The Mercury Bobcat three-door Runabout, as this one would have been classified, was an interesting little car. Mercury didn’t go to a lot of effort to differentiate them from a Ford Pinto but they were a little upscale. This 1979 Mercury Bobcat has been in storage for the last decade and the seller has it posted here on craigslist in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. They’re asking $1,400 cash money, no bitcoin or crazy online schemes, just cash. I added that last part.
The Ford Pinto debuted in 1971 and three years later, the Bobcat was introduced. They were both made until the 1980 model year and they came in this two-door Runabout body style, and also a station wagon with and without woodgrain accents. I’ve always wondered what a Pinto or Bobcat convertible would have looked like, hmm… I like it! And, if they would have made a Lincoln version? Enough of that, back to this interesting Bobcat.
This isn’t a factory paint scheme, unfortunately. The seller mentions that the previous repaint is peeling so add that to the list of things to do with this Bobcat. How about that rear bumper, wow! I love the glass hatchback and the seller adds a photo of it open which is great, but it does show some scary rust rearing its ugly head. The bad part is that they say that there is rust on the passenger floorboards and if this has been a Minnesota car for the last four+ decades, I’d be worried about rust more than anything.
Our own Russ showed us a really nice example of a Mercury Bobcat a day or two ago here on Barn Finds, that one is light years ahead of this example as far as the condition goes. I wish we had a peek under those seat covers or saw the back seat, could those be just black vinyl seats? Orange plaid would sure be nice. You can see that this Bobcat has an automatic, which would be Ford’s C3 three-speed automatic. The dash looks good but there is some cracking in the steering wheel. You may have noticed what looks like a moonroof in the exterior photos and there is an aftermarket one.
The engine is appropriately dirty and dusty and kudos to the seller for giving such a wide range of photos in a craigslist ad! It’s a 2.3L inline-four which would have had 88 horsepower. They say that it needs work so bring a way to haul it, which isn’t a good sign but maybe it’s just gunked up from being in storage for a decade? It appears to have air-conditioning so that’s a plus, even though I’m sure it isn’t working anymore. The price is sure right here, but can it be saved?
For $1500.00 I tow it from the drive way, Between the rust and missing paint, I’d take it right to GO PULL IT and make another $500.00.
My little brother had the Pinto version of this car. Same drivetrain and all. If you werre on the highway and turned on the A/C, it felt like you applied the brakes.
I liked your “Lincoln” version.
The Escort EXP I rented many years ago (don’t remember the model year) did exactly the same thing when I turned the AC on. It was 90 degrees+ every single day. The car seemed to moan when I turned it on.
had one of these with a/c– it served our family well until the small oil passage gremlins did it in—good thing is i kept messing with the valve train until it ran again–kept it probably 6 months and traded it in on another car—actually gotmore out of it than i paid for it
Sounded like a good deal…until I looked at the pictures.
Did Danny Partridge own this?
Was this stored or abandon for the past 10 years?
I say put it back where it came from and forget you ever saw it!
I owned a 79 Pinto. Orange with the Navajo pattern interior, glass rear hatch. Great little run around car. Bit the dust at 94k when the timing belt broke.
That Lima 2.3 is a non-interference engine, you should have thrown a ten dollar belt on it and kept on truckin’ !
‘ Mercury didn’t go to a lot of effort to differentiate them from a Ford Pinto but they were a little upscale.’
Neither did Ford in general. Always Ford’s attitude towards Mercury: Take a Ford [anything] add waterfall grille, red reflector between the tail lights and Voila!: a Mercury.
And their formula for developing Lincolns for the past 20 years as well.
BFF had one of these. It may only need a new timing belt to run.
I had several Pinto’s back in the day. First a ’71 with the smaller 1.6 engine. Not much power, A ’72 automatic, with much more power. It was a really good car. Bought a new leftover ’74 Copper color. It was a lemon, I hated that car. The paint wouldn’t stay on it. A jade green ’78 with a white Starsky and Hutch stripe. Loved that one. Traded for my last Pinto. A ’79 White cruising wagon. My friends called it my Circus wagon. All of these cars seemed as tough as any other small American cars out there. I drove what I could afford as a kid just out of high school.
Considering the prices people are paying for a Pinto carcass to cut up and put the body on a modified stock car thats getting restored , $1,400 is a steal
Update: the seller lowered the price to $1,200.
These cars looked a lot better with front and rear spoiler that came on some of them.
Possibly called Lincoln Mercury performance package / Bobcat Sport model. This particular model looked a lot better with front and rear spoiler.
This does not have the original grill. This one belongs on a Pinto. The Bobcats had a waterfall style insert. The 79 and 80 versions of the Bobcat were not much different from there Pinto donor unlike the 75-78 models. Those models had a different front header panel and hood. The taillights were totally different, too. The 79-80 models had a different grill and taillamp lens (same shapes, different textures). That was it.