Years ago, when I still autocrossed, I would routinely see an individual down in New Haven, Connecticut with a Mercury Bobcat storming the cones with aggression. It was a highlight of my trip there, aside from actually competing, as it seemed like a car that had no business being competitive but thoroughly whooped drivers like myself every time. This Bobcat is an extremely charming two-door station wagon, and you can find here on eBay with a manual transmission and bidding to just over $500.
The reserve remains unmet, which is fair since this Bobcat appears to be in excellent condition. The manual transmission is a nice bonus, as are the sweet cross-lace alloy wheels. The seller notes the Bobcat was received via a donation to the seller’s teaching museum at Jim’s Classic Garage. Because of this, he mentions it may be possible to receive a tax refund as the sale price will be treated as a donation to the museum. Check out the dry, minty sheetmetal and bumpers.
The interior continues with the clean theme, showing excellent carpets and fake wood trim. The presence of a manual transmission is really a treat, looking practically sporting with that handsome leather shift boot. The Bobcat isn’t necessarily a performance vehicle, but the presence of the six-cylinder and manual transmission should make it somewhat rewarding to drive. The console looks like it has some wear, but that’s to be expected.
The wheels remind me of what cam on the Mustang II Cobra; can anyone confirm? A great upgrade regardless of origin. The sills appear quite solid and there’s really no indication of rust or prior poor accident repair. The seller does note one floorpan will need repair, so it’s not perfect – but it’s still a preserved example of a car not often seen in any condition, let alone as nice as this one. Would you rock this Bobcat?
I don’t see where the seller mentions anything! Have I forgotten how to view an E-bay listing?
I would love this little one to me it would be even better with an auto…yeah yeah i know but im 52 with bad bad knees so rowing the gears makes it real hard and yes ive had my fun of doing the gears in the younger years..and yes it was fun.
The clutches on these don’t take much effort at all.
Try driving a Fox bodied Mustang with a 5.0 and stick. The clutch is rock hard on those.
Try converting to a hydraulic clutch. No harder to depress than an accelerator pedal.
Nice little wagon and a v6 plus a stick to boot!! Score! Do these have the same gas tank set up as the Pinto’s had ? Top of the tank was the floor of the cargo area, I think. Pintos, Mustangs and some other Fords got a lot of press coverage about rear end crash fires. I’ll pass, nice find, I’m out.
This is a Mercury version of the Pinto. And no, the fuel tank is not the trunk floor. Ford stopped that in 1968.
Not quite. All Mustangs and Cougars built through the 1970 model year had the gas tank as the trunk floor. It was not until the 1971 model year that the gas tank was placed under an actual trunk floor.
The wagon was never subject to recall, on wagon models the gas tank was situated in front of the rear axle
I had a 79 Pinto wagon, same body and color. It was a 4 cyl manual trans. Not as much power as the 6 cyl but it was fun to drive on curvy roads with the rack and pinion steering.
Love that homemade aluminum shower-track trim piece on the liftgate.
Aggressive exhaust system but not one picture of the engine.
@Rock On: Don’t see why you couldn’t
do it. When using the 4 cylinder engine
in the Ranger pickup, Ford did use a
hydraulic clutch unit on these trucks.
Just swap out the original bell housing
for the Ranger unit. If you’re getting the
unit from a U-pull-it yard, make sure that
you get the slave cylinder and all the
plumbing that goes with it. That’ll save
you a lot of time and money. While you’re
at it, grab the tranny too just in case the
original gearbox doesn’t fit. Might have
to fab up a new cross member and new
tranny mount too. Bring along your
patience too. You’ll need it when you
have to bleed both the master and slave
cylinders to purge the hydraulic system.
This can be a real PITA but if done right,
the results will be very rewarding.
Surely the wagon is better balanced, but the hatch with the V6 was one of the most dangerous cars I ever drove. The back brakes, even with a proportion ing valve would lock at nothing, and if the back drifted either way more than 10 degrees, you could not recover. I ended up disabling the rears, but even so the back could get away at nothing. I warned the next owner, but even so he ditched within a week. Wretched little car.
One spring when no one’s autocross car was ready, five of us rented a Pinto from Budget and formed our own class. Car handled decently, but there were no studs left in the snow tires when we handed it back. Clerk commented on the low number of miles driven.
First thing that should be on the top of the list is bring that exhaust out from under the car! Very dangerous!
Those are MustangII Cobra wheels…
I have a question,,, if this is indeed an ’80, how does it have a v-6? 1980 only had the 4 cylinder. Another question,,, with ALL the pictures the seller took of the underside why in the hell couldn’t they have taken at least one of the engine?
this is on Hemmings for $3800
Is the bidding still at only 500? Good grief it’s going to cost them a lot more than that to get me to this thing!!
I don’t believe the V6 was ever available from the factory with a manual. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with an engine swap, but I’d like to see some shots of the engine bay.
I’d worry that that home-made cladding was concealing serious rust on the lower liftgate.
There are zero pictures of the engine compartment.
The only way we have to know if it is a 6 cylinder or not is by the description.
I bet it is a 4 cylinder as the VIN says it is.
Also, a V6 swap (presumably to the 2.8 Cologne V6) makes no sense in this car. The factory V6 didn’t provide all that much HP gain over the 2.3 inline 4. If I were going to hotrod a Pinto, I’d go in one of two directions. If I wanted to get completely ridiculous, I’d drop in a 302 V8. The car would be ridiculously nose-heavy and not all that driveable, but it’d lay rubber at stoplights. The other way to go would be to hotrod the existing 2.3L engine. There are tons of hop-up parts for the 2.3. Another possibility would be to drop in a turbocharged 2.3 unit from a Thunderbird Super Coupe.