1963 Mercury Comet

1963 was a tumultuous year for Americans. Cuba had gone Commie and Soviet Russia aggressively sought a foothold in the Western Hemisphere. Men, women and children all waited nervously for thirteen days while the Cuban Missle Crisis played out and enemy nukes sat less than 100 miles off our coast.

Americans had barely been given a moment to breathe a sigh of relief when their lives were turned upside down by the public assassination of President Kennedy.

These were tumultuous times for the Ford Motor Company as well. The new management and their "boy genius" marketing and sales divisions were reeling from the colossal failure and complete PR bomb known as the "Edsel". Efforts were made to draw life from this failed line, and so the Comet was born.

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1964 Mercury Comet

Tough times were upon us. From coast to coast, our country was hung with crepe as Americans mourned the sudden loss of their beloved President. In place of our smooth, well-groomed and highly polished 35th president, Americans were faced with ... well ... Lyndon Johnson. When it came to the press and media, our new president couldn't seem to get out of his own way. The pressures of the Vietnam war abroad and Civil Rights at home were now on his plate.

1964 saw changes to the Comet model as well, as Ford made valiant strides to bring this line out of the shadow of the doomed Edsel. A full redesign was done and performance versions were repackaged. The S-22 was replaced by the Cyclone and former custom and basic models were replaced by the Caliente, 404 and 202 models. The 2-door station wagon was dropped while the top-of-the line Villager continued on.

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1965 Mercury Comet

The Brits were taking over the continent as the Beatles "65" album was released to screaming fans. Beatlemania was in full swing and young Americans were going wild. New Superheroes turned the comic book world on its head with such immortal characters as the Incredible Hulk and the Amazing Spiderman. At the same time a new, real-life superhero was being born as young Cassius Clay stepped into the ring and demolished Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston with a single punch (the infamous "phantom punch"). Admist the uproar following the bout, the new Heavyweight Champion of the World made a superhero-like transformation and became "The Greatest" ... Mohamed Ali.

Meanwhile, the Comet was going through its own transformations - with an updated front and rear end that included stacked headlights. Power and performance where beefed up with a new 200 cubic inch, single carb six cylinder and 289 dual carb V8 engines under the hood. The automatic transmission option was changed to the "Mer-O-Matic" 3-speed. High performance 289 V8 engines and four-speed manual transmissions were options brought over from the Ford Mustang line.

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