To those of us of a certain vintage, this one's a bit of a head scratcher. To us, not only does "Mercury Capri" mean either a Ford of Europe built 2+2 or a Fox-body Mustang knock-off, but "Mercury Comet" denotes a Ford Maverick clone. "Mercury Capri" also connotates an Australian built, Mazda 323 sourced two-passenger roadster and, going back to 1960, Mercury's version of the Ford Falcon. Fun fact, the original Comet was just "Comet" as it was originally intended to be sold as an Edsel. What's more, The Ford Motor Company also used "Capri" on a Lincoln back in the early 1950's. Probably the least famous of all the (Ford) Capri's were these 1966 and 1967 models when Ford used it to label their entry level intermediate-sized Mercury Comet below the Caliente and the Cyclone. Our blue (or is it green?) coupe here is a '67.
Confused, much? Over at Ford (the division), while they shuffled "Fairlane" around a bit moving it from a full or "standard" sized model to an intermediate starting in 1962, they never recycled nameplates like they did at their woe-begotten middle-child. Well, that was until most recently with the advent of the new "Bronco" and "Maverick" and don't get me started again about the "Mustang Mach-E". For the purpose of today's soliloquy, they really didn't. At least back in the day as we say.
There's no way that juggling of the same model nameplate so often was a good marketing tactic. Consistency of product is, frankly a no-brainer and is fundamental in branding. Being so herky-jerky also made it readily apparent that if Ford (the company) had no idea what to do with Mercury, the poor folks who worked at Mercury had no idea what they were doing either. Save for the '49 "Merc", the "Breezeway" sedans of the mid Sixties and the 1967-1968 Cougar, most Mercury's were pretty forgettable. Like this '67 Comet Capri.
Ford's Mercury division was created by Edsel Ford in 1938 has a competitor to GM's "mid-priced three". And if GM at times struggled to differentiate a Pontiac from an Oldsmobile and a Buick, or a Chevrolet from a Cadillac, imagine how bad Ford had it lacking the resources and talent GM had. "Mercury" usually meant a somewhat dressed up Ford although there were occasions it was a dressed down Lincoln. Either way, Mercury's never sold well and it was a miracle Ford kept the money-sucking operation around for seventy-one model years.
These "Comet Capri's" are super rare so that might be why the poster of the ad for this thing south of Hartford, Connecticut has it pegged at more than $6,300. Another example of Pandemic driven hyper-inflation or is someone overestimating the value of an automobile they know is unique? This just in...unique and rare doesn't always mean valuable. Especially something like this that's saddled with a six-cylinder engine and needs, as the ad points out, a "full-restoration". Good grief, are those...cigarette butts?
When I was a kid growing up on Long Island, I never saw Mercury Comets of this vintage and if I did, I probably thought it was a Ford Fairlane. Come to think of it, I never saw Ford Fairlane's much either. To me, a Comet is a Maverick and a Capri is a Mustang. And that won't change (again) until Ford glues or rivets "Comet" or "Capri" to some trucky "cute-ute" thing. Based on the recent past and Ford's inherent inability to come up with new names for their vehicles, you know they will.
No comments:
Post a Comment