My Favorite Ride: Carolyn Dean's 1964 Mercury Comet? It's still on the road
It was June 1964 when Carolyn L. Dean of Coral Gables, Florida, purchased a six-cylinder, two-door 1964 Mercury Comet 202 from Strickland Motors, a Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Indianapolis.
"Thank you for selecting a 1964 Comet as your new car. We know you will enjoy many, many hours of pleasant driving behind its wheel," the registration card for the vehicle, still in the glovebox, said.
"As each mile rolls by we're certain you'll grow even more pleased that you decided on a Comet. For in choosing Comet you have chosen quality ... quality that endures."
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This particular Comet, six decades later and now owned by Darwin "Doc" Atkins of Martinsville, has endured nearly 60 years since it was bought new on June 24, 1964. During all that time, there surely were "many, many hours of pleasant driving behind its wheel."
This past week, Atkins' son, Kerry Atkins, started the old car up and drove it to Martinsville's courthouse square for the Thursday night cruise-in. I found six cars I liked, a lot, and took some pictures.
The sixth one, Atkins' light blue Mercury Comet, was my favorite. In all my years of car column writing, I don't think I've encountered another one. The grille reminds me of the Lincoln Continental of that era.
I liked the car so much that I took 30 pictures of it, really. Every angle, close-up and from a distance with downtown Martinsville buildings in the background. I looked through the owner's manual, still in the glovebox after all this time.
The Mercury Comet was produced from 1960 through 1969, and was re-introduced in 1971; 1977 was the last year of production.
Early on, the Comet was planned as a new version of the Ford Edsel, an unpopular car Ford suddenly stopped making in 1959. So the Comet prototype got pushed over to Ford's Lincoln-Mercury division.
The 1964 version was more square that previous Comets. The performance model was called a Cyclone, then there was the high-end Caliente, the custom 404 and the base model, the 202 like the Atkins car.
Kerry Atkins said his father bought his Comet three or four years ago in Bloomfield; he wasn't sure from whom. Maybe that previous owner will see this column and help me trace the car back a lifetime to Carolyn Dean.
I decided not to contact the elder Atkins; his son thought it would be fun if he just happened upon pictures and a story about his Comet while reading the Reporter-Times newspaper, one of the publications where My Favorite Ride appears.
Come back next week, when the column will feature detail photographs from the other five cars that caught my eye at the most recent Morgan County Courthouse square cruise-in. I'll challenge you to identify an eclectic mix of vehicles.
Until then, keep your eyes open for the many car shows and cruise-ins happening around the area. Contact Pat Ellis at pj.ellis80@yahoo.com, and ask to receive his Hoosier Car Scene Weekly email. It which contains a comprehensive list of car events in southcentral Indiana.
Have a story to tell about a car or truck? Contact reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or send a text message to 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: My Favorite Ride: Carolyn Dean's 1964 Mercury Comet? Still on the road
