My Mercury Comet: The Best Vehicle Ever Owned

It was 1972 and my family was in need of a new car. Our white tank of an Oldsmobile Station Wagon was on its last wheels and we were heading west from New York, to resettle in Southern California.

I was fourteen years old. It was the height of rock and roll, bell bottoms, and Watergate. My parents were used to living on a modest budget and took great care before making any major purchase. We’d never owned a new vehicle. My father always took care of our family car. Nothing was ever taken for granted or left to chance.

I was afforded the privilege of automobile hunting with him. I loved the smell of the new cars that gleamed like trophies in the weekend sunlight. My disappointment was impossible to hide when we returned home with a shiny brochure rather than the sporty, blue and white, two-door Mercury Comet that I had fallen in love with.

What if they sold it before my father made up his mind?

In fact, they did! Two days later when Dad purchased the four-door, more ‘practical’, less sporty, version of the Mercury Comet, I still found it difficult to hide my disenchantment.

My father, of course, was right! The four-doors turned out to be the perfect choice for our family! When we traveled cross-country a year later anything smaller would have been unsuitable.

The Mercury Comet was a fantastic car, heavy, comfortable, reliable and sporty! I learned to drive in that car. My family enjoyed the car for almost 15 years before it was totaled when our neighbor backed into it from his drive. Thankfully nobody was injured. The car was not only heavy, the sides were reinforced.

Fast forward to 1989…my three little boys entering school and playing soccer. Our neighbor was selling his chocolate brown (1972) four-door Mercury Comet! I purchased the car for a thousand dollars, very likely the wisest car purchase I ever made. My Comet remains to this day my best car. It was safe, dependable, and powerful!

Not only did I have the luxury of riding in the car, I was afforded the privilege of eventually owning one. Twenty years later, I occasionally see a Mercury Comet cruising past on the freeway and I am reminded of my Mercury, the best vehicle I ever owned!


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