Pity poor Mercury, a once-proud marque that was ultimately badge-engineered to the point of irrelevance. They tried to be an upscale provider of cars to fit every market including, full-size, intermediate. compact and pony 2+2. Today, we are going to review Mercury’s compact entry in the form of a 1964 Comet Caliente. It is located in Jupiter, Florida and available, here on craigslist for $2,800.

In ’64, the Comet was redesigned with a squarer, more angular exterior design, a similar redesign as experienced by its corporate stablemate, the Ford Falcon. Comet variations for ’64 included the performance-oriented Cyclone, the Caliente two-door hardtop and convertible, and 404 and 202 models in two and four-door sedan styles as well as station wagons. Of note, in July 2010, USA Today reported on a 91-year-old Florida woman, Rachel Veitch, who was still driving her ’64 Mercury Caliente and managed to reach a total of 562K miles before stopping. The car didn’t wear out but Ms. Veitch’s eyesight did so she stopped driving.

This Caliente is listed as a Texas car and the seller states that it, “has very little rust because it’s from Texas.” Experience tells us that may be true in West Texas, not always the case in East Texas. That said, the rust does appear to be confined to surfaces but a closer look is warranted – especially due to its garden storage location. The underside shows mostly surface rust but there is some rust-through too that is noticeable in the included images. The body panels are fairly straight but there are some slight dents showing here and there, nothing excessive, however. The Caliente-only trim looks to be complete and in place – a good start towards restoration or just a revival.

Here’s where things get interesting, this Merc has a non-operational V8 engine with a manual transmission in place. The seller is pretty mum regarding the powertrain specifics other than to add, “Motor and transmission still in car missing carburetor will need to be rebuilt motor seems to be frozen.” The VIN clearly indicates this car as a K-code which is a four-barrel carburetor equipped, 289 CI V8, made available mid-year ’64. The intake manifold on the in-place engine is for a two-barrel carburetor which makes one think it’s a 260 CI V8 which was the standard ’64 V8 motor. The VIN decodes as follows:

• 4 (year): 64
• H (assembly) Lorain, Ohio
• 23 (model) Caliente two-door hardtop
• K (engine) 289 CI w/ 4 barrel carb. (260-2 would be an “F”)
• 548851 (sequence number)

Decoding at the trim tag reveals:

• 63C: (model) Caliente two-door hard-top
• G (color): Palomino
• 69 (trim): Palomino
• 14A (date): 14th day of  January
• 22 (DSO) Dallas
• 4 (axle): 3.25:1
• 1 (transmission): three-speed manual

The confusing thing is that there is a floor-mounted gear-shift lever, similar to the one used with a four-speed manual, but if you look at the steering column, you can see the remnants of the column shift lever for the three-speed. So we have an unknown V8 engine with a three-speed manual transmission and a shift lever where the four-speed shifter is usually located.

While looking at the steering column, it’s hard to avoid the wreckage that constitutes the interior – it’s a mess. The seats and dash pad are destroyed, the carpet is gone, which is helpful in revealing the condition of the floors. With the doors open, you can spy some pretty serious pillar rust, hard to tell, however, if it is invasive. The backseat is as bad as the front seats but at least there is a center console in place. The instrument panel, at a distance, looks to be dechroming itself, not unusual for old chrome plated plastic, especially when exposed to the elements.  Of course, I don’t recall Mercury using a hand grenade for a shift knob…

This is an interesting car because of the possibilities. It’s probably not a restoration candidate like a Cyclone would be, but it would make for a neat street/strip machine or maybe a resto-mod – it’s a cheap start. What do you recommend, what would you do with this ’64 Mercury Caliente?