Projects 1965 Comet Rare Accessory?

Hey guys! I just bought a 1965 Mercury Comet and have researched in vain for what appears to be a facory/dealer accessory and was hoping there might be a guru here that could help with history, rarity and/or value. They are removable grill covers, appear to be factory made with original paint as does the car and have the comet emblem on them. Appear to maybe direct more air into the rad.

Thanks for any help info..

 

I could be wrong, but I think those were more likely the creation of a skilled body man than something out of Detroit. If those were being manufactured for cold climates, they really don't do a very good job of restricting air into the rad, and I think I should have seen a few sets up here. What really makes me think they were hand built is the Comet logo on both sides. I don't think a Dearborn designer would have used more than one. But like I said, I could be wrong...

 

More likely an aftermarket bolt on to make it as fast as a land speed car. No offense intended.

 

Show the backs...how they are made would tell a lot.

 

Yeah I was wondering about the dual emblems myself

 

Bahaha! yep but not necessary as this 200 i6 is already a demon.

 

Will do Bruce...

 

Hopping up a car always requires compromise...I calculate that the extra weight up front will add .0006 of a second to your quarter mile ET, but the streamlining will add about .001 to your top speed, perhaps requiring the police to engage third gear to pull you over.

 

Well hell, I can do better than that by just dropping my left foot through the missing floorboard and scootering while pressing the gas with my right. Will have to get a tetnus shot before I run from the law tho.

 

Sounds like its got Flintstone floorboards.

 

Looks Family Trucksterish. There's no way Mercury would have put the Comet emblems on the front, let alone two of them.
If by some chance these are some odd Mercury experiment, sell them. Cause they aint' pretty.

 

I bought a Falcon Sprint new in 65. I had a Ford build book for all their cars that year. You know, the books with all the accessories. I sure as hell would have remembered those nose boards.

 

Home Made,NOT factory!! ROY.

 

Man that really hurts my feelings. I thought they were beautiful.

All kidding aside, as odd as they are, at the very least they are an interesting piece of automotive folk art. Whoever made them and for whatever reason did a really good fab job.

 

Also, they can have extra entertainment value when people notice them. "What??!? Yours doesn't have those? Every '65 Comet I've ever owned had them. Maybe yours is Canadian or something?"
Or..."They came with the 427 SOHC option cars only. I threw in a six to get me to work while the shop installs the 488 stroker kit in the ol' SOHC."

 

I'll go with "no way"

 

Still curious to see what kind of a mounting system they came up with on the back though...

 

I'm gettin' a Canadian vibe for some reason on those. Aftermarket, cold weather accessory maybe? Functional or not, the styling just hints Canadian to me. They always had their own twist on things.

 

Looks like something that might have come in an old AMT 3 in 1 model kit, but translated to full size.

 

I agree having the two emblems likely pointing somewhere besides Dearborn. Now that we have that decided, let's get on with a really nice FX themed drag car build thread! LOL

 

Odd, but interesting. Whoever made them did a pretty decent job, looks like they may have cut them out of an extra hood. I'd run those on a car, just for conversation sake.

 

J C Whitney?

 

XX2!

 

Canadian Edsel, Great White North option, Cold Weather Package .

 

Cool car but those mess up a good looking grille...

 

Weird encounter here in the library: I glanced at today's New York Times.
Page A12, Thursday the 11th. There was a festival picture from Brazil showing a bunch of people standing on what I think is a 1965 big Ford. I would assume the dies went to Brazil to produce cars there, since the styling has some unusual factory looking touches...
Where the USA version has a typical Detroit wall-to-wall frill, this thing has metal covers over the end areas much like the Comet here. Not identical treatment but very similar idea on another vertical headlight Ford...the covers look very factory.
So...have a look at your owner's manual...is it in Portuguese??

 

Definitely not CDN. If there was a need then we would have made them the full width. It rarely gets that cold here for us. What we call chilly others call extremely cold. Perhaps South American for when the temp gets below 68 degrees. Or perhaps they were used for smuggling purposes? In short we take nice cars and modify them to make them beautiful like the '56 Meteors.

 

Bruce, you got my curiosity up! I found this with a quick search.
This is a 1975! Ford LTD (Brazil) - note the landau bars.


No doubt an attempt to "update" the old tooling to mimic the styling of the then current American version:

 

Yep, that's the model I saw in the Times...with about 20 really happy looking carnivalists standing on the hood!
Similar approach...a simple simulation of the styling trend toward vertical "Classique" look in grills.

 

I've been slammed at work but found original owners phone # and left a message. Hoping he will call back. I am starting to also think they were made by or for him...the whole dual emblem thing.

As well as...somebody mentioned mounting...no hardware, just 2 small holes for screws on top edge and 3 on bottom and pretty close but not evenly matched from one side to the other. Factory wouldn't do pretty close.

I agree, come buy this thing from me and get after it