
Looks to be an a/c car. the hoses are disconnected at the firewall.
Needs paint, bodywork, bumpers replaced and seats. But they’re getting hot right now. $5,000?
It’s painted to match the limited edition Spirit package (short for The Spirit of America) that was offered in 1972 as a tribute to the 1972 Summer Olympics, White base coat with blue inserts, and the blue was surrounded by a 1/4″ wide red pin stripe. Real “Spirit” editions had red, white and blue shield decals applied to each rear fender just in front of the rear end caps, where the fender joins with the rear taillight panel. The Spirit editions had a matching interior color scheme, white seats with blue inserts and red piping on the seats. There also were Spirit edition Pintos, Mavericks and Mustangs.
Let me just say this…. 🤨😐😕🫤😟🤢🤮
Once again acting like you are an authority on Mavericks in Comets yet you are calling the ’72 Sprint package a Spirit!
Next time check your facts before posting!
Rust is rust, regardless of if it was caused by water pooling in the trunk or by salt from service in snow belt duty, and rust is expensive to fix. No word on if it has A/C or not. The transmission issues aren’t insurmountable, but a complete overhaul is probably about $1000 if you pull the transmission yourself, more if the shop does it. Or it could be fixed by nothing more than a simple fluid and filter change, who knows? I’d want to run both a wet and dry compression test on the motor, to see if the internals need work, but after fifty (50) years and 140k miles, let’s just say that I wouldn’t be shocked if the motor’s innards need some love.
The most disturbing thing I see is the front bumper offset, like the car was hit and the front bumper was pushed to one side, or simply not reinstalled centered on the car.
The current bid is about what I think it’s worth, but I might go as high as $5k, but probably not much higher than that. Rebuild the driveline (motor, tranny U-joints and rear end) and drive it, or go full bat crap crazy as a restomod, with new engine internals, heads, intake, headers and dual exhaust, with a full frame and four-link rear end or IRS setup. Either way, you need to get it for short money to make it worthwhile.
It’s a $100.00 car no matter what color it is/was.
I think this could be a fun car. Like the guys above said, 5K should be able to buy this and leave a few k to upgrade a little.
Hate to be that guy but a 5.3 LS would be awesome in this car!
It’s a Ford product, so no GM motors for me! It’s an Aluminator or nothing, LOL!
After looking at the 73/74 Nova and 73/74 Valiant- it’s hard to look at the atrocious crash bumpers FoMoCo put on this otherwise decent looking car
Comets had it worse than Mavericks at that. They set the same bumper out even further from the headlights to accommodate the Bunkie beak.
We used to call them compacts. Ample room for most drivers. Purchased by the budget conscious. Mercury gave you a little bragging room. I’d rather have an Apollo, Omega or Dart.
Yep, Apollo. Hard to find now, I haven’t seen one in years.
Actually, since we are daydreaming here, make mine a Ventura. Best looking of all these. Probably even harder to find, though.
I’m inclined to agree, the X-Body compacts from GM and the Dart-Valiant twins and their variants from Chrysler were both superior cars to these FoMoCo products, IMHO, and this is from a Ford guy, LOL! Ford guy or not, I call ’em like I see ’em, and these were not good cars when they were new, even less so after fifty (50) years of wear and tear have had their way with them.
Get rid of the safety bumpers, install the early ones, replace that butt-ugly taillight panel with a custom one, and now you have something better!
They rusted away here in the Northeast in PA. A friend’s parents bought a used one and found out the frame was rusted out. Ot had a 3 on the column I think. That was 40 years ago so details fade. They also had an orange Marverick and that rusted bad too.
I could never stand the Dash’s on those and Nova’s. Just so boring and ugly.
Hideous bumpers!
Every manufacturer was saddled with the 5mph bumper regulations, but somehow Fords from that era looked worse than most.
Auction update: this one sold for $3,700.
its nota comet itsa maverick, er, ah…
(1st of the foxes, may B that was a grenade-a?)
confusion ta day~