1965 Mercury Cyclone

owned by Richard Pyles

"1965 Cyclone I bought in '65. It was a factory demonstrator, and had all the decals from the Comet's durability run that year. Kind of strange, since they ran Calientes, not Cyclones. It took me weeks to peel off those decals.

It was a factory demonstrator, which is why it had all the “Cape Horn to Fairbanks Alaska” durability run decals. You may remember, in 1964 Comets had the 100,000 mile durability run. The actual Comets in the run were the Caliente models, not Cyclones like this one. My uncle who was a service instructor for Lincoln-Mercury (and drove Comets in NASCAR’s LMS division) came across the car and arranged for the purchase. It had the 289 c.i. 225 hp 4-bbl “Super Cyclone” engine, with the engine dress-up kit (chrome plated air cleaner top, oil filler cap, valve covers and dipstick handle). It had the 3-speed C4 automatic with the column mounted shifter. It had power steering, power brakes, AM radio and backup lights. (I always wondered why dual exhaust weren’t offered.) Later, I added a left side remote control mirror and the nifty foot controlled windshield washer, and replaced the air cleaner with the free flowing hi-po one. By the time I sold it to buy my 1970 Cyclone Spoiler, it had an 8-track/FM under dash radio and a rear seat reverberator (remember those things?). It was a beautiful Carnival red, with a white vinyl top, and white vinyl bucket seats, with console. It was a great car for a kid still in high school."

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