Mercury Comet 1964 A/FX 427

Only 21 examples of the 1964 Mercury Comet A/FX 427 were ever built, yet this NASCAR-engine-powered drag car dominated its class almost immediately. Built by the same shop responsible for Ford’s legendary Thunderbolt, it shed every unnecessary pound in pursuit of quarter-mile supremacy. Driven by legends like “Dyno” Don Nicholson, the car reportedly racked up dozens of wins in a single season. What does it take for a car this rare to still command six-figure prices at auction six decades later?

Back in 1964, Super Stock drag racing racing was one of the hottest things going, and people loved the competition and energy of stock-appearing cars going much faster than normal. The next evolution was Factory Experimental, a class that allowed manufacturers to get a little crazier with performance parts and special pieces in cars that still appeared similar to what was for sale in local showrooms. This 1964 Mercury Comet is an A/FX car, one of 21 built, and it still retains all the “experimental” speed parts that it wore back in ’64, like the 425 HP high-riser 427 and all the fiberglass body panels.

Twenty-one. That’s not a horsepower figure or a quarter-mile time — it’s the entire production run of one of the most vicious drag cars Ford’s family of brands ever wheeled onto a starting line, and it wore a Mercury badge instead of a Ford oval. Underneath a fiberglass-skinned Comet body sat an engine originally built for NASCAR superspeedways, shoehorned in by a specialty shop that had already proven itself building Ford’s own factory drag weapons. Every ounce that didn’t help the car go faster got stripped out — sound deadening, air conditioning, even the stock seats — before a single lap was ever run. What kind of car gets built this extreme, in numbers this small, and still manages to dominate an entire drag racing class in its very first season?

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Built by the Same Shop That Made Ford’s Thunderbolt

The 1964 Comet A/FX cars were constructed by Dearborn Steel Tubing, the same specialist outfit responsible for the legendary Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt, and it shows in the build philosophy. Fiberglass fenders, doors, and a teardrop-shaped hood replaced steel factory panels, Lexan windows swapped in for glass, and even the carpet was downgraded to a thinner material — every change aimed squarely at shedding pounds for the strip rather than comfort on the street.

A NASCAR Engine Never Meant for a Compact

Under that lightened body sat Ford’s 427 high-riser FE V8, an engine originally engineered for NASCAR superspeedway duty, fitted with high-flow heads, dual four-barrel Holley carburetors, and a 14:1 compression ratio. Officially the engine carried a 425-horsepower factory rating, but era estimates commonly put real output closer to 500 horsepower once the class-legal modifications were accounted for — numbers that turned a mid-size Mercury into one of the most feared cars in Factory Experimental competition.

Dyno Don and a Season That Rewrote the Record Books

Legendary drag racer “Dyno” Don Nicholson piloted a Comet A/FX to a reported 63 victories in the 1964 season alone, a run of dominance that helped cement both his own reputation and the car’s legend. When Nicholson moved on to a “production” Comet Caliente, he handed the A/FX off to Fast Eddie Schartman, who reportedly racked up 78 wins against a single loss — a winning percentage that would be remarkable in any era of organized drag racing.

Why So Few Survived

With only 21 examples built in 1964, and roughly 15 believed to survive today, the Comet A/FX occupies rare-car territory even by muscle car standards. These cars were built to be raced hard and often modified further by their original owners, which means unmolested, numbers-matching examples are exceptionally difficult to verify — a challenge that only adds to their mystique among Ford and Mercury drag racing historians alike, even overshadowed as it is by its more famous Thunderbolt sibling.

What Collectors Are Willing to Pay Today

Restored, documented Comet A/FX survivors rarely come up for public sale, but when one does cross an auction block, prices have reportedly topped $200,000 — a striking figure for a mid-size compact that most casual car fans have never heard of. That value reflects both the car’s genuine rarity and its status as a piece of factory-backed drag racing history from an era when manufacturers built purpose-made weapons specifically to win match races, not just sell showroom floor traffic.

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