The leading edge of Ford’s Fox platform was the Ford Fairmont/Mercury Zephyr twins. Replacing the Ford Maverick/Mercury Comet, they first appeared in two door sedan, four-door sedan and station wagon forms, but a few months after introduction Ford offered up a two-door coupe version of the Fairmont and Zephyr, known as Futura and Z-7, respectfully. The design was a study of a Fox-based Thunderbird that used a huge B-pillar and thin C-pillars to increase rearward visibility. This was the body style that Bob Glidden used to clean house with in 1978, and surprisingly enough, even though the flat face appears at first to have the drag ratio of a barn door up front, these cars are actually pretty slick aero-wise.
Forum member “bukshysteve” is kicking off a Bonneville build with this 1979 Mercury Zephyr Z-7 as the base car. After crewing on a friend’s car in 2008, he got the bug to try out the salt for himself and started collecting parts to turn the Mercury into something entertaining. Working with a no-expenses-spared 302-based 257ci build for an engine, the Z-7 is going to be built up for Blown/Classic Gas Coupe, “bukshysteve” will install a Doug Nash five-speed with a Ram clutch and a Ford nine-inch out back…after the Zephyr gets cleaned up and sandblasted. The build just got started, so check out the early progress!
Thread Link: 1979 Mercury Zephyr Bonneville Build
I like the neat approach to enhancing the aerodynamics in the leader photo – run the car upside down and simply slide through the air as slickly as snot on a doorknob….
Your history lesson above skips the Granada/Monarch years.
Completely different cars, nothing to do w/ Fairmont/Zephyr.
Kind of, sort of. Maverick/Comet and Granada/Monarch are near-twins. The Granada was meant to replace the Maverick, but since it sold well, both cars were sold alongside each other.
Any reason for forgetting the Granada can be blamed on my bias against them.
Looking further I see the Granada badge was indeed applied to Fox chassis cars in ’81-82 (guess I didn’t notice) so yep I’m technically incorrect about that.
I’d have rather driven an original Granada across the country than a Fairmont but that’s just me. Otherwise, yep the Fox rules.
Ha! I know Steve ! And it’s great to see him get some “digital ink” 🙂
Cheers!
James
Awesome!! I took my driver’s test in my mother’s Mercury Z7 in 1979!!
Can not believe I made the front page as so many project cars in this state are never finished. I have the complete drive train less drive shaft ready to go and this is on my bucket list and I think I can do it. If you think you can or if you think you can not you are probably right. (Henry Ford)
That car is not well suited for what you have planned. Send it to me, I know what to do with it.