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The Mercury Comet was an Automobile produced by the Mercury division of the Ford Motor Company between 1960 and 1977 . Changes in its design and its marketing strategy resulted in the Comet as being either classified as a compact or intermediate sized car during the seventeen years that the Comet name was used. The Comet was an outgrowth of the compact Ford Falcon . Because it was marketed through Mercury, Comets received better grade interior trim details than concurrent Falcons, and a slightly longer wheelbase. RELATIONSHIP TO THE ILL-FATED EDSEL Originally planned as an Edsel model, the Comet was not officially a Mercury until 1962, and was simply marketed in 1960 and 1961 as the ''Comet''. Developed concurrently with the Ford Falcon, early preproduction photographs of sedan show a car remarkably close to the Comet that emerged, but with a split grille following the pattern established by Edsel models. Early Ford styling mules for the station wagon model carried the Edsel name as well. When the cars were released, the split grille was replaced by one more in keeping with Mercury's design themes. However the canted elliptical taillights, first seen on the Edsel prototype, were used and carried the "E" (Edsel) part number on them. While the short lived 1960 Edsels used elliptical shaped taillights, the lenses used on both cars differed in length and width. 1960-1969 From 1960 to 1964 , the Comet was based on a stretched Ford Falcon platform. For 1962 and 1963, it shared a considerable number of body and mechanical parts with the short-lived Mercury Meteor intermediate. From 1965 to 1969 , it was based on the Ford Fairlane intermediate, although the Comet received distinct outer body panels. Comets of the mid-1960s were available with Ford's highest performance Muscle Car engines of the day. During this era the performance version was known as the Cyclone, while the luxury variant was the '''Caliente'''. Lower trim versions were known as the '''202''' and '''404'''. Station Wagon s and Convertible s also were produced in the mid-1960s; the top-line wagon was known as the '''Villager''', and a '''Cyclone GT''' convertible was the Pace Car for the 1966 Indianapolis 500 . In 1964 , Ford produced about 50 ultra-high performance lightweight Comet Cyclones, equipped with their racing two carburetor 427 engine, similar to their cousin, the Ford Thunderbolt . In order not to compete with each other, the Thunderbolts ran in Super Stock on 7 in tires, but the Cyclones were modified to run in A/FX on 10 in tires, where they were as dominant as the Thunderbolts were in Super Stock. For 1968 and 1969, the Comet name was eclipsed by the new Mercury Montego , a variant of the also-new Ford Torino , replacing the Ford Fairlane. The Comet name was then relegated to low-line models. 1971-1977 There was no Comet for 1970, although the Cyclone continued through 1971 as a Montego model. For 1971 , the Comet name was revived for Mercury's version of the Ford Maverick compact. Only coupes and sedans were produced. This version was available through the 1977 model year, and was then discontinued to make room for the new Mercury Zephyr . EXTERNAL LINKS
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