Okay, so it’s lowered just a bit. It still looks like Grandma Anne’s Mercury wagon has just seen the light of day after sitting in the garage ever since she stopped driving in 1991. Cream colored paint, tan interior, road trip stickers, a roof rack that wasn’t gonna hold jack squat and chintzy wheel covers…there was a Zephyr, Fairmont or LTD wagon just like this in every town I ever lived in growing up. Commonplace? Try ubiquitous…they really were everywhere for a long time, right down to the 3.3L inline six and C-4 automatic transmission.
Except that simply isn’t the case here. This Mercury is one of the sweetest sleepers we’ve seen in a while, simply because if it weren’t for the B&M Pro Stick, two auxiliary gauges, seriously wider rubber, and 302 V8 under the hood, you’d never know what hit you. And even where there is a modification, everything except the gauges and shifter is hidden under a stock veneer. Would you have noticed the tires if I didn’t point them out? Probably not. You might miss other interesting bits, like the line-lock that uses the column automatic shifter to work, or that the 302 looks dead-on stock, just polished up and pretty? Whoever built this car, kudos…it’s fantastic so long as it ain’t running. Because once the key turns, the ruse is completely up, cutouts opened or closed. Nobody is buying the sleeper trick after that.
Craigslist Link: 1978 Mercury Zephyr station wagon
(Courtesy: Bring A Trailer)
This could be a lethal weapon!
Imagine it sneaking up on the local hot shoe in his clapped-out Chevy. He sees this Mom and Pop station wagon in his rear view mirror and speeds up. Then the wagon speeds up – so Dumbo in his Chevy speeds up again just as he approaches a tight bend with a sheer drop to a rocky river valley. His last sight as he launches himself and his Chevy into the void is the rear of the station wagon with a scream of unhinged laughter drifting in its slipstream..
Were you raped in a Chevy at some point in your childhood? Fords are awesome, Chevrolets fucking rock, not much can keep up with a Mopar, they are all more or less the same (especially when they break), whats with the animosity?
My parents had a ’78 Zephyr Wagon “Villager” with the wood-grain down the side. Even as a kid, there was tis weird side of me that wanted to pull the old 6, and drop in a big screaming engine. Car guys will hot rod anything and today, “anything” is a really broad term! Love it!
I like everything about the wagon except the C4. Need to ditch it for an AOD. Driving on the highway with a 4.10 sucks! Been down the road.
Awesome sleeper but that cam is going to blow your cover! Thumbs up!