1967 Mercury Comet 202 2-door sedan
| February 20, 2007
Our car is a 1967 Mercury Comet 202 2-door sedan, originally factory equipped with the R-Code 427 dual 4-barrel 425 horsepower engine, connected to a big-spline heavy-duty close ratio top-loader 4-speed transmission, with a 3.89 ratio nodular case 31 spline 9 inch axle. Exterior color is polar white with a blue cloth and vinyl bench seat interior.
The car was originally purchased from Strickland Motors in Indianapolis, Indiana in March of 1967. The original owner, who we were able to locate, confirmed that he street raced it occasionally, but fortunately did not cut or modify the car. After a little over 19,000 miles he parked the car for several years. In 1992 Roger Holdaway in Orange, California, purchased the car. He performed a ground-up rotisserie restoration on this original numbers matching car. All mechanicals were gone through, with the engine rebuild being performed by Louis Unser of the Unser brothers racing family, and the transmission and rear axle rebuild by Art Chrisman. We purchased the car from Mr. Holdaway in August of 1999.
1967 was the only year in which Mercury installed the 427 in the Comet. Factory documentation confirms that only 60 cars were built with this option. Body styles included the 202 sedan, Capri, Caliente and Cyclone. Records indicate that only twenty-two 202 sedans were equipped with the 427 engine. To date, only 8 of these sedans have been found to still exist.
At the Carlisle All-Ford Nationals in June of 2000, our car was selected as one of the special invitational indoor display vehicles, and in 2002, at this same event, in addition to winning in class, was chosen by special guest celebrity “Dyno Don” Nicholson as his celebrity pick from the approximately 2200 vehicles on the show field. In 2004, the Comet was once again chosen for the special invitational indoor display. In 2005, it won first place in it's class on the showfield. In 2006, it appeared as one of the special display vehicles honoring the 40th anniversary of the 1966-1967 427 Fairlanes and Comets.
At the inaugural York US 30 Musclecar Madness event in July of 2002, our car was also selected as one of the special invitational indoor display vehicles and was voted as one of the top three factory musclecars out of an elite group of 120 pristine examples. It was again selected as an indoor display vehicle in 2003, 2004, 2005, and again in 2006 .
The car was also selected as one of an elite group of 75 classic American musclecars that appeared at the Forge Musclecar Show held in October 2005 at the Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville Tennessee.
Over the past few years, the car has also won several "Best of Show " awards at area all Ford events including: Bob Bell Ford in Glen Burnie, Md., Maryland International Raceway in Potomac, Md., Hoffman Ford Land in Harrisburg, PA., Waldorf Ford in Waldorf, Md., the Fairlane Club of America meet in Hummelstown, PA., the Comet Club East meet at Carlisle, PA., Shenandoah Ford in Front Royal, VA.and Feb. 2007 placed First at the Classic, Collector Car Showcase in Ocean City Maryland.
The car has been featured in several prominent publications, including: Car Craft magazine, Collectible Automobile magazine, Super Ford magazine, and Musclecar Enthusiast Magazine, as well as three hardback books entitled Musclecar: American Thunder, Cars of the Sizzling ‘60's and Kings of the Street: American Muscle Cars. The car was most recently photographed during the 2005 Carlisle All-Ford Nationals for inclusion as a feature vehicle in Mustang & Fords Magazine, April 2006 Issue.