My buddy calls me and says I have to get over to the junkyard, he says they just got a 72 comet in complete. He said I can pull anything I want but that someone already paid for the ford 9" in it and will be picking it up later. I said ok, so I go out to the car, look it over and start pulling parts. I pull the near perfect front grille with no cracks and perfect headlight bezels, I pull the new windshield that someone must of just had installed since the seal looked new. I also pulled the original AM radio which was real nice, hope it works. Along with minor stuff like the fender emblems, etc. I get ready to check out and the total price is 36$. Pretty good deal thanks to my buddy, which I now owe a steak dinner at outback steak house. So the next day I go back again. This time some guy is pulling the rear end out of the car. I said what ya got there buddy. He says hes pulling the 9" out and he already claimed it. I said "oh no problem, well you know thats not a 9" its an 8". He says no its not! and that comets only came with 9"s, he then had to go into how he had one when he was in high school and they all have ford 9"s. I just said ok, good luck with your find then. I told him I just wanted to check the trunk and wouldnt be moving the car too much while he was under it. I finally jimmied the trunk open and found myself 4 beautiful original mercury comet hub caps, pretty cool find although its something I wont be using, not sure if they are rare or not but I know I have never seen one before so I bought them. Well today I went back again, I wanted to pull off the power steering control valve and look the car over for more parts, anyhow my friend and I started talking about the comet and he said that guy took the rear end home then called them back wanting his money back because it wasnt a ford 9". He is claiming that the car owner must of switched out the rear ends at some point. My friend said the funny thing was that they sold it to him as an 8", lol. Oh well, it was a pretty good find for myself.
nice find. too bad for the other guy though. some people just gotta learn the hard way. I prefer to listen to others who have more experience than me . wish we had mavs/comets in the yards i've been to. maybe some day. anyways, real good score for a real good price. If the radio doesn't work i got one you could have. it works the only problem is one of the knobs is broken but you can't tell it till you take it off the radio. and you could probly replace it with the knobs off your new one.
I'd like to get the bumper off a 72! The one I found mysteriously increased in price when the owner was called and then the ad changed to reflect the adjusted price. Next the filler panel became a separate item for a separate price. Great find! Junkyard Comets are rare jewels. I used to have to wade through Mavericks to get to the Comets in the middle of the rows. That yard closed long enough to crush 90% of it's inventory and now it deals with 1980 and up. They don't make junkyards like they used to.
Unless it is a Shelby Comet, even more rare than the Shelby Maverick. I heard that all of those Shelby Comets came with a 9 inch standard. Optional were 10 inch and even more rare an 11 inch rear.
Great story and good scoop. I've learned over the years you cant argue with those type of guys. Even though you know they have as much smarts as you do in your little toe. I do what you did and give up after the first attempt. Just agree and walk away shaking my head. It used to bother me but now its just funny. You do get really good at picking them out of a crowd in record time though. I try to avoid them. "Profess to know so much yet know so little."
