1960 Ford Fairlane - Hate To Say I Told You So

Can you imagine being right all the time? Not only would you never learn anything, but no one would want to be around you. That's why, sometimes, I enjoy being wrong. It not only keeps me humble, but on occasion, I do appreciate the company of others. Being wrong always means I'm constantly learning. Example - the other day this bizarre looking 1960 Ford Fairlane popped up on Facebook Marketplace with a $16,000 asking price. "Good luck with that, pal", I chortled to myself but after I checked what it could be worth on Haggerty, turns out this may be priced right. I was wrong?! Imagine that. 

No doubt the seller used Haggerty's online pricing tool to determine what they want for it. Haggerty says these things in "good condition" should or could go for $18,600 but that's one with Ford's "Y-block", 292 cubic-inch V-8. They suggest taking twenty percent off if the car has Ford's six-cylinder engine like this one has. It's also priced in line with what other 1960 Fairlanes in similar condition are going for these days on Marketplace. 

Haggerty values these in "Concours" condition at more than $35,000. Frankly, although I'm a big fan of everything Haggerty, I find their online pricing guidelines extremely generous. Pie-In-The-Sky if you will. Might be great to help make the owner of a classic feel good about what they have, but when it comes time to sell, we need a more realistic gauge. Sellers sees what Haggerty says and can be resistant to drop the price on what they're selling to something that will get the car sold. 

This car has been restored and there was considerable effort put into it. Trunk and floor pans are new, gas tank is new too. The interior has been redone but it's nowhere near factory spec, that's a big strike against it in my opinion. The paint job is not a factory color and it looks like it's on too thick as well. Strike two. The rims are cool but they look out of place on this, but I can deal with that. Again, this is a six-cylinder car and what's more, it has a column mounted, three-speed manual, the old three-on-the-tree. Brakes aren't boosted and there's no power steering. Strike three, four and five. 

If the powerplant had been modernized, power brakes and steering installed it might increase its appeal. As it is, this thing is a handful to drive. I can just see lovers of mid-century aesthetic sprinting back to their late model Toyota after a test drive. 

Speaking of aesthetics, there's also the issue of what you can't change about this car, it's somewhat off the wall styling. These cars ain't everyone's cup of coolant. 

The design story of these 1960 big Fords is that when Ford Motor Company executives got wind of the new-for-1959 Chevrolet, they freaked out, trashed what they had planned to do for '59, worked around the clock and came up with this design that more than apes Chevrolet's "batwing" '59's. Problem was, they didn't get it online in time for the 1959 model year, so it had to wait until 1960.

Irony of ironies, the 1959 Chevrolet was part of General Motors' haphazard reboot after their suits lost their minds when they saw Chrysler's 1957 models. Eyes on your own paper, boys. 

How much is something worth? Only what someone is willing to pay for it, naturally. Haggerty's generosity be darned. I don't know what price would help move this blue bomber but seeing it's been on Marketplace for forty-nine weeks and counting seems sixteen-large is way too much. 

Hate to say I told you so. 

1967 Mercury Comet Capri - What Kind of Comet?

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.