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Lincoln Zephyr Mercury Zephyr

Zephyr
Vehicle Model

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Wikipedia: Ford Fairmont Page Sections History Photographs Documents Article Index

A car produced by and Mercury for 1978-1983 and revived by Lincoln for one year in 2006 before the marque's new naming scheme meant a name change to MKZ.

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History

The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Ford Fairmont page on 24 June 2018, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Introduced as the replacement for the Mercury Comet, the Mercury Zephyr shared most of its design with the Ford Fairmont. As with its Ford counterpart, the Zephyr was available in two door coupe, two-door sedan, four-door sedan, and station wagon body styles; both cars shared four, six, or eight-cylinder engines. Before 1981, the Zephyr was easily distinguished from the Fairmont with its vertical slatted grille and four headlights; the taillights were also a separate horizontally ribbed design. After 1981, both Fairmonts and Zephyrs wore four headlights. As with the Mercury Marquis and Grand Marquis, the Zephyr was fitted with non-functional front fender vents. All models came with the Ford 'Ride Engineered' suspension package. The "Zephyr" name was resurrected from an earlier Lincoln vehicle in the 1940s, called the Lincoln-Zephyr (this name also reappeared in 2006 on what is now known as the Lincoln MKZ).

In 1980, Mercury introduced the larger Cougar XR7 based on the Fox platform shared with the smaller Zephyr. For 1981, as the Mercury counterparts to the Ford Granada, the Cougar line was expanded to two-door and four-door sedans to replace the Mercury Monarch. The expanded Cougar line closed in on the price range occupied by the Zephyr. For 1982, the Zephyr line began to become de-contented as Mercury was preparing the design for the Topaz. Additionally, the station wagon was given to the Cougar line. For 1982, both the 4.2L and 5.0L V8 engines were discontinued.

Zephyr Z-7

Alongside the standard two-door notchback sedan introduced in 1978, Mercury also released a uniquely styled 2-door Zephyr coupe named the Z-7 which was a Mercury badged version of the Ford Fairmont Futura coupe. The Z-7 was distinguished from standard Zephyrs by its angled rear deck and wraparound taillights. Many Z-7 models included a two-tone paint job. Under the hood, the powertrain usually featured either the inline-six (I6) or one of the V8 engines. Very few Z-7's had the four-cylinder engine.

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Photographs

	1941 Lincoln Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden 2012 The Cars Time Forgot View photo of 1941 Lincoln Zephyr - 3.8MB
	1941 Lincoln Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden 2012 The Cars Time Forgot View photo of 1941 Lincoln Zephyr - 4.4MB
	1941 Lincoln Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden 2012 The Cars Time Forgot View photo of 1941 Lincoln Zephyr - 4.2MB
	1941 Lincoln Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden 2012 The Cars Time Forgot View photo of 1941 Lincoln Zephyr - 5.0MB
	1941 Lincoln Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden 2012 The Cars Time Forgot View photo of 1941 Lincoln Zephyr - 3.5MB
	1941 Lincoln Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden 2012 The Cars Time Forgot View photo of 1941 Lincoln Zephyr - 3.5MB
	1941 Lincoln Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden 2012 The Cars Time Forgot View photo of 1941 Lincoln Zephyr - 4.2MB
	1941 Lincoln Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden 2012 The Cars Time Forgot View photo of 1941 Lincoln Zephyr - 4.3MB
	1979 Z-7 Lincoln-Mercury Public Relations Photograph Zephyr, Lincoln-Mercury's popular compact, for 1979 features functional refinements and a broad array of new options.  A new four-speed overdrive manual transmission is standard (except in California) with the optional 3.3-liter (200-CID) six-cylinder and 5.0-liter (302-CID) V-8 engines.  Another power-team offering extends 3.3-liter engine availability to station wagons with the California emissions system.  In addition, power windows, seats and door locks, as well as a flip-up removable Moonroof - all introduced as optional equipment during the 1978 model year - are now available on the new Zephyr.  Additional options available for 1979 include speed control, a tilt steering wheel, an electric trunk-lid release and performance instrumentation featuring a tachometer, trip odometer and engine gauges.  The Zephyr line includes two- and four-door sedans, a station wagon and the popular Z-7 sports coupe (above). View photo of 1979 Mercury Zephyr Z-7 - 3.6MB
	Mercury Photo ©2010 Bill Crittenden March 28, 2010 View photo of Mercury Zephyr Station Wagon - 3,980KB
	Mercury Photo ©2010 Bill Crittenden March 28, 2010 View photo of Mercury Zephyr Station Wagon - 3,862KB
	Mercury Photo ©2010 Bill Crittenden March 28, 2010 View photo of Mercury Zephyr Station Wagon - 4,370KB

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Documents

Date	Document Name & Details	Documents
3 March 2008	NHTSA Recall 08E019000 Intercontinental Auto Parts ALG 44/1, Purolator F10024, 1978-1980 Ford Bronco, 1977 Ford Country Squire, 1977-1980 Ford E-Series, 1978-1982 Ford F-Series, 1980 Ford Fairmont, 1979-1980 Ford Granada, 1977, 1979-1980 Ford LTD, 1980 Ford Mustang, 1975 Ford Pinto 1979 Ford Ranchero, 1977-1980 Ford Thunderbird, 1980 Lincoln Versailles, 1975 Mercury Bobcat, 1977, 1979-1980 Mercury Capri, 1977, 1979-1980 Mercury Colony Park, 1977-1980 Mercury Cougar, 1977, 1979-1980 Mercury Grand Marquis, 1979-1980 Mercury Monarch, 1980 Mercury Zephyr FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:DELIVERY:FUEL PUMP National Highway Traffic Safety Administration	Recall Page - 1 page

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Article Index

Date	Article	Author/Source
17 June 2005	Product Renaissance: 2006 Lincoln Zephyr Teams Up with the Most Durable Lincoln Accessories, Replacement and Performance Parts	Jenny McLane, Auto Parts Train

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