Mercury, The End Of The Road...,

1939 Mercury Convertible

Detroit has done it again. Killed another historic brand and in so doing destroyed the faith of many who purchased and loved one in the past. This time it's Mercury which, since 1939, bridged the gap between Ford and Lincoln, offering a touch of luxury for less than luxury car prices. Of course the demise of Mercury is no surprise; during the past few years the corporation failed to support it with automobiles unique to the brand. As a result it only accounts for 0.8 percent of Ford Motor Company's overall market share. Mercury will be discontinued in the fourth quarter of this year, joining Pontiac and Plymouth on the scrap heap of autos ignored or forgotten by executives too busy playing marketing games to understand what really motivates car owners.

So what was your favorite Mercury? Or do you have one? I sometimes wonder if the brand ever did register with the North American public as more than an overcooked Ford or an underdone Lincoln. How often did you hear someone say "I'm a Mercury man?" Personally I've never owned a Mercury, its sole connection being the make in which I first gathered the courage to lay a hand on a young lady's bosom. Choosing a favorite, however, I'd go for the original Cougar, which bowed as a longer, sleeker version of the Mustang. Or maybe the very first Mercury, from 1939. Determined to make it different from lower-price Fords, the designers successfully blended streamlining with art deco character.


1965 Mercury Monterey

I would not, however, vote for the Mercury's of the mid-60's (above). While the Breezeway reverse-slant rear windows made them distinctive enough, they were giant-size barges in the worst Detroit tradition. No, wait... I take that back. During a brief stint as a Ford p.r. person I borrowed one of those big Mercury's from the company fleet in order to attend a cousin's wedding. On arrival I almost stole the show as everyone ignored the bride to see the car. If ever an automobile created a positive image for me, that was it. Mercury fans, your cars have just moved up a notch in the collector car hierarchy.

Source: Internet

1955 Mercury Station Wagon Ready To Restore

Here is a 1955 Mercury, station wagon ready for you to restore. Click here to go to Okoldies website to check out this car and all of its information.





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The 1999 Mercury Cougar

1999 Mercury Cougar S

Details count. The 1999 Mercury Cougar is proof of this. After spending some time with a Cougar, it is obvious that Ford did its homework when it designed this car. It also got the details right. The company did an excellent job of designing this car in such a way that it appeals to youthful buyers. Young folks, this writer included, love the Cougar. The car pushes just the right buttons in all the right ways.

For instance, take the Cougar’s radio antenna. It is perched proudly on the roof, directly above the windshield. That, to us, is very cool and very European; we like European things. We also love the way the moonroof deploys above the roof. For some reason, that looks cool too. Oh, and Ford got another small detail right. When the door locks are activated remotely, the horn does not honk — instead, the lights flash. Those of us who are in Generation X (or Y, in this writer’s case) want people to dig us for our sweet ride, not our obnoxious car alarm. The details count.

Sweet package

But Mercury got the fundamentals right too. This whole package is sweet. The Cougar comes complete with expressive sheet metal and exemplary driving dynamics. Batteries are included.

Our test car was equipped with the 125-horsepower 2.0-liter Zetec four-cylinder engine that also does time in the Escort ZX2 and Mondeo/Contour/Mystique triplets. Instead of the four-pot, we recommend the sweet 170-horsepower V-6 for a few hundred bucks more. The four-cylinder may be more miserly with fuel, but its excessive vibration and lack of power make us wonder why Mercury even sells a four-cylinder Cougar.


1999 Mercury Cougar Eliminator

It is obvious that insiders feel the same way we do. Just before the introduction of the car, Mercury decided not to sell Cougars equipped with a four-cylinder and an automatic transmission. Why? The rumor is some higher-ups at Ford drove a car with that powertrain combination and were less than pleased with its excessive noise, vibration and harshness. The car we sampled was equipped with a four-cylinder engine and a manual transmission. We had a similar reaction. Buy the V-6.

Source: Internet

The Mercury Blues

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1986 Mercury Car TV Commercial

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Mercury (Station Wagons)

I wonder if you remember when that Station Wagon was the family sedan of choice. I have some pictures below of some of those wagons.




1949 Mercury Wagon


1957 Mercury Station Wagons


1952 Mercury Woodie Wagon


1955 Mercury Woodie Wagon


1960 Mercury Wagon


1949 Mercury Eight Wagon


1954 Mercury Station Wagon


1955 Mercury Wagon


1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser Wagon


1957 Mercury Colony Park Station Wagon


1977 Mercury Cougar Villager Station Wagon, with woodgrain panels, parked on golf course.


1978 Mercury Bobcat Villager Station Wagon


2000 Mercury Sable Wagon

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Mercury Automobiles

Mercury is a brand name of an automobile once produced by Ford Motor Company. It was originally concieved in the 1930s as filling a gap between Ford's popular cars and their elite Lincoln line. The first model was the 1939 Mercury. It was a mid-sized V-8 that competed directly with the mid-size models of General Motors.

The first year 150,000 of the line were sold. The war years of the 1940s caused a suspension of production in favor of military hardware. But in the post war years the economy began to boom and demand for the Mercury returned. The Mercury designers were committed to inovation and the 1954 Mercury sported the first ever sunroof.

But the Mercury still had not really taken off. In an article in Driving Today Jack Nerad said, "Mercury has wavered from being just a tarted up Ford to a near-Lincoln." So in the 1960s Ford tried to supe-up the Mercury image by turning it into a muscle car. Ford executed this maneuver by hiring on Parnelli Jones to advance the idea of Mercury as a powerful automobile. He did marvelously on the racing circuit and such famous drivers as Cale Yarborough and Bill Stroppe could be found driving Mercs. The Mercury Marauder sported a checkered flag on the fender and a big V-8 engine, but the body also remained large so the engine had more to pull. For this reason in head to head competition, it did not always do well against some of the smaller GM models. Nevertheless Ford beefed up the Mercury image and even managed to put James Dean in a customized Mercury in the cult film "Rebel Without a Cause".

In 1967 the Cougar came out, but the oil shortage and other factors caused the over-sized Mercury to lose market share in the 1970s and early 80s. To improve their image, Mercury moved their design studios to California in 1998. Mercury continues to bridge the gap between the Ford and the upscale Lincoln with the Mercury Mariner (a sport utility vehicle), the Milan (a new mid-sized sedan), the Grand Marquis, the Mountaineer and the Monterey Mini-Van.

Mercury continued to struggle with image and sales until June of 2010 when they announced that they would no longer make the brand. Yet Ford Motor made a fine automobile under the Mercury brand name. When Mercury was launched in 1939 high hopes were placed upon it. Like the Mercury space program it was seen as a bridge to somewhere else and perhaps this limited its ability to grip the imagination of car buyers, people who bought Mercs were somewhere in transition between Fords and Lincolns. It is tough to build loyalty with a population that is working hard to upgrade past the Mercury. Nevertheless, Mercury automobiles did benefit from their association with the Roman god. Mercury was and is a familiar name that ellicits notions of swiftness and quality that has caused the manufacturers of other products to adopt the name Mercury as well.

Source: Indepthinfo