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mazdeuce
mazdeuce Dork
6/19/13 7:23 p.m.

My father in law pulled out the '48 Chevy pickup and took the kids and I to a local cruise in last night. There were the usual 32 based hot rods and some Chevelles and a really cool 60's Ford van/truck thing, the usual stuff. The one car that blew my mind though was the Mercury Bobcat that pulled up when I was getting the kids some food. By the time I could get to it the owner had disappeared in the sea of anonymous gray haired car guys and no amount of lurking about his car could induce him to come out of hiding. I took a couple of pictures but I'm at my in-laws with no way to upload them. It was such an unexpected car that I just had to share it with you nut jobs.

Toyman01
Toyman01 PowerDork
6/19/13 8:25 p.m.

I had a Pinto many, many years ago. It's one of the cars I regret selling. Most of them have returned to dust or been turned into drag cars. I troll Craigslist on occasion looking for one.

ebonyandivory
ebonyandivory HalfDork
6/19/13 8:31 p.m.

We had a Mercury Bobcat when I was a kid, silver with wood grain and I maroon interior.

I loved it! Traded it in on a new Fairmont wagon. I miss that car too!

Knurled
Knurled UberDork
6/19/13 8:45 p.m.

And you tell someone from 1980 that in 23 years we'd be nostalgic about Bobcats and Fairmonts...

ebonyandivory
ebonyandivory HalfDork
6/19/13 8:49 p.m.
Knurled wrote: And you tell someone from 1980 that in 23 years we'd be nostalgic about Bobcats and Fairmonts...

Actually 33 years! I'm getting old!

Toyman01
Toyman01 PowerDork
6/19/13 8:50 p.m.

I had a 78 Fairmont too. Another POS I wish I still had. That's it, I'm never selling another car.

ebonyandivory
ebonyandivory HalfDork
6/19/13 8:56 p.m.

As a kid, I worked at a grain/feed store with a tiny JY next door... Guy had a mint dark blue Pinto 2.0, I stared at that car way longer and more often than any normal boy.

jpaturzo
jpaturzo Reader
6/19/13 9:05 p.m.

Here's mine the day it came home. It has the added distinction of having been re-painted by Ray Charles.

Knurled
Knurled UberDork
6/19/13 9:10 p.m.
ebonyandivory wrote:
Knurled wrote: And you tell someone from 1980 that in 23 years we'd be nostalgic about Bobcats and Fairmonts...
Actually 33 years! I'm getting old!

I was born in 1978, so... minus this, carry the one... No, pretty sure 1980 was 23 years ago

mazdeuce
mazdeuce Dork
6/19/13 9:20 p.m.

In reply to jpaturzo:

That's the car, except the one I saw was black. Had a four speed and plaid inserts on the seats too. It's not so much that Pinto's are awesome, it's that somebody actually went out and decided that they wanted a Bobcat instead of a Pinto and then somehow loved the car enough to actually keep it in fantastic condition. The first Pinto I ever saw in my life that wasn't rusty is one that a guy rallycrosses here in Texas. As a kid in Michigan, born in '75, every Pinto ever was rusty. Hell, by the time I could drive they were nonexistent.

ebonyandivory
ebonyandivory HalfDork
6/19/13 9:21 p.m.
Knurled wrote:
ebonyandivory wrote:
Knurled wrote: And you tell someone from 1980 that in 23 years we'd be nostalgic about Bobcats and Fairmonts...
Actually 33 years! I'm getting old!
I was born in 1978, so... minus this, carry the one... No, pretty sure 1980 was 23 years ago

Hmmm, I thought 1980 + 33 = 2013. If you were born in 1978 that makes you how old? 34? 35?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your math but my calculator says a car built in 1980 is 33 years old.

gamby
gamby UltimaDork
6/19/13 9:56 p.m.

The joke being that the poster would rather think of himself as 23 rather than 33.

I'd love to see a Bobcat turn up at a cruise night. That's much more interesting than the usual cliche assortment of American muscle that is de rigeur for every cruise night.

ebonyandivory
ebonyandivory HalfDork
6/19/13 10:04 p.m.
gamby wrote: The joke being that the poster would rather think of himself as 23 rather than 33.

I don't see that. I don't see where anyone is talking about being 23 OR 33. I believe he's 34 but whatever, this is about Mercury Bobcats!

Klayfish
Klayfish SuperDork
6/20/13 6:29 a.m.

There's a Pinto/Bobcat that runs in east coast LeMons races. I've never looked close enough to see if it's a Pinto or a Bobcat with a Pinto grille. I believe it's Bobcat, because didn't the Pinto have round headlights?

HappyJack
HappyJack Reader
6/20/13 6:46 a.m.
Klayfish wrote: There's a Pinto/Bobcat that runs in east coast LeMons races. I've never looked close enough to see if it's a Pinto or a Bobcat with a Pinto grille. I believe it's Bobcat, because didn't the Pinto have round headlights?

Pintos came with square headlights in later years. The car in the picture is a Pinto. You can tell because you can see the 4 letters across the hood that say Ford. A Bobcat has 7 letters across the hood saying Mercury.

Hasbro
Hasbro Dork
6/20/13 7:01 a.m.

I remember this ad and "Love that Bobcat"

http://mercury-bobcat.purzuit.com/video/fQeG_C1-JIA.html

Alan Cesar
Alan Cesar Associate Editor
6/20/13 7:32 a.m.

Here's an actual Bobcat that runs LeMons races in the MidWest. Team Skidsteer.

shadetree30
shadetree30 Reader
6/20/13 11:59 a.m.

I will confess to once working at a Ford/Mercury dealer back in the day and actually selling a couple of the little dears...

BTW, managed to aquire a Pantera...service manual!

Streetwiseguy
Streetwiseguy UltraDork
6/20/13 12:49 p.m.

I've only seen one, but you could buy a Bobcat with a 2.8 V6 towards the end of their run.

Only seen one diesel Tempo, too.

ultraclyde
ultraclyde Dork
6/20/13 1:18 p.m.
Alan Cesar wrote: Here's an actual Bobcat that runs LeMons races in the MidWest. Team Skidsteer.

Hah! Because Bobcat!

Alan Cesar
Alan Cesar Associate Editor
6/20/13 2:37 p.m.

In reply to ultraclyde:

Yep!

16vCorey
16vCorey PowerDork
6/20/13 5:00 p.m.

When I was five or six we had a turd brown '81 Pinto 5 speed wagon, for about six months when the transmission went out. That was probably in '83 or '84. It pretty much looked like this, but not as nice:

mndsm
mndsm PowerDork
6/20/13 5:53 p.m.

My father and his second wife had one of those lovely pinto wagons in the early 80's. I remember two things about that car. It gets FAR higher up the side of a highway embankment than it should, and it will NOT out crash a mid 70's Plymouth with cop crash bars on the front. These were actually separate incidents.

1988RedT2
1988RedT2 UberDork
6/21/13 11:57 a.m.

I think it's funny that no matter how big a POS a car was back in the day, 30 years later people will wax nostalgic about how wonderful they are.

I am still of relatively sound mind, and I still can recall driving one and do not have anything positive to say about the Pinto/Bobcat, other than they look kinda cute nowadays.

Maybe in another 20 years or so I'll be sufficiently demented to think that they were great cars.

Swank Force One
Swank Force One MegaDork
6/21/13 11:59 a.m.

Is this better or worse than the fact that i REALLY want a Maverick or a 73 Impala?

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