Wild Colors: 1975 Mercury Bobcat Survivor
Mercury was a latecomer to the subcompact market in the 1970s. Perhaps because they already had two smaller cars, the Comet (a Maverick clone) and the sporty, imported Capri. Or maybe because the market changed quickly once gasoline prices soared in 1973 thanks to the OPEC oil embargo. In any event, the Bobcat was born in 1974 as a dressed-up Ford Pinto. This 1975 edition looks to be in good condition and has a V6 engine to give it some pep. Located in Minnetonka, Minnesota, the little car is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $8,500.
For its first year, the Bobcat was only sold in Canada, so the cars didn’t make it to the U.S. until 1975. Unlike the Pinto, the Bobcat wasn’t offered as a 2-door sedan with a separate trunk, so buyers got to choose between a hatchback and a wagon. While the inline-4 would be popular in both the Pinto and Bobcat, a fair number of Bobcats had the 170 cubic inch V6 producing just under 100 hp like in the seller’s car. Both cars were discontinued after 1980 to make way for their replacements, which would be the Lynx in Bobcat’s case. Sales of the Bobcat paled compared to the Pinto: 224,000 Bobcats in six years vs. more than three million Pinto’s over the whole decade.
The seller tells us it took him five years to find this particular car because he wanted one that was orange inside and out with a white vinyl top (apparently those were rare). He has a copy of the Marti Report for this car that verifies it has a lot of options, like the motor, automatic transmission, and other goodies. Since owning the Mercury, which has just 67,000 miles, he had the tranny rebuilt. While the paint job may be original, and we’re told it’s only in average condition, though in the limited photos it looks better than that.
We’re told the reason for the car being up for sale is that the seller simply doesn’t drive it enough as he has several other vehicles at his disposal. The asking price is firm although we’re told the seller would consider a trade for an old Harley Davidson or Indian motorcycle. In checking the internet, the top resale value on one of these cars is about $8,000, or around what the seller is looking to realize here.
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Comments
This is cool. Russ is right, “Wild Colors.” The orange/white/and also black theme is extremely eye-catching. Add to that the “I had one of those, well it was a Pinto, just like this, only __________ ” reactions and conversation, no chance you could just slink into the background at Cars & Coffee. Car looks very good. Lots of straightforward fun here.
When I hear oil embargo my conspiracy theory 20/20 hindsight goes into overdrive.
Huh. Never noticed way back then that some of those Pintos only had just a trunk lid. Thought every one was a hatch, and that in later years the glass just got bigger.
I don’t recall seeing any with a trunk either and that includes during the years that I worked in a Ford dealership Parts Department. I still have parts catalogs covering those years but they are on microfiche and both they and my viewer are in storage across town so I am not going to verify this.
My parents had a Pinto with a trunk rather than a hatch. I’m not sure why they opted for that configuration. They came to refer to the trunk opening as a “letter slot”. The rear seat didn’t even fold to accommodate things like my guitar case.
My ‘80 Pinto had a trunk, the 2 door was available in 3 configurations, trunk, framed hatch, and starting in ‘77, an all glass hatch.
Yup, and when you open the ones with the bigger glass rear window, it’s all glass – BIG GLASS with a little handle to pull up on it! Almost bought one for parts once when I owned a Bobcat with the smaller hatch window.
You folks weren’t paying attention back in the day. Ford built a LOT of Pinto 2-door sedans, including nearly 300,000 in 1971.
If you want a Bobcat, this one checks all the boxes! As a period piece, it rules.
There is ONE box didn’t get checked,,, A/C
And the award for the lamest trollers comment ever penned goes too, you fine sir.
Feck AC. Smmfh.
@Martinsane, Do you live in the Arctic? A/C can be vital in some areas
The V-6 makes me want this car. I was unaware that the Bobcat hatchback also got a V6. I thought only some Pinto and Bobcat wagons got that motor.
I’ve owed several Pintos, and my ‘80 was this color, called “bright bittersweet”. I have read a lot of comments about the V-6 only being available in the wagon. I had a ‘75 hatchback with that motor, and only saw one other one, so they were few and far between. Unfortunately, you couldn’t get the manual transmission with the 6. This is a sweet ride, and not too far from me, priced a little to steep though.
Looks like a nice car, I do question why the tranny would need to be rebuilt with only 67k on it. Somebody will buy it.
I had a 75 Bobcat V6. Be careful what you wish for. The engine was fine, but it made the front to rear weight ratio terrible. Anything more than a moderate stop and the back end would lock up and it would switch ends on you. Even adding a proportioning valve didn’t solve it. I finally ended up plugging the rear lines which ended that, but I still did not trust it.
BTW, mine was this same paint scheme in lime green metallic. Ugly AF.
The reviews of the day said that the V6 engine didn’t really add enough horsepower to be worth the liability in having to accept significantly lower gas mileage and nonavailability of a manual transmission, especially once Ford started putting the 2.3l engine in these cars. Must be why Ford didn’t sell very many of them.
I somehow ended up with one of these (exact same color and options) stuck in my front lawn. 1.5″ of snow and the little girl lost it and ended up as a lawn ornament fora few hours.
Being in the vehicle repair business back then, the only transmissions we swapped out (we had an exchange program with a local rebuilder) were the autos in V6 Pintos, Mustang IIs and the Mercury versions of the same. (C3s?) They once sent over a transmission that had a 4 cylinder torque converter. The customer came back complaining that the transmission was slipping. I still remember matting the go pedal and nothing happening until the tach registered 2500 and the Mustang II spun the tires a bit and took off like a jet! (notice I did not say like a rocket.) It was my first experience with a high RPM lock-up converter. When the customer experienced this, he decided to keep it the way it was.
I dated my first wife and as newlyweds in my 1980 Mercury Bobcat when I was in the Army and she was in the Air Force. We drove all our West Germany and to Luxembourg, Belgium and France border cities when we had time off on weekends. So I have a softspot for the Pinto clone. The orange and white color combination is striking especially when looking around a modern parking lot full of silver, gray and black SUVs. I would want an automatic transmission like I had back in my day. An excellent Barn Find and brings back great memories.
The guy is a nut that owns it. I sent him a message to see if it has a/c and he didn’t know and thought it was a odd question to ask for a car. Claimed to have owned 20 collector cars and no one asked about a/c. Then started to send me pictures of cars that are probably not even his, they look like from car shows and telling me which one had a/c, that he never used. Listed for 3 weeks now. I can guess why now it hasn’t sold, idiot owner. Everyone should message him and ask him if it has a/c till someone gets a answer.
Listed 3 weeks ago.
This car does not have A/C.
Funny how the owner of it has no memory of if it had a/c or not.
What’s with the steering wheel? It looks almost completely upside down…Otherwise, I think it’s a cute little car
Probably just parked with the wheels pointing not quite straight ahead. But yeah, that steering wheel is in the upside-down position.
Not to worry. As soon as someone gets in and begins to drive off they’ll need to turn the wheel 180 degrees. Then everything will be back to normal.
2.8 V-6 was nearly 200 lbs heavier (all over the front end), got about 4 MPG worse, and only added 14 horses over the 2.3 I4. Nice example but there’s a good reason why they’re rare in this configuration.
love the slotted mags !!!!