The Durability Champ – 1965 Mercury Comet
How the 1965 Mercury Comet Caliente proved itself.
If you were to ask any “car guy” or “car gal” what was the most durable new car in 1965, what would be their answer? Would the response be Mercedes-Benz, knowing how sturdy they are today? How about the Model T of the time, the Volkswagen Beetle? Or perhaps one might say Cadillac, the “Standard of the World.” It’s doubtful anyone would suggest the Mercury Comet. However, that’s the answer, or at least the answer the Ford Motor Co. would have you believe after conducting and publicizing some remarkable endurance stunts on those cars during the mid 1960s.
Having been born at the tail end of the baby boom, I was not aware of the Comet’s “built-in ruggedness” reputation. Instead, I came across this information leafing through Life magazines from 1965 that a club member had given me. In one issue was a Mercury Comet advertisement describing how the cars drove 16,247 miles from Cape Horn in Argentina to Fairbanks, AK, in just 40 days. Another ad proclaimed the Comets were driven “…from the bottom to the top of the world.” Both ads included information on how to get a free 16-page, full-color booklet detailing this epic endeavor. I quickly got on the internet and found several of these booklets available to purchase.
The booklets describe how Mercury took three of the 159,000-plus Comets built for 1965 off the factory floor and sent them to the southern tip of South America to attempt this ambitious stunt. White-and-red racing stripes were added to the three Aquamarine two-door hardtops, as was a map on each door that showed the planned route. Flags of each of the 14 nations visited were stickered or painted on the front fenders. The only modifications to the Mercurys were the additions of auxiliary gas tanks and two-way radios. All other aspects of the cars, including their 200-hp 289-cid V-8s with factory air conditioning, were stock.
The Comet was being marketed to the durability crowd even prior to 1965. Of the 94 cars that entered the East African Safari Road Rally (passing through Kenya, Ugand, and Tanzania) in March 1964, just 21 cars finished, and two were Mercury Comets. Then, in the fall of 1964, Lincoln-Mercury ran a Comet around the Daytona Speedway for 40 days and nights, only stopping to change drivers every two hours. The car ran an average of 105 mph and clocked 100,000 trouble-free miles!
To complete the Cape Horn-to-Fairbanks feat in a timely manner, cars were each assigned four drivers. The drivers were commonly pictured in their “ready gear” of red jackets and white-striped slacks. One man drove the car, another slept on the (stock) back seat, and the remaining pair were flown ahead to take the reins when the time came.
The 1965 Comets traveled through 14 countries, interestingly crossing into Chile and Argentina two times each at the start. Only twice during the 40-day trip were the roads impassable. One detour was due to heavy snow while crossing the Andes. The cars were taken by railroad to the next open piece of road just 3 miles away. In Colombia, drivers faced an impenetrable jungle. The cars were ferried by plane 300 miles over it. The factory-built Comets overcame snow, 110-degree heat, tropical rain, swamps, mud, wind and high-elevation mountain ascents and descents to complete the heroic trip.
Whether intentional or not, Mercury’s 1960s“Journey from the bottom to the top of the world” had many similarities to the 1908 New York-to-Paris race. Both events were established to prove vehicle endurance and reliability. Both events traveled through numerous countries (14 for Mercury, 5 or 6 for the New York-to-Paris trip, depending on the route), and traversed thousands of miles through a vast range of weather conditions (16,247 for Mercury and approximately 13,000 by land and 8,000 by sea for the winning Thomas Flyer). In both events, the drivers were treated as celebrities and were greeted by local dignitaries along the way.
Organizers of both events envisioned a time when these routes they trailblazed would be commonplace. Although it is unlikely any contemporary driver is going to motor from New York to Paris via Siberia, as done in 1908, it’s not uncommon that adventurous folks today drive from one end of the American continents to the other.
It certainly seems like the Comets proved their durability, although I would argue more 1965 Mercedes-Benzes, Beetles and Cadillacs than Mercury Comets live on today, as Comets are rarely seen. But, of course, Comets had less financial value than those aforementioned luxury cars, and lower production than the VW, so it’s easy to understand how fewer survived.
Next time you see a 1965 Mercury Comet Caliente, know it is not just a survivor, but it comes from a bloodline of endurance champions.
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