At this time’s Good Worth or No Cube Mercury is called after Zephyrus, the Greek God of the westerly wind; a identify additionally employed by Lincoln in the Thirties. Let’s see if this basic coupe comes with a worth that’s simply as refreshing as its identify.

There’s a scene within the hokey and shockingly poorly made 2022 movie Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend wherein Ferruccio Lamborghini, in a flamboyant blue V12 Countach, dices it up with Enzo Ferrari, the latter driving a up to date however laughably much less spectacular or highly effective V8 Mondial. The audio for each vehicles appears to be some off-the-shelf American V8 sound.

That film was simply one other ignominy thrust upon the Mondial, the present pre-heroic Rudolph to Ferrari’s different reindeer. Which may have dulled the appreciation of final Friday’s 1992 Ferrari Mondial cabriolet, however such tainted historical past was countered by a good-looking shade mixture and mechanical situation that the vendor described as “Tight, tight, tight!” At $64,500, nevertheless, few of you have been prepared to miss the automotive’s place because the red-headed stepchild of the Ferrari household, with the end result being a 75 % No Cube loss to finish our week.

Many people contemplate the Foxbody Mustang to be one of many most versatile and greatest bang-for-your-buck cheap-seats efficiency platforms ever created. However how many people do not forget that it wasn’t the Mustang that debuted the long-serving and ubiquitous RWD Fox platform in 1979, however the Ford Fairmont and sister Mercury Zephyr household vehicles that debuted a full yr earlier?

As long-serving and far-reaching because the Fox platform did turn out to be, Ford had much more grandiose plans for it. Preliminary growth for the platform started in the beginning of the Nineteen Seventies, with Ford seeing the urgent want to interchange its U.S. market Maverick, a mannequin using on a platform that might hint its roots all the best way again to the Falcon of 1960. On the similar time, the corporate’s European operations seemed at its German market Taunus and UK-built Cortina, each of which have been additionally getting lengthy within the tooth, and stated in varied accents, “Allow us to get into that sport as nicely.” The logistics of coping with a myriad of native market rules with one base platform proved too unwieldy for the time, and Ford selected as a substitute to maintain the Fox for the U.S. and let the subsidiaries throughout the pond go do their very own factor.

Upon its debut for the 1978 mannequin yr, the Fox platform was already exhibiting its flexibility, underpinning a sedan, four-door wagon, and never simply one however two two-door variants. Not solely that, however the firm mirrored its product line between Ford (the Fairmont) and Mercury (the breezily-named Zephyr) to cowl all its bases.

This 1978 Mercury Zephyr Z-7 is a kind of two two-door fashions, though the design, with its distinctive Thunderbird-inspired basket deal with roofline, didn’t debut on the Zephyr’s launch. As a substitute, it arrived a number of months later as a sportier adjunct to the usual greenhouse two-door sedan.

Ford had used the Zephyr nameplate on pre-war Lincoln fashions in addition to on the British-built Ford Zephyr of the Fifties and ’60s. This is able to be Mercury’s first and final software of the identify, though it might return to Lincoln for a short while within the mid-aughts, anointing a Ford Fusion-based mid-sized sedan.

The Mercury Zephyr served the corporate for six mannequin years, throughout which period it was made out there with a alternative of four-cylinder, six-cylinder, or V8 energy. This one is a Mama Bear middle-of-the-pack automotive sporting the 200 CID (3.2-liter) “Thriftpower” OHV inline six. Ford’s straight-six engines are legendary for his or her longevity, and the one factor damning this version is its laughable 85 horsepower output. This was the Nineteen Seventies, in any case.

Backing up that meager secure is a three-speed C4 computerized driving the coil-sprung stay rear axle. McPherson struts present damping within the entrance, though a lot of the work that makes the Fox platform such a performer was nonetheless years within the future when this automotive was constructed.

Aesthetically, this Z-7 appears to be in drained however moderately good form. It’s a bit arduous to inform because the images within the advert have been apparently shot utilizing a kind of drugstore disposable cameras that was in all probability as previous because the automotive.

Regardless, the mint inexperienced paint lacks luster however is accented properly by twin facet stripes and a two-section inexperienced vinyl roof which is an excellent little bit of kitsch. Whitewall tires are mounted on manufacturing unit alloy wheels, the latter being a tremendous possibility on an American automotive of this period.

The inside exhibits extra put on, with seams splitting on the motive force’s cushion, however in one other throwback, that cushion is a part of a entrance bench seat with heart armrest. When was the final time you noticed a kind of in a coupe?

Different parts of the inside look to have held up nicely, though the motive force’s door suffers the everyday door lever spring-back put on that afflicts all these vehicles. On the plus facet, the vendor says the automotive runs nicely and has been just lately detailed, so it ought to be clear and pretty turnkey. No point out is made from the age of the tires or different consumables within the advert, though it is famous that the automotive was owned by a pair who shared it into late age. The advert additionally affirms that it comes with a clear title and exhibits it carrying present tags on its splendidly old-school blue and gold California plates. What would possibly somebody throw down for such a throwback?

The asking worth is $6,750, and contemplating the advert has been up for greater than three weeks, the vendor clearly wants our assist in figuring out whether or not that worth is an element within the automotive’s lack of motion.

What do you say? Is that this Zephyr value that $6,750 asking because it’s offered within the advert? Or does that worth simply blow?

You determine!

San Francisco Bay Space, California, Craigslist, or go right here if the advert disappears.

H/T to Don R. for the hookup!

Assist me out with NPOND. Hit me up at remslie@kinja.com and ship me a fixed-price tip. Keep in mind to incorporate your Kinja deal with.