This 55-year-old Mercury Comet may look vintage, but it runs like a track tool

An open Bring-a-Trailer ad offers this rare 1965 Mercury Comet coupe for sale, which boasts completely renewed body and interior.

The car is a second-gen Comet, built with the Ford Fairlane as the starting point. It is 5,16 meters (nearly 17 ft.) long and has enough room under the hood to accommodate even modern, performance V8s. Naturally, the team that handled the restoration couldn’t simply miss out on this opportunity. The retro ride ended up with a Robert Pond Motorsport 482ci V8 in the engine bay, supercharged to deliver 628 hp (468 kW) along with 623 Nm (459 lb-ft) of torque to the rear axle via a five-speed manual transmission.

The body has received quite an overhaul, too, notably getting a much wider rear end that eliminated the need for rear fenders. The tuner proceeded to install GFRP bumpers, wheel arches and hood cover, LED lights, and low suspension springs. In the end, the Comet started looking similar to the exclusive 1964 A/FX Cyclone racer.

The cabin makeover goes without saying in projects like these, and while smooth red leather may seem tacky to some (us included), there’s still something to be said about the professionalism with which it is applied throughout the cabin. As you may see, quite a few neat gimmicks are present, including a Hurst shift stick with a Cueball head, a Sun Super tachometer, and an engine start/stop button.