1975 Mercury Bobcat Villager

These Bobcat wagons were few and far between even when new. The interior on this one looks especially nice.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1975-Mercury-Bobact-Base-Wagon-2-Door-2-3L-/330946244153

 

In the 1980s we had a 1977 Mercury Bobcat Villager wagon... it was dark green with wood-grain, tan interior. It was a high optioned car and was like new, it wasn't that old. lol. There is a pic of me standing behind it in 1988 that I have around here somewhere... it was a good little car. I am not sure what ever happened to it.

I hated it... as a young teenager, I hated having a car called "Bobcat". LOL!!

 

There was some sort of Bobcat around here, and the only thing I remember about it was that it was light blue. I would love to have one, even though it's only a dolled up Pinto. I like the Mercury trimming inside and outside, and there never seemed to be any stories about exploding Bobcats.

 

That Brings a smile to my Face

 

Really nice car, this. Not common when new, and much rarer now. Also, this one has the Interior Décor package as well as the Villager exterior décor. Really nice shape.

The reason for no exploding Bobcats is simple: There weren't many of them to start with, and they did not hit the market concurrent with the Pinto. They were a couple of years later. The wagons never did have the problem, as the extended rear protected the bolts so they didn't get driven through the tanks. The coupes and hatches had the shield put in them to protect the tanks. No more problem. And the thing is, that whole fiasco lies directly with ONE man: Lee Iacoca. He decreed that the base Pinto could not weigh one ounce over 2,000 pounds or retail for one penny over $2,000. That shield, which the engineers had included in the original specs, put the car about 2 pounds too heavy, and added something like $4.00 to the price of the car, taking it over the arbitrary cap. Bean counters should NEVER be allowed to over-ride the engineers in an engineering company!

 

It's a cute little thing!

 

Thanks for that explanation! Iaccoca has that blood on his hands then. Seems like they could have dropped some other unnecessary item and kept their precious price down. Just business to him though.

 

Thing is, that piece did not show, and anything else they took out would have, and the base cars were VERY Spartan indeed.

The same thing happened with the Corvair. The early ones were built minus the front anti-sway bar the engineers had included in every drawing for the car. Again, it was bean counters over-riding the engineers. This is what happens when you put finance people in charge of an engineering company. Things go radically wrong, and the customer ends up paying, sometimes with their lives.

 

I don't think ours had the interior décor package, but I distinctly remember it having a "MPG" decal under the Bobcat name plate on the front fenders. :confused:

Found this pic on the net while looking for a pic of a '77 Bobcat... these were our cars in 1987. (Photo taken in January '87). My dad traded the 1971 Lincoln (was my grandmothers old car) for the 1977 Bobcat wagon we had in the late 80s.

The Olds was a '72 Olds 88 Royale 2dr... each of these cars were my grandparents earlier in the decade. I wish I had them now.

 

Wow! Those both look beautiful!

 

Thanks! Yeah, they were both beauties and were like brand new inside and out, but were only about 15 years old at this time. I remember us (my grandparents, an aunt, an uncle and myself) taking the Lincoln to Asheville North Carolina in 1985 when one of my uncles lived there... the car went over that steep curvy mountain highway (thankfully now a Interstate (I-26), lol), going over the mountain with ease.

The Oldsmobile was a only a Delta 88, but it was the Royale trim (and was a 2dr hardtop coupe) and extremely high optioned, it had all power options, tilt wheel and those rarely seen road wheels. I think my dad sold the Oldsmobile in 1988 for $300!! lol. Of course we traded the Lincoln for the '77 Bobcat Villager.

The person that ended up with the Lincoln also had a green '74 Impala wagon, I wish dad had of traded for that instead of the Bobcat, but at the time it was just another car to me.

Also around this time period, we also had a '74 Impala sedan, '71 Grand Ville sedan, '67 Malibu, '69 GTO, '76 Mustang II Ghia and a year later, a '76 Town Car, '76 Buick Opel and '81 Olds Omega. lol.

 

Imagine trading in that gorgeous Lincoln for a little $#!+box Bobcat! Talk about a bummer!

David

 

Tragic, but (sorry !) think about what both the Olds and the Lincoln would be worth now in the same condition! Spectacular period piece collectors' items.

 

lol, I know. I could never believe my dad did that because he was never a station wagon guy, lol. He loved this little Bobcat though. At the time he was in business for himself and he took the car up into northern Virginia to get some rock for his business. That car really carried a huge amount of stone and they (he and my uncle) almost got killed in an accident in it on that trip. I don't remember the details, but I remember dad going on for a long time how some guy almost caused them to have a major crash. That had to have been around 1988.

Oh I know it makes me sad, especially since I love both of these cars now. At the time they were just another car to me. These particular cars now would have a lot of sentimental value to me now because my grandparents that owned the Lincoln have both passed away. I still have both of my grandparents that owned the Oldsmobile, but grandpa is 81 now. Now those grandparents own a 2008 Hyundai Sonata. lol. This is the grandparents that had the '74 Oldsmobile Toronado with the factory dual airbag option... this grandpa had a lot of interesting cars... I remember dad said in '71 he bought a new Fury III sedan. He also had a '75 Vega, I remember him going 35 mph on the freeway in it. LOL.

*Oh yeah, they drove that Oldsmobile Toronado from northeast Tennessee (right on the Virginia-Tennessee state line) all the way to southwest California (Los Angeles) about 3 times in the 80s to visit my grandmothers relatives. lol. She started to fly after that.

 

72: The MPG badging tells me that the Bobcat you had did not have the deluxe interior package. The MPG package borrowed the philosophy of Colin Chapman of Lotus fame: It added lightness. The insulation was cut back, certain options were unavailable, and there were some other changes made to make the car more fuel efficient. The Bobcat in the ad here, though, is very luxurious in comparison! Mine you, I'd sooner have that Lincoln. What a cream puff that one was!