1974 Ford / Lincoln-Mercury "Gas-Saving Engines" Print Ad
The 1973 Oil Crisis suddenly made fuel economy important, and Ford was ready with these cars.
When the Arab members of OPEC, enraged over American support for the Israeli military during the Yom Kippur War, shut off the oil taps in the fall of 1973, everything changed for the American autooative industry. Suddenly, two-ton behemoths with better than 400 cubic inches (6.5 liters) of engine displacement were out, and gas-sipping compacts and subcompacts were in. Ford (and Mercury) had quite a few genuine fuel-saving cars to offer for the 1974 model year, as this magazine advertisement boasts. The all-new Mustang II, the Maverick/Comet, the Pinto, and the Capri (not technically a Mercury in the United States, but sold through Mercury dealers here) all get shout-outs in this ad.
