New Member Old Comet, Big Ideas!

Good Morning Ladies and Gents,

My name is Nixon, and the new owner of a 1974 Mercury Comet 4 Door. I bought the car for $800 and was happy it had a good manual tranny, brakes and a strong 3.3l engine.

My grandfather and my uncle were wrench monkeys their whole lives and american motor enthusiasts. I spent most of my childhood riding around with them in old lincoln towncars, broncos, gand marquis station wagons, and monte carlos. I was too busy reading comics to catch the finer points of automechanics from them but the nostalgia and love I have for them both has drew me to this car. After 3 days of nonstop reaserch and obsession I am looking forward to loving this car for years.

I have owned Hondas up til now and still ride on a 84 Honda Magna, but the feeling of owning this old american automobile is remarkable. Even with the rust damage I get stopped daily for people to ask me about the car. I know you all can more then relate.

I have 0 experience with auto work, and even less with body work. I have major rust spots near the rear right quarter panel and around the wheel well where it has almost rusted through. Some cosmetic rust around the base of the driver and passenger doors and the hood is rusted near the latch. The most worrisome to me is I have some rust along the engine bay.

So far I had it tuned it up (new spark plugs, distributor cap, rotor, wires, air filter, etc). The ball joints are weak in the upper control arm assembly and are causing uneven wear on the tires so they are being replaced this weekend. My biggest concern is the rust...

I am still EXTREMELY excited to own Haylee (the name of my comet) and I will post pics soon.

If you all have any advice for me as a first time historic car owner, and as a novice looking to acquire tools and resources to repair the car myself I would be SUPREMELY thankful.

I am excited to join the forum as it is the first one I've ever posted in, and very happy to the maverick/comet community. Hope to meet up with some of you guys soon.

 

from Northeast Pennsylvania

My car was a mess with rust too but, slowly but surely, I got ahead of it and taught myself enough about welding to be able to attach the patch pieces

And I really like the name Haylee for a Comet

 

Hey mav1970!

Pleasure to meet you :Handshake

Thanks so much for the encouragement! Honestly I just want to fix it all today but I am sure Haylee will teach me alot about patience and perserverance.

What were the first steps you took when learning welding?
Any resources you can refer?

Thanks so much for responding super fast.
I am already loving this whole forum thing.

 

Post up some pictures....lets see what you got yourself into.

 

first thing first

As soon as I get out of work Craig thats the second thing on my list. the first is a cold beverage to start memorial day weekend!

 

Yup, take your time - better to make slow quality progress than quick but sloppy non progress

I bought a 110 volt Lincoln Handy Mig from Sears on sale and went on line to watch as many You Tube videos on the subject of welding - I bought my wire from Harbor freight and a cylinder of Argon mix from GTS Gas and practiced on a bench. I burned up a spool of wire before I had enough confidence to do it on the car.

 

I have a bad habit of working too quick in the past, but as I am almost 30 now I am learning to better value my time. Life happens a little at a time.

Great! I was looking at the lincoln on the Home Depot website and saw alot of good reviews. The materials needed were another question I had, but I will wait til you guys get a look at the rust to tell me what to use to patch the holes. Pics coming asap!

 

Welcome from Northern California!

 

Sometimes you need a minimun of 10 posts to be able to add photos, so if that is the case. keep taking until you get your 10 posts in

As Comet Fever mentions - the extent of the rust could be more than you want to get involved with but your photos will be of help once a couple of humdred of us take a look. Then of course, if you are a quick learner and have that patience we are talking about, you may just be OK

Mine was rusted pretty bad and I'm getting through it

 

I was going to ditto this....but I will wait for the pictures before I cast a verdict.

 

This is awesome...

Thanks from Maryland!

I am again profoundly thankful for all the help and encouragement you guys have given already. I am a quick study, and not afraid to get my hands dirty and muck things up a bit.

Disclaimer: I am profoundly impractical but I will put my reasonable hat on and pay attention.

I bought the car with the intent of messing around. I know I don't know diddly about cars or body work and this is the simplest platform I could afford to learn (that would force me to do so). Tools won't be cheap but they also won't die with the car. I may pay a mint on materials and but i don't mind spending a few hundred in the name of education, cause to me that sure as hell beats going to school. It's cheaper then making payments on my old honda if I spend $400 a month on fixing her up, and the experience is invaluable. I am still riding the bus while I own this car knowing it needs alot before it can be reliable.

I agree with you and honestly the idea of traveling to get a car/body/parts sounds pretty exhilirating. Being new to forums and online resources it is hard to imagine trusting someone enough to travel 300 miles to see a car, but I would be willing now that I see how caring you guys are. So if you know of any good deals sub $1500 please feel free to email me the info. I would really appreciate it.

I do not like wasting money, but spending it is something I do frivolously all too often. As i said before if I learn a good deal from owning Haylee and after a year of living with her and working on her I will reevaluate. For now she is always on my mind and I can't imagine parting with her.

 

I just wrote a very lengthy post and it said I need a moderator's approval. Long story short: Yes, agreed that rust sucks which is why I agree with you completely. With that said I want to weld, cut, burn, upholster and tinker.

So yes to buying a new body, and swapping fucntioning good parts. Thats a great learning experience just disaasembling and reassembling something. My next question is if I wan't this car to last the year how should I address the rust?

 

That might be part of that mystical 10 post debacle

 

Howdy. What part of Baltimore do you live in? I'm down in Crownsville and have lots of parts. Contact me at Mavaholic@mac.com if I can help.