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 design. After 1981, both Fairmonts and Zephyrs wore four headilights. As with the Marquis/Grand Marquis, the Zephyr was fitted with (non-functional) front fender vents; for the suspension, 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.
In 1980, Mercury introduced the Cougar XR7 based on the Fox platform shared by the Zephyr. For 1981, as the Mercury counterparts to the Ford Granada, the Cougar line was expanded to a standard coupe and four-door (to replace the 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 1983, both the 4.2L and 5.0L V8 engines were discontinued.
Model pictured is a 1979 station wagon version with the 'Villager' package.