Projects So here we go on the 60 Comet project

You Chevy guys crack me up. Last time I was by a Chevy dealership and the garage door was open, to much of my surprise after listening to this affordable reliable Chevy talk, there were mechanics in there working on........well.....Chevies. They all break, they all need something and they all are at the end of the day......just combustion engines. It comes to familiarity of brands. The worn out thing of "if you want to go fast, you have to have a chevy" is tiresome. Hell, right now there are some really scary import stuff out there running around that would eat our lunch and still have plenty of gas to drive home on. I'm not bashing anyone here, I just get tired of hearing how hard it is to make power out of a ford and chevies make it basically just for having a bowtie on it. I will agree with people saying about pullies and the like on fords but no one can actually say that doesn't happen on other brands. Last I checked there was a short and long water pump with associated pullies to correspond with a Chevrolet engine. And....for the record....the fastest car I was in to date was my brothers 69 SS/RS Camaro. Happy assembly on your decision. I think an FE would have fit in there nicely and would have been an already done thing with the Factory falcons of the 60's running the 427 in 64 and on.

 

image by: "THE MOOSE"

Outstanding re-creation by: "THE MOOSE"

Hey JAD,
You are doing your own thing in your Comet build. A great job and it is great that you are open for ideas. A long time ago, I saw this 62 Comet sitting by the side of a road near our house. I posted this in the Battle of Compact Cars section. Thanks to the resident “Hamber,” Moose, you can see how a light blue Comet with Moon Racing Discs will look , including a lowered stance and darkened windows. As far as the motor, the stock motor did not have too many miles (formerly owned by an old lady), but, if we needed to replace the stock motor, it would have been an SBC with a single quad. At the time, there were companies that made mounts to fit.

Jnaki
Good luck on your build, it is a cool car. My son thought so back then when he was 16.

Posted on compact cars:

Hello,

When my son was ready for his first car in 1992, I saw this light blue 1962 Mercury Comet sitting by the side of a road in our neighborhood. The sign said original owner, low miles, and it had a dent in the rear bumper. It was this light silver blue, completely stock and it was local. When I called the number, the man answered and said that his wife had owned it since 1962. It had 18k original miles. (30 years for the same owner) It was his wife’s car and she drove it to the store, shopping, etc. Wait, 18k miles divided by 30 years was 600 miles a year. Was that possible? The Comet was pristine except for that dent in the chrome bumper. But 600 total miles per year? (little old lady from Pasade….OC)

Jump up 6 years: The super low mileage was possible as many years later in 1998, we sold my mom’s 71 Chevy Nova 350 for $18k. (It had 15k total miles) We knew the exact mileage of her car as she only drove it to her favorite grocery store in Gardena and shopping at the Lakewood Mall. Maybe her other trips were to the mall near the Long Beach Marina. Her driving experience was limited, but she chugged by the old Lions Dragstrip almost every week to go to Gardena. She did not like the freeways.

We knew the mileage for her was actually less as we borrowed her car for a long driving trip up the coast, (Big Sur, camped at Half Moon Bay, through San Francisco, across the Bay Area, down through Yosemite and finally down the backside through Mammoth Mountain back to Long Beach,) in her car one summer. So, overall, she drove less than 500 miles a year.]

Jnaki

That Comet was going to be a great first car for my son. Low miles, smooth running motor, no visible oil leaks, easy to drive, and it was very clean with a familiar “old lady” smell once the door was opened. Our plan was to leave it stock looking with the exception for new tires, and rims. I wanted to lower it for better road hugging, put on Moon Discs with blackwalls and tint the windows, but was overruled. (That 56 black/white ford sedan with Moons, lowered and racy looking that was offered to me in 1961-62 always stays in my mind.)

There were a few dents in each of the passenger side rims from parking hits on curbs, etc. Otherwise, it looked bulletproof, even with those cool small fins in the rear. We were all excited, but at the last minute, the man said he was going to give the stock looking Comet to his grand daughter in Arizona. Booooo…