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Pinto Alternative: 1977 Mercury Bobcat

We just recently wrote about the Mercury Capri, a mildly worked-over refresh of the Ford Mustang that did little to boost Mercury’s profile as anything other than a slightly more upmarket Ford product. This 1977 Mercury Bobcat is an even older version of the same recipe, this time featuring some cosmetic tweaks to differentiate it from the Pinto upon which it is based. This example is super clean and wears handsome navy paint; find it here on eBay with a suggested opening bid of $4K and no takers yet.

The seller calls it a “barnyard find”, whatever that means. Was it literally discovered near a hog pen or a feeding trough for horses? Doubtful, but then again, it is s a Bobcat. The car looks nice and straight down the sides and downright elegant with those chrome trim strips. The hubcaps all match and the paint looks pretty even all the way through.

The interior is holding up nicely as well, and likely wasn’t left with the windows down as a barn or farm or barnyard environment would reveal itself in the way of rodent nests and plenty of airborne particles. The automatic transmission is a buzzkill, but it’s a Mercury, after all. Hopefully, that fuzzy dash pad isn’t just for show and has actually preserved the dash for all these years in crack-less form.

The seller claims the Bobcat runs strong, as a Bobcat should, and that it comes with a new alternator and starter. Perhaps that component failed and is what left it parked for an extended period of time. The seller notes he is letting this car go because of a pending arrival of the offspring kind, and that he’ll consider offers for the “right person.” Are you worthy of caring for this Bobcat?

Comments

  1. Avatar M.Balmer Member

    Fuzzy dash pad AND a chrome barefoot gas pedal! Better get on this one before Joe Dirt does! Lol

    Like 9
  2. Avatar rpol35

    “and that he’ll consider offers for the “right person.”

    Yeah, I might be; depends on how much he wants to pay me to rid him from it.

    Like 0
  3. Avatar Raymond Smith

    I have driven these with the V6. No comparison to today’s cars but back in the day they were reasonably peppy. I remember one with dual exhaust and glass packs. Had a nice growl to it.

    Like 4
    • Avatar JoeNYWF64

      If you put a 70’s style restrictive pellet catalytic converter, 200? pound 5mph bumpers, engine driven non flex fan, engine driven non electric power steering, 3 speed automatic with no overdrive or lockup, & req’d economy axle because of that trans on a new car even with fuel injection – see what happens.

      Like 0
      • Avatar Jett

        I highly doubt a set of 5 mph bumpers would total 200 pounds. 30-40 a piece, maybe, even with the plastic shrouding a lot of them came with.

        Like 1
      • Avatar JoeNYWF64

        Jett, i know of a ’74 firebird whose black “rubber” covered front bumper was replaced with a 7 lb fiberglass one.
        The guy who owns it said the car went up 3 inches when he removed it. lol
        He weighed the bumper & misc parts:
        10 lbs ea front bumper brackets
        7 lb front LIC PLATE HOLDER! inSANE!! lol
        60 lb! front bumper
        2 ea front bumper pads
        6 ea fender connectors(2) removed – actually leaf springs! ’70-2 models dont have em.
        The ’74 pinto does not have those massive fender connectors, so something else must be compensating – its bumpers stick out lot FURTHER than on the firebird. & u need a lot of beefiness to take a 5 mph hit & not harm the body of a car.

        Like 0
  4. Avatar djkenny

    $4k is the “starting price” ??
    It’ll be a pretty awesome day if someone offers $1500.
    A basic Automatic Bobcat with unknown miles..
    really?

    Like 4
  5. Avatar Mike ROONEY Member

    The price may be a little high but it is a fairly clean car that would be a neat daily driver. Leather interior with A/C and a V-6 should make for a comfortable, decent little runner. Maybe around $2,500 to $3,000 is enough money. You’d certainly be the only one in your neighborhood to have one.

    Like 1
    • Avatar djkenny

      There’s no leather interior Pinto~ Just cheap vinyl.
      Thus isn’t a desirable car. A Bobcat saddled Ruth a power sapping 3 speed auto with unknown miles is lucky to find someone who just wants simple transport from a time of poor quality cars.

      Like 2
      • Avatar Jett

        Desirable is in the eye of the beholder. I’d love to have a fun little runabout like this for the odd summer drive-in run or cruise, but I wouldn’t pay anywhere near the $4000 asking price. And frankly, I’d choose it over pretty much any modern Mustang (post 1993)…and I’ve been a Mustang fanatic for over 30 years.

        Like 2
  6. Avatar Jett

    $4000? Wow, he certainly has high hopes. $1500-2000 in pristine “original” shape might be doable, but without knowing more about it, I’d fold my money over double in my pocket…

    Like 0
  7. Avatar 433jeff

    Noone would have missed this car

    Like 0
  8. Avatar canadainmarkseh

    Unlike the Vega these and the pintos were solid cars, there only real issue being the gas tank location. The engines were cast iron so were the heads and they were quite reliable. These bobcats, pintos, mustang 2’s, and capris were all on the same platform. They all stood up well and were not that bad for rust. Much better then the Vega counter part. I’d take this car as a daily driver but I don’t think I’d want to pay any more than $3000.00 for it. And I don’t even like fords that much.

    Like 1
    • Avatar Jett

      FYI, the European Capri was a completely separate car, built by ford of Europe in Germany, and imported from 1970-78. It shared nothing with the Pinto-Bobcat-Mustang ll.

      Like 2
      • Avatar canadainmarkseh

        I was referring to the US fox body Capri

        Like 0
    • Avatar Steve Bush Member

      Agree with the others-just a slightly nicer Pinto-nothing special. Maybe $3k or so max. Did see one on the Mecum Auction page that was expected to bring $20-30k. Huh!! Does anyone have the link to the auction results from Aug 15-17? Love to see what this and some of the other cars went for.

      Like 0
      • Avatar Bob_in_TN Member

        Assuming you are referencing the Mecum Monterey auction last month:

        1973 Pinto, 2.0 4-speed, 69K miles, sold $12,100.
        1973 Pinto, 2.0 automatic, 65K miles, sold $6,600.

        Nothing like the numbers you noted, but pretty healthy prices.

        Clean stock low-mileage Pintos fetching five figures is now happening.

        Like 1
    • Avatar Jett

      Again, the Fox-body was a totally separate car. It may have shared a couple of engines and transmissions, but the platform was different than the Bobcat.

      Like 0
  9. Avatar chrlsful

    funny, the auto trans selector looks like the x-fer case selector on my ’67/72 Bronco…

    Like 0

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