![]() This shift lever should be smooth when your hand is on it, especially in a Ford.” I don’t think he even made it to the end of the street before we turned around. We were maybe 50 yards from his driveway when he pointed out the way the shift lever kind of vibrated up and down in your hand when it was in any gear. I don’t know why you would be interested if you can’t even get into the trunk.” “I don’t think you can assume that would be an easy fix. Things took a bad turn when he learned that the trunk would not open. That engine is tired.” he said as we saw the fumes chuffing from the road draft tube. I was seeing one like this – the car in the brochures, with my eye and mind filtering out all of the wear and tear of this scruffy example. It became apparent to me pretty quickly that he and I were looking at two different Comets. I could see immediately that he was not impressed. Howard was in the driveway when I pulled in. And I was sure I could find a good wiper arm for the passenger side to replace the one with the broken spring that kept it from doing any real work. Vacuum was not in abundance in that circumstance, and neither was a clear windshield. I was less fine when I started to realize that they were not very helpful at clearing the windshield while trying to get 50 mph out of 144 cubic inches after a traffic light turned green. I had grown up hearing adults reminisce about them (with a laugh, like “can you believe what we used to put up with?”) Oh well, it was a short-term car so I figured I would be fine with them. I have always been a windshield wiper geek and loved the idea of vacuum wipers – for the novelty, if nothing else. The weather started to sprinkle some rain, which was when I discovered that the Comet had vacuum windshield wipers. ![]() It was fairly quick away from a traffic light with its really low gearing, but once I got past downtown and the speed limits went up, I realized that 144 cubic inches was not a lot. After spending time piloting big cars, this felt like a sports car. I remember the light steering and how fun and nimble the car felt from behind the wheel. He lived on the other side of Fort Wayne, but a good shake-down drive would have me better prepared for that second opinion I was seeking. It was a Saturday in the early afternoon, and earlier asked my car-mentor Howard if he would be home so I could bring a car around. I knew what I didn’t know and asked if I could take it somewhere else to let someone look at it. I think the guy wanted about $550 for it. And it blew a little oil smoke out of the tailpipe and I don’t think the tires were any too good. Something was happening when the key turned, but it felt like something in the latch mechanism had broken and was hanging up on something else. There were some torn seams in the seats, though the back seat was in pretty decent shape. It was kind of crusty around the lower fenders, including what looked like some very amateur rust repair. It was not perfect, of course – far from it, actually. The little 144 cid six meant that it would be economical. And how could anyone not love the cat’s eye taillights? It was a 3-speed, so something with a clutch, and thus simple. The cool stuff was that it was black with a surprisingly up-market look to the black and white vinyl interior. I think it was a 2-door, but I don’t actually remember. It was old enough that it had some decidedly classic features like the white steering wheel and the fascinating grille with the wide-set headlights I had never noticed. I have forgotten the back story, but it was, well, a 1960 Comet and therefore different from a boring Falcon. When I saw the ad for the 1960 Comet, I was intrigued. ![]() My criteria was something that would be old, practical and cheap. And in truth, I had never really stopped reading them from about the age of fourteen or fifteen. They were helpfully arranged from oldest to newest, which saved time for those of us into something old and interesting. Just as there was Craigslist in the 90’s, the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette was there to provide a daily dose of “Cars for Sale” in the classifieds. But I could always sell it, right? Or drive it and save my perfect convertible. I know – this other car would only be required for a month or six weeks. but at least it was nicer looking than this one.
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