A timely reminder Dr John of a sometimes overlooked classic. The 1962 Fairlane is a great example of Ford's product planning acumen. They saw a gap and filled it by stretching the Falcon. GM played catch up. That said, they had an insight into the "intermediate" market with the 1960 Mercury Comet. And its sales help explain why the sales of the Fairlane based Mercury Meteor were so low. On an annualised basis 157,000 Comets were sold in its first year, putting it fourth behind the Falcon (456,703), Chevrolet Corvair (250,000) and Valiant (197,000). Combined annualized figures for the Falcon and Comet were a healthy 613,000. It is not hard to see why the Comet was an attractive proposition. Priced at just $US79 (4%) more than the basic Falcon, the extra outlay gave buyers real value for money. For starters, it had a 114 inch/2896mm wheel base. This was a four inch/102mm extension over the Falcon. All of the extra length went into rear seat legroom and boot capacity. It is just one and a half inches less than the Fairlane/Meteor wheelbase, so why buy a higher priced Meteor when a Comet was almost the same size and cheaper. The Comet had dual headlights, “Thunderbird” roof line, an intricate grille and big cantilever rear fins (ahead of the Fairlane).