Wednesday, May 26, 2010

1952 Mercury Woodie Wagon



In general, woodies are rare beast these days, especially in running condition. The one you see before is especially rare, as only 2,400 Mercury wagons were built in 1952. How many are still on the road or in restorable condition is not known, but it can't be more than a handful.



Like most car companies in the 1950's Ford and its Lincoln/Mercury divisions began eliminating wood as structural componant in cars, and it was not long before Ford closed its Iron Mountain facilities. The Woodie "look" was still desired though, and wood panels gave way to decals and wood trim. This '52 Mercury "Custom Series" wagon is an excellent example of one of transition from wood to chrome as a trim of choice.



Designed by Gordon Buehrig, the Custom Series bodies were offered in 3- and 5-door models for six to eight passengers. It came with a V8 motor, 3,800lb curb weight, and would set you back about $2,700.00.





This Merc has been restored to its original showroom condition, right down to the "hillcrest green" factory paint color.







Source: Hot Rods Custom Stuff

Mercury Classics


1953 Mercury Woodie Wagon


1957 Mercury Monterey Convertible


Mercury Monterey Hardtop


1970 Mercury Cougar


1956 Mercury Montclair




1970 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II

In the early sixties, the rather pedestrian Comet was injected with more potential to take advantage of the performance car market that was exploding with Stock Car Racing. It was renamed the Cylone and became Mercury's circuit racer once it received Ford's big block V8 engine.


Whether it's traditional flames or a mail-slot windshields, the Mercury lead sleds were iconic cars of their day and many of the best were on display at the show.


1964 Mercury Breezeway 2-Door


1954 Mercury Monterey Convertible




Mercury Turnpike Cruiser 1957

The Mercury Turnpike Cruiser was a halo model of the Mercury Division of the Ford Motor Company that was produced from 1957 to 1958.

At introduction of the 1957 line up the Turnpike Cruiser series offered two and a four door hardtop body styles. They are best known for the unique styling cues and wide array of gadgets including a power rear window that could be lowered to improve ventilation, "twin jet" air intakes at upper corners of car's windshield, "seat-o-matic" automatically adjusting seat, and an average speed "computer".

For 1957, the Turnpike Cruiser was the premium model range for Mercury. In addition to its unique features, the car was further differentiated from other Mercury models by a gold anodized trim strip in the car's rear fin. It came standard with an automatic transmission and a 368-c.i.d. engine producing 290 horsepower; this engine was optional on other Mercurys.

Later in the model year an open car named Convertible Cruiser was added to this series. From the beginning it was created only to be used as the official pace car of the 1957 Indianapolis 500. On January 7, 1957 it was announced that the Convertible Cruiser would be available as a production model as well. All Convertible cruisers had a continental tire kit and were painted yellow (Sun Glitter), similar to the original pace cars.

1958 Mercury Turnpike Classic

Mercury XM-800 Dream Car



Introduced at the 1954 Detroit Auto Show, the XM-800 was designed by the Mercury pre-production studio to promote a second Mercury car line which could compete with Buick, Pontiac and Oldsmobile. Though it was never put into production, it became one of the most popular Concept Cars of the time. Dramatic and futuristic, it is a bold one-off design statement that has since been fully restored.