"It's the slightly upscale equivalent relationship of the Mercury Bobcat vs the Ford Pinto."
In this case, I'm still trying to figure out what the upscale part of this car is over the Maverick. Maybe it was the fact that it didn't share it's tail lights with the Pinto.... These early 70's Ford/Mercury cars were some of the most sparsly equipped automobiles ever produced.
Sparsely equipped? Yep, that's for sure! This car is from a time when you could get a bare bone stripped down car. So if you wanted to save money, you could leave out the radio, rear defroster, etc. You got basic dog dish hubcaps, vinyl floor covering instead of carpet, vinyl upholstery that got nice and sticky in the summer and freezing cold in the winter, manual crank windows, manual locks, etc.
Maybe the deluxe model had those, or fancy cloth plaid inserts on the seat upholstery, an Am/FM 8 track player, AC, automatic transmission and maybe if you were really lucky, cruise control.
Today you can't get a car with out everything computer controlled, power windows, locks, trunk, AM/FM/CD that's satellite radio ready, traction control, stability control, front and side curtain air bags, AC, usually automatic, etc. And that's just for a lowly entry level car like a Fiesta, Focus, Sonic, Yaris, Corolla, etc. Mind you, even the worst car today is a heck of a lot more reliable than the best 70s car, but just doesn't have the same character or cache!
Best of OPC. 
5 comments:
This car is very similar to Ford Maverick! Is it the same?
Yes it is.
It's the slightly upscale equivalent relationship of the Mercury Bobcat vs the Ford Pinto.
Tim
"It's the slightly upscale equivalent relationship of the Mercury Bobcat vs the Ford Pinto."
In this case, I'm still trying to figure out what the upscale part of this car is over the Maverick. Maybe it was the fact that it didn't share it's tail lights with the Pinto.... These early 70's Ford/Mercury cars were some of the most sparsly equipped automobiles ever produced.
Sparsely equipped?!?! My '74 Maverick had a V-8, automatic trans, AC, PS, radials, and a cool vinyl top, with vinyl between the back tail lights.
Sparsely equipped? Yep, that's for sure! This car is from a time when you could get a bare bone stripped down car. So if you wanted to save money, you could leave out the radio, rear defroster, etc. You got basic dog dish hubcaps, vinyl floor covering instead of carpet, vinyl upholstery that got nice and sticky in the summer and freezing cold in the winter, manual crank windows, manual locks, etc.
Maybe the deluxe model had those, or fancy cloth plaid inserts on the seat upholstery, an Am/FM 8 track player, AC, automatic transmission and maybe if you were really lucky, cruise control.
Today you can't get a car with out everything computer controlled, power windows, locks, trunk, AM/FM/CD that's satellite radio ready, traction control, stability control, front and side curtain air bags, AC, usually automatic, etc. And that's just for a lowly entry level car like a Fiesta, Focus, Sonic, Yaris, Corolla, etc. Mind you, even the worst car today is a heck of a lot more reliable than the best 70s car, but just doesn't have the same character or cache!
Yep, they don't make them like they used to!
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