I recently bought a '73 Comet as a project. I have been working on it the past couple of weeks and I got my deluxe Marti Report for the car today and thought I would share. Out of the 55,707 '73 Comet 2 doors that were built this is how my car breaks down. 1 of 3,435 with a 302/3 speed manual (6.17% of production run) 1 of 148 with Bright Red/Beige vinyl bench interior (0.27%) 1 of 4,523 painted Bright Red (8.12%) 1 of 21,383 with body side molding option (38.38%) 1 of 1,984 from the Washington DSO (3.56%) The car was also sold at Ray Dobbins Lincoln Mercury in Roanoke, VA. That is about an hour from my home. It is also the dealer that my grandparents bought their new '71 Mercury Marquis from. I remember riding with them as a 6 year old to go pick up the car. Here are a few pics of the car a week before I bought it. A few after I got it home.
One more after I got it home. I painted the rear panel black and added a really nice deluxe gas cap that I got from a member here. The tags that are on the car are from my '72 Grabber so that no one will say anything about an untagged car sitting in the driveway. Next I put on my new dash cap, added a black sport steering wheel that I had and dyed the rest of the steering column black. I also added a new Hurst shifter boot (not bolted down yet) and Hurst 3 speed knob.
I found a decent rear bumper and brackets off of a '71 Comet. I still need to get the smaller lower 1/4 extensions so that I can put it on my car. Current gap with the '73 rear brackets on the car, can't wait to get the '71 bumper on the car. I swapped out the wheels and tires that came on the car with a set of 14x7 Magnums with 205/70/14 (front) and 215/70/14 (rear) tires that came on my uncle's '71 Comet GT when he bought it (he upgraded to 15x7's). I painted the inner fenderwells and most of the underside of the car semi gloss black. I got a set of the Mercury crest decals from Seth and put them on the center caps and on the sport steering wheel. I also added a complete 2 1/2" exhaust system from the long tube headers back tucking behind the rear 1/4 panels. The exhaust has an x crossover and MAC Flow Path mufflers. I also took off the traction bars that came on the car. I'm going to take the car back to the exhaust shop and get them to trim the tailpipes so they don't stick down as far as they do now. I cleaned the front bumper, removed the front license plate bracket, put on a nicer hood emblem that I had and painted the grille like a Comet GT grille. I have done quite a bit of interior work too. I will get some pictures of that and try and get them posted.
I also have a question about my Marti Report. It says that the car is a 3 speed manual, but it doesn't say it was a floor shifter. Does that mean that it originally came as a 3 speed on the column? I was wondering because the car appears to have a floor shift column (no place where a column shifter was mounted).
I "think" the Marti report would list the floor shift as an "option" ordered for that vehicle, since a column shift was standard. You need to paint the headlite bezels to match the grill. You also need to loose that fuel filter. That thing is a fire hazard. I have the lower quarter extensions if you need them.
Quite the transformation! Great job on all of the detail work!! The wheels are the biggest improvement, IMO. So... when does the museum open??
I kind of thought it would list floor shift too, maybe someone with a Marti Report and a known factory floor shift car will chime in. I am planning on doing the headlight bezels to match the grille. I'm probably going to get a set off of my uncle's '71 Grabber because he is redoing an extra set he has for his car. I really haven't had a chance to do much under the hood at all yet. I have a couple of local leads on the lower 1/4 extensions, if they don't work out I will shoot you an email. Thanks! I will probably be selling the wheels that came off the car if you would be interested in them. Thanks Paul!! I agree on the wheels I think the Magnums look good on the car. The tires could be a little wider, but we had these laying around so we are making good use of them. A Maverick & Comet museum would be pretty cool!!
The car has a sport mirror on the passenger door, but a regular chrome mirror on the driver's door (which is the only non-original body panel on the car). I was able to find one from a local Maverick friend of mine. Here is a picture of it along with the '71 Comet rear bumper and brackets and a '72 Maverick front bumper and brackets. I'm going to use the brackets off the front bumper to help convert my car over to a small front bumper. Here are some pictures of the back seat and rear panels. I used SEM 'Landau Black' vinyl dye on them. Here are the door panels. I used the same dye on the door panels themselves and SEM 'Trim Black' on the metal sections of the doors. Here is a picture of my sport steering wheel with the Mercury crest decal on the center button. I painted the inside of my trunk with some Dupli-Color spatter paint. I'm planning on getting a trunk mat for the car while I'm at Carlisle in a couple of weeks. About the only thing that I have had time to do under the hood was spray a little black paint on top of the radiator. There is still plenty of work to do here to make things look presentable. I bought the blue bench seat and rear seats that Rusty had for sale in the classifieds. I will be meeting him in MD on my way back from Carlisle in a couple of weeks to get them from him. I will dye the front bench seat black to match my rear seat. I will sell the rear seat if anyone is interested in it.
Today I was able to drive the car to a guy who is real good with old school transmission linkages. The Hurst Indy universal 3 speed floor shifter in my car was all 'jacked up' and was hard to get it to shift from 1st to 2nd gear without hanging up. He adjusted the gates and the linkages and the car shifts pretty decent now. I'm pretty satisfied with it now and hopefully this will get me by until I can find me a 4 speed for the car.
I love the look of the magnum 500s but i have to ask, what will you be doing with the previous rims and tires. And also the black dye you used, is that a spray on piant thanks.
Thanks! I will probably sell the rims and/or tires that came on the car. The SEM vinyl/carpet dye comes in an aerosol spray can. I get it at my local paint supply store for about $12 a can. It has taken me about 2 1/2 cans to do the rear seat, rear panels and front door panels.
