For 1966, the Mercury Comet graduated from senior-compact status to the intermediate category, as we learn in this low-key marketing pitch.
This marketing campaign for the 1966 Mercury Comet is almost a throwback to simpler times in the Detroit auto industry. There’s no singing or dancing, no special effects, not even a musical theme. There’s only a narrator with a straightforward description of the product, including the important details. Mercury’s print materials for the ’66 Comet adopted a similar tone, dispensing with the usual razmatazz. The closest they came to hyperbole was this modest top line: “For 1966: The big, new-generation Comets.” Every once in a while, the ad men throw us a curve.
The Comet was indeed bigger for 1966, as the little Mercury made the transition from its ’64-’65 senior-compact status to the intermediate category, sharing its platform with the Ford Fairlane and Falcon, also upsized that year. There were now four trim levels (202, Capri, Caliente, and Cyclone) and a full roster of FoMoCo powerplants, including the 200 cubic-inch inline six and the 289 and 390 cubic-inch V8s. Not mentioned here is the monster 427 cubic-inch R-code V8, though it seems a handful were built. The new, bigger Comet was a respectable seller for the Lincoln-Mercury Division at around 170,000 units, representing half the Mercury brand’s volume for ’66. Check out the low-key sales pitch below.
IMHO, the 66 and 67 Comet and Fairlane were the best looking styles to come out of the Ford stables in a while. Even now, the design is still fresh and not dated. My only beef with them, and it’s with all of Ford’s intermediate models, is the spring on top of the upper A arm suspension, greatly reducing the width of the engine compartment. If they had of used the same design the full sized Ford cars and most of the GM lineup as well, swapping to larger engines would have been simple, as well as improved ability to service the smaller V8’s.