As we’ve noted before, the Detroit automakers weren’t quite sure how to market the first wave of compact cars for their introductions to the American car-buying public in 1960. Should they be included in the existing brand lineups, like the Chevy Corvair, or presented as stand-alone models, as Chrysler did with the Valiant? (See our feature on the Valiant’s origins here.)
With the Comet, the Ford Motor Company had an especially complicated decision on its hands. By the time the Comet was introduced on March 17, 1960, its parent division Edsel was no longer in existence, as Ford had pulled the plug on the troubled brand the previous November. So the Edsel badging was hastily stripped away and for the first two years in production, 1960 and 1961, the Comet was sold through Ford’s Lincoln-Mercury dealer network, but positioned as a separate, stand-alone brand.
The Comet’s Edsel DNA is blatantly evident in its tail fins and giant diagonal tail lamps, which were more than flamboyant for a car of the modest compact class, and in the instrument panel, which closely mimicked the cluster in the ’59 Edsel. There’s also something funny going on with the Comet’s stylized door and ignition key set (above). Hmm, is that a C or an E? In most other ways the Comet was an upmarket version of the Ford Falcon, with a more formal roofline, a longer wheelbase (114 vs. 109.5 inches for the sedans; wagons shared the short 109.5-in wb) and fancier trim and interior materials. Under the hood was the same 144 cubic-inch inline six that powered the Falcon, sporting all of 90 horsepower.
Despite the somewhat ad hoc rollout, the Comet did remarkably well in its first year with more than 115,000 vehicles sold, and even better in 1961 with nearly 200,000 units delivered. For 1962 the Comet officially became a Mercury product, and the Comet name would remain in the Mercury lineup through 1977.
