One Fox platform that doesn’t seem to get as much attention as many of the others is the Ford Fairmont and its corporate cousin the Mercury Zephyr, both compacts that went into production back in 1978. The Fairmont replaced the aging Maverick in Ford’s lineup and at Mercury dealerships the Zephyr took the place of the Comet, and maybe I’ve been on the wrong roads lately but it’s been a long time since I noticed either cruising the streets around my town. This 1978 Mercury Zephyr is looking pretty good overall, and with an asking price of $6,900, it just might stir up some conversations without putting too much of a strain on your wallet. The coupe is in Santa Fe Springs, California, and can be spotted here on Craigslist. Our thanks go out to Rocco B. for the tip here!
We don’t get a whole lot of background information here, but the seller does say that the Mercury was parked for many years before his acquisition and he’s quick to point out that it’s not ready for show or even daily driving yet. But I’m on the verge of cringing when thinking about the original plans that were in store here, as the intent was to make this a drag car. In contrast, I’d like to see it remain as close to stock as possible, but ultimately, it will be up to the next caretaker which direction to go, either maintaining it or turning the car into a custom or restomod.
There’s no word on whether or not the blue paint is still the factory finish, though overall the outside still presents well and I’m not spotting any rust or very many body imperfections. They’re not functional, but the vents on the front fenders add some sportiness to the side view and the quad headlights up front are a bit more upscale than the pair used on the Fairmont.
Buyers had their choice of three engines in the Zephyr for 1978, with the 3.3-liter inline-6 being the middle option as can be found under the hood here. The seller intended to yank both the motor and automatic transmission and replace them with a Gen 3 Coyote powerplant hooked to a 10-speed, and while I certainly can’t fault him for this mindset, this one just seems so original that freshening up what’s already there is also a viable alternative to consider.
There’s a matching blue interior and it’s fairly basic inside, with the bench seat showing some threads, especially on the driver’s side. Part of the headliner is also missing but from what I can tell the dash appears to be nicely preserved and the door panels still look OK, so maybe some minor attention inside will be all that’s needed to take the cabin to a higher level. Would you focus on just preserving this 1978 Mercury Zephyr, or follow through with turning it into a terrorizing Fox?
Nice sleeper material as the boys at Powernation can tell you.
https://youtu.be/ldHkzUIt52A?si=gYRvEldBliLYKieq
I just watched the w h o l e thing. Pretty cool – their car is so nice, clean, and original. The show makes the mods look so fast & easy.
As cool & fun as the idea of putting 500+ hp in this Zephyr is, I’d keep the I-6, spiff up the interior, and save some fuel. I’d have to have air conditioning though.
Buddy of mine in college had one just like it except it was the 4-speed manual. What a dog it was, and unpleasant to drive.
Exactly! Now imagine pulling out into “today’s traffic” in such a stone. You may as well hold it to the floor, put the hazard lights on and just drive on the shoulder.
Or pull out into traffic in your Porsche Macron, while looking at your phone, texting your mistress. Same thing, or worse.
And a dog it still is … no offense to dogs.
None taken. 🐶
It was a buddy in HS for me….manual didn’t help it at all, or maybe it did, it was just that gawd awful slow.
I always liked these. They were great money makers back in the 80s at the yard. It was from there I grew to like them. I have two in my collection a 79 Zephyr and an 81 Futura. Both are the two doors with the fancy roofs and the, then and now I’m sure expensive taillight assembly. The Zephyr is a 302 with the basic appointments, ac, ps, not much else. The Fairmont is the silver and black two tone with the wire caps, bucket seats, floor shift, electric windows, sun roof, bumper guards. The car is the 6 and me and my wife call it the Snailmont. Truly malaise. In fact we also have a 72 Valiant with the leaning tower of power. One night she had the Valiant and I had the Fairmont and we decided to drag, and well Prince Valiant as he’s referred to dusted the Snailmont by about 5 cars..lol I still love the looks of the cars and the fact that Mustang is in its blood so mechanical parts are stupid cheap. The Futuras were to me one of the best looking rides of the late 70s and early 80s. This one one here is nice. I won’t say what I paid for mine eons back when they were a joke. They are great cars to me. The 302 one goes quite well the 6 is adequate at best and they offered the 2300 4. I have driven them and ..yeah, as the line went,” you think you hate it now, wait till’ you drive it”. No 4s even for this guy..ride on.
I love these as well, Chris. Great styling, and a lot of potential if that’s what you want. I prefer the 4 door and the wagon though…
My friend had a Fairmont wagon. Definitely not fast, but with that bench seat and no seat belt laws back then, we could stuff 10 people in that car and it never broke down with the straight 6.
It would be nice to pair this with the Granada coupe from earlier today
My dad rented one of these when we flew in Logan Airport but the 4 door version in 1981. Was a rattle box and under powered lol! But now I can see putting a respectful V8 in this….have some fun. 😉
There were actually nice Zyphers and Fairmonts made. This is a low line version. It’s very plain. Are there any upper trim models left?
You’re right Dave. I had a nice 79 Fairmont Futura with the sportier roofline. 302 auto. Actually a pretty quick car for the era. Raced a Monte Carlo SS from stoplight to stoplight (btw, don’t do that. It was for demonstration purposes only). He couldn’t believe that I was dead even with him. Nice family car. Sporty, roomy & reliable. Eventually my Brothers and I turned it into an NHRA legal super stocker with a Cleveland motor. Lost track of it over the years but heard through the grapevine that it’s still around. Miss that car, it would make an awesome pro street with 351 power.
3.3L, is that 250 cubic inches? I never drove any of the Ford Fox body compacts, but the boxy styling was a big turn-off for me. Much as I despised the Maverick/Comet twins, they were much better looking than these boxes on wheels! The good news is that since they share the Fox body platform with the 1979-91-2 Mustang, there are a plethora of go-fast goodies that will fit these otherwise completely anonymous cars. I’d probably walk a middle ground on this one, ditching the six for a 302/5.0L V8, or a bored and stroked (347, 351) version of the same, and upgrading the driveline, chassis and brakes to take the increased torque of the V8. I don’t know, were bucket seats and a console available options for these cars?
Yes they were. I own one. They used the Mustang seats and console. The one I have also has power windows and the sun roof, and bunch of other extras.
Back in ’79, my dad was considering buying a station wagon version of this for my ma. His co-workers told him to steer clear, they had a lot of quality issues that year. He opted for a Datsun 210 wagon instead. 1200cc w/a 4-speed manual trans. It handled like a sports car. When the factory carburetor crapped out, I installed a Weber carburetor conversion kit. Talk about a pocket rocket! That car hauled the mail and hugged the road doing it! Such good times! ✌️
My brothers first car was a Fairmont 2dr in the same shade of blue as this. His was saddled by the 2.3L Lima engine and an automatic. Slow doesn’t begin to describe this car. He bought off or our neighbor across the street. She was the quintessential little old lady the literally drove it to church, work and the grocery store.
Leave it as it looks. Install a 302 HO With a Paxton supercharger. AOD trans with 3:90s in the rear.
This car has alot of potential as a real sleeper.Have seen several of these find their way to the dragstrip as an alternative to building a foxbody Mustang.But at $6900 is rather steep,if it were a 302 with the 4spd you might be closer to that,anything over $3500…forget about it…
Only wished it had the V8, then it would’ve been tuned without radically changing the stock underhood appearance. I would leave this one as is, but $6900 is steep for a sparsely-equipped car that’s not exactly a blue-chip collectible.
This is a base 2door sedan. Z7/Futura have a swoopier roofline, and look better IMHO. Wouldn’t throw stones at this one though. 3.3L is 200 c.i. (Com’on guys- do the math. 200 straight 6 is a great engine. 5 main bearings as opposed to 3 in the 144/170. I bought an ‘80 Fairmont Futura 2 door brand new. 200/ 4speed O.D. No slouch, liked to skitter the tires on takeoff. 28mpg highway. Seated 5 comfortably, 6 less so. $6150 including ps/pb, 4 speaker stereo, vinyl top and dealer applied pinstripe. Coworker bought a stripped Toyota Corolla at the same time for about $5800. I’ll take the Fairmont any day of the week. I owned another standard 2 door, same power train that I got on the cheap. After becoming familiar with mine, my Brother in Law bought one with a 6/automatic, and my Dad owned a Fairmont wagon and Zephyr wagon, both 6/auto. All of them were simple, inexpensive, reasonably economical, dependable, and durable.
That was my first car picked one up in 1990 for $300, 4 door…. I don’t remember it being fast, but I could load up a bunch of teenagers in it and go to the lake.
Last passed CA smog in 2002!
Who needs a V-8?
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-csumeptf003#overview
Nothing screams malaise like a ’78 American anything. Yuck.
Not true there were some decent cars from that era not all of them were bad.
I have been a zephyr and a Fairmont and remember like it was yesterday how absolutely cheap and flimsy everything looked and felt. All I could think about is it would be a full time job just replacing everything that falls off and cracks off. The 2nd ultimate cheaply built car.
Glidden Pro stock Fairmont tribute, same year, change the stinking badges.
Bought a 1979 Fairmont wagon in 1981. By far the worst car I have ever owned and I have owned a lot. Including a TR7, Audi Fox, Triumph Spitfire, Audi 100LS, X1/9,.They were all more dependable than the Fairmont wagon 6 cylinder. Truly a very low point for Ford.
WOW! You were a glutton for punishment. Junkyard collectables, stackers as we called them. You missed out on the 5000 S. You could have really finished the set off beating your hands against the steering wheel.
I own an ’81 Fairmont Wagon with the same miles and motor. Overall very nice shape but $6900 is pretty steep considering there’s no mention of how well it operates, if at all. No shock its been posted for a few months with no takers. I despise the “drop a V8 in” crowd with these. Go find a beat up old Mustang. The irony factor of making a square granny car into a dragster is over. Plus you can find numerous failed conversions of these that have already been butchered. Leave it alone.
I’d be a player and use it as a low-tech daily for $4000-$4500.
At least the cars back then had decent size trunk lids so you can actually put something in your trunk, unlike today’s cars that have maybe an 18-in long trunk lid if you’re lucky and good luck fitting anything boxy. Every manufacturer wants the back window to slope so far into the trunk, and they give you a decent size trunk it’s just that the lid is so terribly small of an opening. Why not go back to hatchbacks where the trunk and back window open up and give you a nice big opening.