Junkyard Find: 1977 Mercury Bobcat 3-Door
You’d think that examples of the Ford Pinto and its Mercury-badged twin, the Bobcat, would have disappeared from the American junkyard ecosystem by now, given the cheapness of these cars and the decades of exploding-Pinto punchlines since “Pinto Madness” came out in 1977. No doubt due to the huge quantities sold during the Pinto/Bobcat’s 10-year production run (well over three million), such is not the case; I continue to find Pintos and Bobcats in junkyards to this day.
Here’s a light blue ’77 three-door Bobcat in a Northern California self-serve yard.
The Bobcat didn’t differ much from the Pinto at any point during its 1975-1980 production run. When you bought the Bobcat, you got some standard features that were optional on the Pinto, plus the bragging rights that came with ownership of the more upscale marque. In 1977, the Bobcat three-door started at $3,338, while the cheapest Pinto went for $3,099 (that’s about $14,630 and $13,580 in 2020 dollars, respectively).
The Bobcat came with cloth-and-vinyl bucket seats as standard equipment, though you still had to pay extra for a scratchy AM radio.
This one lived a hard life, at least in its later years. This spray-foam-and-tape trim repair speaks volumes.
California cars will rust, given enough time.
This one was on the street as recently as 2008, on the bayous mean streets of El Cerrito (home of Creedence Clearwater Revival).
A four-speed manual came as the base transmission in the ’77 Bobcat, but most Mercury shoppers insisted on automatics by that time.
These stickers look faded enough to have been installed by the original owner.
In 1977, Bobcat shoppers had the option of buying the same 2.8-liter V6 that went into the Capri, resulting in 90 horsepower at the driver’s command. This car got the base 2.3-liter four-cylinder, rated at 89 horses (but 20 fewer pound-feet of torque).
Bobcat and Pinto sales dropped quite a bit after 1977, partly due to the perceived risk of explosion during rear-end collisions and partly due to the increasing obsolescence of the late-1960s design.
Pintos really weren’t much more likely to explode than other cars with the fuel tank mounted between the rear bumper and rear axle. Unfortunately, most Detroit cars of the era used that layout, and so the danger went well beyond just the Pinto.
Watch out for intruding elephant trunks in your Bobcat!
Bobcat marketing focused on cheapness. Note the amazing Sports Accent Group Bobcat in this final-model-year TV commercial.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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At 23 seconds into the first ad that's Sgt. Lucy Bates (aka Betty Thomas) dealing with the elephant trunk. I'm sure that got her prepared for the likes of Renko and LaRue on The Hill. I may be a bit of a masochist, but I liked these cars, particularly the three-door wagons. But then again, I was only 11 when this particular car was built so I didn't need to worry about the repairs.
What yard is this in? I need the door panels.