Junkyard Find: 1964 Mercury Comet

Some of our sharper-eyed readers noticed that the car parked next to yesterday's Junkyard Find (this 1965 Mercury Park Lane Breezeway) was also a mid-60s-vintage Mercury. It's the upscale version of the Ford Falcon, the car that the Edsel Jihad still hates as a symbol of Robert MacNamara's misplaced— and probably Communist-inspired— priorities. Yes, Ford CEO MacNamara killed the Edsel in favor of the Falcon, right before he masterminded the not-real-successful war effort in Vietnam; the Edsel Jihad can forgive the latter but never the former. I found these two doomed Mercurys side-by-side at a Northern California self-service yard last month. Both seem quite restorable, but more complete Park Lanes aren't too expensive and nobody seems to want Comet sedans. Next stop: Chinese steel factory via the Port of Oakland! This one is free of serious rust, but: four doors. Comet V8 options in 1964 were 260- and 289-cube Windsor V8s, but this looks like a more recent swap. 302, probably. Whenever I see these old factory radios, I have to resist hoarding impulses. They're just so cool-looking, but hoarding car clocks is bad enough! It's possible that this car was driven by Apple Computer's oldest employee in 1990… but I doubt it. Still, Cupertino is upscale enough that it's hard to imagine an original-owner Comet being driven there. from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com

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