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Rich Kent’s 429-cubic-inch, E85-fueled 1962 Mercury Comet takes on a 707-horsepower 2015 Dodge Challenger Hellcat at RT66’s Test N Tune — and the results aren’t what the horsepower numbers alone would predict. With the Hellcat spinning off the line and the Comet launching wheels-up, this grudge match has sparked debate for years. Watch it play out and decide for yourself who really won.
This 1963 Mercury Comet has covered just 45,000 miles since a Tyler, Texas dealership sold it new – driven by one owner well into her 90s. It carries the optional 260-cubic-inch V8, a Ford Fairlane-derived engine good for 0-60 in under ten seconds, paired with air conditioning few base-sedan buyers ordered together. Six decades of careful ownership turned an uncommon factory combination into a genuinely rare survivor.
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?
Ken “Big Stick” Godsey brought a tribute to the legendary Ronnie Sox 1964 A/FX Mercury Comet to the NHRA Holley Hot Rod Reunion at Bowling Green, and the crowd was waiting for one number to hit the board. This is a car built to honor the golden age of Factory Experimental drag racing, and the run that followed marked a milestone every A/FX racer respects. Watch to see the pass unfold.
The Mercury Cyclone rarely gets mentioned alongside its more famous muscle car rivals, but its resume says otherwise, a Mustang sourced 289 V8, a 428 Cobra Jet option, and a genuine NASCAR winning pedigree that included a 1-2 finish at the 1968 Daytona 500. Only around 74,000 were built across nine years, making surviving examples like this one a rare sight anywhere, let alone on a scenic backroad drive.