Good morning! By the time you read this, I’ll be on my way to pick up a U-Haul trailer, getting ready to head east. But I’m going to leave you with two more Portland cars to check out, both early-60s Ford products, and both dripping with cool – and maybe some vital fluids.
Yesterday’s cheap beaters told me something interesting about this crowd – more of you are cat people than I realized! We have three little “house panthers” ourselves, after years of having dogs, and I’m mighty fond of them, except at five o’clock in the morning when they start jumping on me to wake me up. Anyway, I didn’t expect that Nissan to get votes because of the cat-print headliner. You folks are all right in my book.
Oh, and a fun fact about that headliner: If you stare at it long enough, a sailboat appears. You just have to relax your eyes.
All right. Today is all about FoMoCo, and we’re going to look at a couple of cool old cruisers with alliterative names. Both of them go just fine, but one needs a little help stopping. Let’s see what you make of them.
1962 Mercury Meteor – $4,600
Engine/drivetrain: 170 cubic inch overhead valve inline 6, three-speed manual, RWD
Location: Clackamas, OR
Odometer reading: 67,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The ’62 Mercury Meteor, and its sister model the Ford Fairlane, were Ford’s first “intermediate” models, larger than the Falcon and Comet, but smaller than the full-sized Galaxie and Monterey. For the first time, Ford’s main vehicle lines were available in three sizes, an arrangement that continued for decades, and even persists today, though the vehicles in question are now crossovers and SUVs instead of sedans – and of course, the Mercury nameplate is long gone.
This Meteor is powered by an inline six, the same basic engine that powered midsized Fords all the way up through the Fairmont/Zephyr years. Here it displaces 170 cubic inches and sends power to the rear wheels via a floor-shifted three-speed manual. It runs and drives very well, and has new brakes, a new clutch, new tires, and a recent tune-up. The seller calls it a “dependable driver.”
It’s in reasonably good cosmetic shape as well. The upholstery looks all right, as does the interior trim. The parking brake handle is wrapped in tape, and I’m not sure why there’s what looks like a can of spackle sitting on the seat, but otherwise it’s actually pretty nice. The floor shift could be original, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it originally had a column shifter and the floor-mounted lever is aftermarket.
It’s got a couple spots of rust here and there, but hardly anything worth mentioning. Or fixing, really. It’s just a nice old classic car that you can enjoy without getting too fussy about the details.
1963 Ford Fairlane 500 – $4,995
Engine/drivetrain: 260 cubic inch overhead valve V8, two-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Tigard, OR
Odometer reading: 22,000 miles (probably rolled over)
Operational status: Runs great, should have brakes done before driving
This Fairlane is a variation on the same theme. It’s a year newer, and powered by a 260 cubic inch Windsor V8, along with a two-speed Ford-O-Matic transmission, but it rides on the same 115.5 inch wheelbase. It’s a Fairlane 500, which was the fancy model, though in those days I think that mostly just meant more chrome.
The engine has been rebuilt, and runs well, according to the seller. They’ve replaced the exhaust, fuel tank, and fuel pump, so that side of things is all ready to go. But they didn’t get around to the suspension or brakes yet. That’s not expensive or complicated stuff to fix, just messy and time-consuming. The seller says it is technically drivable, but “should be trailered.” Considering how sellers typically downplay a car’s problems, I’d get a trailer.
Inside, there’s nothing to worry about – it’s all been redone, and it looks really nice. It looks like a custom tuck-and-roll job, but it could be pre-made covers from one of the mail-order shops selling reproduction parts. Either way, it looks great, and the carpet looks new as well.
Outside, the two-tone paint has become four-tone: Blue, white, rust, and primer. It’s mostly surface rust, from where the paint has simply been lost to time. This is the sort of patina that has become fashionable to just clearcoat over and preserve, and really, the only other option is to refinish the whole car – not worth it for a run-of-the-mill Fairlane sedan.
I don’t know about you all, but I get a little tired of seeing the same classic cars over and over again. There are so many old cars out there that get overlooked because they aren’t fast, or special, or considered cool. And that’s a shame, because tinkering with an old car is therapeutic, and driving something around on a Sunday afternoon that you know how to fix, because you’ve fixed it all already, is a powerful feeling. It’s important to realize that you don’t need a Mustang or a Camaro or something to get that feeling; any old car that grabs your attention will work. So which one of these grabs your attention?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
Stick > Automatic
The Merc body is way more unique than the Fairlane, chrome looks better too at a glance. The interior looks passable although I’m not sure what is going on with the headliner/door mouldings. Clean it up and run, fixing and improving it as you go. If the Ford had the 3 speed I may have voted the other way.
If I had money, I’d tell you what I’d do…Well, I’ll take the Merc mainly due to overall condition and a grand less. It does look like someone has been really taking care of this one for a while.
The Ford does have that interior which is pretty sweet but the outside kind of ruins it. Merc FTW and free spackle! Cool old cars.
And have a great trip!
The very concept of 2spd autos confuses and upsets me.
The 2-door Mercury grabbed me, and it must’ve grabbed someone else too because the listing is gone. The Fairlane name is a little overplayed (the Galaxy has my attention), but the more I look at this car, the better it looks. Nice V8, and I love those taillights. Maybe not my #1 choice for a $5k classic, but it’s pretty good nonetheless.
I kinda like the Merc. I think that the extra bits of chrome flair work well here, as well as the 2-door styling. Both of those things, along with the floor mounted stick, will make up for the (likely) modest bump in power that the 8 would offer.
I’ll take the Mercury readymade daily-driver. No sense going faster than your brakes can handle anyway.
This one had me digging for my old Billy Dwayne and the Creepers recording, “Ford Fairlane 500.” Rockabilly rules.
Good choices both, but went with the inline 6.
I like the Mercury for its simplicity. I think that’s a can of damp-rid on the seats, not spackle.
Do the little ornaments on the Mercury’s front fenders light up like turn signal repeaters? It’s a bit ornate for me, but rather funky: I like it. And, since I’ve realized I don’t need massive power in an old classic just to cruise, I voted for the manual 6 over a v8 2-slush.
Sadly they do not illuminate. They are purely ornamental.
Well, futz. I like repeaters: once turned around 2 blocks into a test drive and bought a Satellite on the spot solely because of the repeaters 🙂
Fairlane has a vee-eight, automatic, nicer patina and sweeter interior so that’s my choice!
It’s not a sailboat, it’s just a bunch of floating shapes. …in the movie that is. You just have to pause YouTube then relax your eyes.
That Meteor is just begging for a pushrod 5.0 with an alphabet cam, a T-5, and an 8.8 rear end. It has my vote.
I chose the blue car with 4 doors. It even has red under the hood 😀
Pick the one with the neat-o ka-pow-wee ray gun tail! (The Merc) Much more interesting for a non-performance or era-pinnacle car.
At least you’re more likely to get someone interested in “That car that looks like a Fallout car” more readily than the anodyne late-50/early-60s Fairlane tail.
Tough decision. On one level, they are the same car. But I’ve owned that 170 enough times to know I don’t like it (I grew up with the falcon version of that van from yesterday’s Cold Start, it had a 170, it eats water pumps and I always hated the cast intake – not much you can do with that). But a two speed auto? Meh. And the Mercury is a 2-door hard top. The Fairlane seems to have a better interior and possibly less rust. I’m gonna go with both, and put the good bits in whichever one has accumulated the least overall entropy.
Could have voted either way; went with the Mercury. Price, rarer chrome, fully running edged out the other option. Not afraid of fixing the brakes on the Ford – probably would replace the single reservoir master cylinder with dual reservoir anyway.
Well, there’s not a bad choice here, but I like the patina and I have a family, so I’ll have the crew cab V8.
Since the Mercury seems to have a dampness issue I’ll go with the Fairlane. Both cars are a good deal on the coolness per dollar scale.
While the price is perhaps a bit too high for it to be a “both” scenario, it is definitely an “either” for me. Both have a lot going for them, and while I absolutely love the Fairlane, those sweet taillights have me voting for the Mercury today.
One has too many doors, the other not enough cylinders. You can change an engine but you can’t delete doors. Also the Mercury has a really nice backend.
I’ll take the Fairlane. Better patina, nicer interior, and V8 are worth a lot more than $400 to me.
The Fairlane has a lot going for it, but look at those taillights on the Meteor! The Mercury got my vote.
That is a bead style air-freshener from the dollar store on the seat of that Mercury and yes it had a column shifter originally, you can seen the nub where the handle goes.
I’m sure it got pretty sloppy at one point and rather than repair things someone thought it was easier to put in a floor shifter. The shift levers were plain steel as were the shift rods with no sort of bushing between them. It didn’t take long once they were getting lubbed regularly until the holes in the levers turned into slots and it would get really hard to find the right gear. Of course the floor shifter didn’t fix all the problems since the worn out holes on the levers were probably left alone.
I thought the container is a dececant for moisture control. Didn’t know air fresheners came in this size lol
Could be either but both ways it likely means that they are trying to cover up some funkyness in there.
Moisture absorber, not spackle, but despite that still the one I want.
Hopefully it does not have serious musty issues – have to check the floors to ensure no pad or carpet rot. Definitely a moisture trap and not spackle – I have one in my garage in NC for summer months because insane humidity.