The seller’s grandmother purchased this 1971 Mercury Comet new and it looks like a classic little grandmother-owned time capsule. It can be found on Craigslist, or here on the CL archive. It’s located in Raleigh, North Carolina where it’s been since new and the seller is asking $4,900 for it.
Who knows how old “grandmother” was when she bought this car, I’m guessing she was in her 30s maybe? 1971 was 47 years ago and it sounds like a possible estate situation. From the seller’s listing: “History – Grandmother purchased new. Recently sold the house and need to sell. No place to keep it at this time. Moved to the beach and decided to sell the car while it’s in Raleigh where the car has been it’s entire life.” Also the car has “no rust, Exterior / Internal in excellent condition. This vehicles has been stored in a garage for over 10 years.”
The exterior looks like it’s in fantastic condition – albeit only from two lone photos – and the interior looks equally great. The first thing that catches my eye, after the column-shifted automatic, is a crack in the top of the dash. Bummer on both of those things, but other than that it looks good. Hopefully the steering wheel is in good condition, any time that something is covered up I automatically think that it’s cracked or otherwise damaged but maybe it’s just for grip? The seats are super cool and they look like new front and back. As does the headliner and the front door panels.
The engine could use some detailing work to bring it up to the appearance of the rest of the car, but it looks complete from what I can see, right down to the factory stickers on the air cleaner. This should be Merc’s 3.3L 200 cubic-inch inline-six which would have had around 115 hp, before turning on the AC. That’s always a nice option to have but there is no word on if it blows cold or not. Some recent repairs include: Oil changed, Carb rebuilt, new fuel pump, Complete Tune up ( plugs, points, condensor, cap, rotor, wires ), New battery, Master cylinder, front brake hoses, Gas tank cleaned.” NADA gives a $5,650 average retail value for a similar car so the asking price seems pretty fair. Thoughts?
Nice car, pre gov./ins. lobbyists 3 mph bumpers, 6 cyl should run forever, what’s not to like about this one. A lot of cool for under 5k. I’m having a hard time saying no.
Barn Finds is not helping my addiction, or maybe it is!
Great car for someone on a budget who wants to get into the classic car hobby.
Nice car,but what’s up with all of the protective moulding?
Very popular option at the time. Due to repaints some no longer have it, but the majority of new cars at the time had the mouldings.
Those are not OEM moldings and look to be screwed to the body which would be difficult and expensive to remove. Everything else is stock including the seat vinyl and cloth (had a blue and a green one “back in the day”). The steering wheel is simply solid plastic and likely would need some type of cover in the summer NC sun. Nice looking survivor except for the side molding and dash. You won’t find too many “small bumper” model Comet/Maverick vehicles this nice very often so if this is your cup of tea, I think that negotiating a $4K – $4.5K price figuring that at the very least the A/C will need to be converted to R134, and you’ve got yourself an affordable classic Ford. Easily upgrade the power train to a 302/5.0L w/an AOD, put period wheels and you’ve got a pretty good looking classic with A/C…FWIW
That is not the correct upholstery for a ’71 Comet. The car has the deluxe door panels and should have a red bench seat with red comfort weave with the pleats running from one side to the other.
Mouldings are after market ( JC Whitney or Western) or dealer installed, definitely saved it from door dings.
Decor option from the factory
Interesting that you mention the steering wheel Scotty. If the wheel on this is damaged, I don’t know how hard it is to source a decent replacement in the US. If they are hard to source, it may well be worth making some enquiries here in Australia. I’ve had a really close look at the picture, and I’m pretty sure that the steering wheel from the base model of the Australian XA, XB and XC Falcons is the same.
It’s a standard Ford steering wheel it appears in numerous Fords world wide. It was even used in some Mustangs so it shouldn’t be hard to source. It’s probably fine under the padding. They get covered with padding for comfort and grip.
Regarding the steering wheel pad, don’t think the car had power steering, so the pad helped “Granny” steer the car down the road! I had one on a 1971 Firebird w/o power steering as the wheel was “slick,” really helped a lot and I was 35 or so at the time.
It has PS, the dipstick for the reservoir is visible in the underhood pic. It was just common to cover this sort of steering wheel.
Brings back pleasant memories of the red, 71 Comet coupe I owned. Awesome little car right up to the day I went to jack it up to change a tire. The jack went up..but the car didn’t!
Canadian winters can be so mean on car bodies!
The seats have been reupholstered, as that is not the original pattern.
Looks more like the late 1970’s pattern from the 1977 Maverick. Maybe the bench seat was swapped.
One of my friend’s in high school drove a blue Comet 4dr with the same cloth and vinyl interior in blue. It was all original.
Leave it exactly as is except bolt in the drivetrain from a 1987-93 Mustang 5.0 or 1987-92 Lincoln Mark VII LSC with AOD automatic.
Not every vintage car has to be a rocket sled. Why anyone would want to molest such a beautiful survivor is beyond me.
And Flowmasters and underdrive pullies too! I’m sick, I know.
Pretty much everyone’s Maverick and Comet has had the dash pad crack by now. They just weren’t made to last 45 years in perfect shape. The fabric inserts have likely been replaced in the seats. Again a common material to deteriorate from age alone, but with some intervention it can stay in decent shape. So these aren’t problems. The hard plastic steering wheel usually holds up. They get covered because they are hard plastic. Standard epoxy repair would fix it if it has cracks. On the plus side, rust free, decent paint, AC, PS, car.
It has some body side molding (?) on the belt line. Doesn’t say if it’s original paint or not. I would have to upset people and do a simple vortex 5 liter with a 5 sod.
Nice and sweet👍
Should we bury it in a field and take parts off and list for 10 grand or more with an outrageous reserve ? Oh sorry that’s for old Britt coupes 👀
This a sweet car for the money and nice condition👍👍👍👍
Eastwood makes a reasonably priced steering wheel repair product that’s pretty easy to use and does a good job of patching cracks. I used it on a ’59 Chevy truck I restored and by the time the steering wheel was painted you couldn’t tell anything had been done to it. Takes time and care, but with attention to detail the results are good.
Or just leave the cover on it.
My grandfather had a ’71 Maverick, owned from new until he passed away in ’84 – he swore by that car and it’s straight six. Conversely my uncle had a ’73 Comet with no heat and no floors, he was definitely less endeared with his. The Comet/Maverick duo are another underrated offering from FoMoCo…. sporty and classy, depending on how they were dressed and powered. I’d daily drive this amazing Comet.
I keep it just as it is. If the A/C system isn’t currently working it’s not a huge issue. These add-on air systems are very easy to service and parts are available. I like it.
This one has factory air.
Even better.
Love it and leave it alone exactly like it is. Btw, not every car has to be a dang stick shift. If everyone wanted a manual transmission then that’s all they ever would have bought. So many people here sound like my 16 year old son on that particular subject.
I had a 73 Maverick 4 door and with the V-8 and no A/C. Not great gas mileage, but on the other hand you could work on the motor. Everything was accessible as the engine bay was huge with plenty of room to reach down to unscrew the oil filter at oil change time.
Cars in great condition because grandma was embarrassed to drive it or be seen in public in it. So she kept it hidden.
Not really…. These and the Ford Maverick were every where those years….!
As others have said about this Comet, and others simularly equipped cars not every car needs a V8 and 4 speed. Some cars are so nice that they should be appreciated for what they are. 200 six was a good little engine. Dad put a 67 200 in 1961 Falcon to replace 144. Put Holley 1 barrel and straight thru muffler on, woke that motor up.
I believe this is a 250 cid six.
What a great little time capsule! Lots to like here – and lots of flashback memories. Hope it finds a good home that won’t Frankenstein it.
The following year the 302 for this model was rated at 135hp – 20hp more then the 200ci in 71′
I love this little gem – its in beautiful shape – usually the interiors are toast as the car had passed through several hands after grandma stopped driving.
Not the greatest car but the color and condition make it special. This would look very nice sitting on some Magnum 500s.
Lovely looking car. Given its condition and originality, I think the asking price of $4900 is a good price. I’ve always loved the Ford Maverick/Mercury Comet of the 1970s. It’s an unforgivable shame that they’re so disrespected by collectors and enthusiasts today. I think they were the perfect upgrade from the previous Falcon/Comet.
I used to know a guy who inherited his mother’s Comet. It was white with orange accents, interior also white and orange with buckets in a similar pattern this one has. While the inside and outside was as the day it came off the assembly line, and was pristine, he had the entire drive train replaced with a Boss 302, C-6, and a 9 inch rear(his father owned a Ford dealership in Fort Worth, Tx.) Talk about a sleeper, it was the craziest thing to watch it pull a wheelie from a stop light!
What possessed someone to install side (door banger) moldings up on the belt line? They appear to be screwed on…right now I’m doing an impression of Nancy Kerrigan. WHYYYY !!!???
Mercury Decor Option, available from the factory. Trim following the lines of the car, not for protection. An accent molding.
All things considered, leave it just as it is! I think it is well worth the price. As is, it will serve someone well, if they maintain it right.
I almost said, yes those are factory mouldings. Closer inspection shows that their was a huge sale on those rubberized mouldings. My friend Phil had a 71 Comet GT and his car had upper fender chrome moulding that went from front fender all the way to the rear fender. That was Mercury thing. All of Mercury Brougham series cars all had the upper mouldings. Montego, Marquis, and Comets with the exterior decor group. They probably installed this at the dealer during the time of sale. My aunt had a 73 Ford Gran Torino with a dealer installed vinyl top. That car had some funky mouldings to separate body from top. They should have just ordered mouldings from the factory so it would look better.
Upper mlds ruined the potential. Car cost $2,200 new.
The big mercs had mid door mldgs. Not upper. I prepped these cars when they were new.
Just guessing but someone will buy this in the $4k range and it will show up in the car corral for sale at AutoFair next weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Nice little car. At my age I like power steering so if I could find the parts I’d change that. Wouldn’t change the engine or trans. If it should need more power then might look into turbo charging it. Just an old farts opinion, we all have one.
Who cares about the upholstery or the easy to fix screw holes once you ditch all the ugly mouldings. This is the more desirable comet with small bumpers. Bucket seats console 351 Windsor with some nice wheels. Get rid of the vinyl top and you have a sweet ride for under 25 g’s all in if you know what your doing. Go roast some rubber😎
id buy this it has just the right wear and tear and patina inside for the price and year
There never seemed to be a lot of love for hot rodding this generation of Comets and Maverick. I read somewhere that the size of the shock towers limited the use of tubular headers. Maybe the factory cast iron headers would be an improvement or you could convert to a Mustang II front end. The shock towers do seem to be a lot larger than on my ’65 Stangs.
Not original paint. You can see red overspray on the 4 rubber bumpers that are under the hood near where the fender bolts are.
Actually they did. I tried to show visual evidence by adding images but said my images were the wrong file type. Anyway I had a 1972 Mercury Montego MX which had rocker panel mouldings and bodyside mouldings. No upper mouldings because it wasn’t an MX Brougham. All Cougars from 74-76 had upper fender mouldings that started up the fender extension, fender, door, quarter panel, then up the rear of the quarter windows and over the top of the car. The only exception on Cougar in those tears were if a full vinyl top. With a full vinyl top the upper moulding met up to the drip rail moulding. 72-76 Montego Broughams did the same as the latter Cougar unless it was an MX Bronze, which trimmed out the vinyl top into two sections. Lastly Marquis Brougham and Comet with exterior decor group had upper fender mouldings. Very easy to see if you look up images of any of these cars mentioned.
Interesting story bout these cars, My dad bought a new 75 Maverick with the 250 six three speed on the column because it was the only car we could find that still made them. I was 16 at the time and learned how to drive a stick on it. But I took my test in my sisters 74 maverick because it was an automatic. It had the 200 and was nowhere near as powerful. Side note true story I hit a patch of ice with my dads car flipped it and I was ejected ( not wearing seatbelt) ended up in a creek with the car inches from my body. Not a scratch. When the Police got there they asked me if the driver had been taken to the hospital, when I told him I was the driver he couldn’t believe it! I told my dad I didn’t want to drive anymore and he made me drive home in the old 72 chevelle (wish I still had that car) the Maverick only had 6K miles on it but it was totaled. Thought dad would be really mad but he told me he didn’t really like Fords anyway. So he went out and bought a Pontiac LeMans (his first automatic). Another great car.
Hello everyone. Just a quick follow up. I am the guy who purchased this car. She is a beauty and I plan of many years of enjoyment with her. @scotty if you want any follow-up, just let me know.
Congrats!
I am hosting the MCCI’s (Maverick Comet Club International) 25th annual Roundup Nationals in Lynchburg, VA from July 24-28. We have events each day and a car show that Saturday.
You can find details at maverickcometclub.org and look under the ‘event calendar’ tab. My name is Greg and my contact info is listed there.
It would be great if you could bring your car! Let me know if you have any questions.
Is it a 250 or 200 six?
It is a 250.
As powerful as a 260 V8, Especially with a stick. I have a friend with a 71 Mustang 250 automatic and it runs great.