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1964 MERCURY COMET |
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A neighbor who lives in the next street has had a 1964 Mercury Comet sitting in his yard for at
least fifteen years. I once asked if he had thought of selling the car, but he wasn't ready. The car
spent another eleven years in limbo, but I never said any more to him about the Comet.
In July of 2016, we were chatting and he suddenly said, "You once asked about that Comet. I want to
do some work in the yard and need to get rid of it. Do you still want it?"
There's much more to the '64 Comet story, however. It was in July of 1964, that we purchased one-way
passage aboard the SS United States to sail for Europe. We had already sold our nice 1950 Oldsmobile
Rocket 88 when my wife's brother decided to get married on July 4th. A member of our church had just
purchased a new Mercury Comet and heard of our dilemma. He offered us the use of his car for the 800-mile
round trip to Meadville, PA.
We really liked the car and my wife said, "I hope we can get a car like this some day." My brother Dan
bought a 1965 Comet Cyclone the following year and still claims that it was his all-time favorite car.
Thirteen years later, we flew back to America to visit friends and family for two months. Renting a
car was too expensive for our budget, so I went to the Ford dealer in my home town and checked out
the cars on his lot. A 1964 Mercury Comet in excellent condition stared back and said, "Buy me!" The
price was right and the Comet served us well. We even got the purchase price back when we returned to
Europe in September of 1977.
On June 19, 2009, I wrote a blog about Rachel Veitch and a 1964 Comet that she purchased new
http://rvharvey.com/2009blogs.htm.
Both are now famous in
the automobile world. Rachel has been on the Jay Leno show and, with almost 600,000 miles on the
odometer, the Comet has also been in some of America's greatest car shows. If Rachel is still alive
today, she would be 97, but in 2012, her doctor told her that she could no longer drive due to poor
eyesight. I think I recall hearing that the Comet is now in a museum but I don't know where. There
are videos on YouTube of Rachel Veitch and her Comet.
As much as I would like to have restored and driven that car, I had to pass.
That kind of project takes more money, time and energy than I have
available. The car has since found a new owner.
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