Marque of the Month
Mercury
May
was created in 1939 to fill the gap between the Lincoln Zephyr and the Ford Deluxe.
was mainly an idea of Edsel Ford.
was positioned as a rival to Pontiac.
was paired with Lincoln in 1947 as the Lincoln-Mercury Division.
was 6th in domestic sales in 1953.
was paired with Edsel and Lincoln in 1958 as the Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln (MEL) Division.
e1949_Mercury.jpg (79380 bytes) e1953_Mercury_Monterey.jpg (3090794 bytes) e1956_Mercury_Montclair.jpg (81155 bytes) e1957_Mercury_Turnpike_Cruiser.jpg (526119 bytes) e1958_Mercury_Park_Lane.jpg (59508 bytes) e1959_Mercury_Park_Lane.jpg (69916 bytes)
1949 9CM 1953 Monterey 1956 Montclair 1957 Turnpike Cruiser 1958 Park Lane 1959 Park Lane
e1960_Mercury_Monterey.jpg (1782819 bytes) e1962_Mercury_Monterey.jpg (440775 bytes) e1963_Mercury_Comet.jpg (320100 bytes) e1965_Mercury_Comet.jpg (276554 bytes) e1966_Mercury_S55.jpg (46822 bytes) e1967_Mercury_Cougar.jpg (322814 bytes)

1960 Monterey 

 1962 Monterey

1963 Comet

1965 Comet

1966 S-55

1967 Cougar
e1969_Mercury_Marauder_X-100.jpg (72553 bytes) e1970_Mercury_Cougar.jpg (52679 bytes) e1973_Mercury_Cougar_XR7.jpg (83618 bytes) e1977_Mercury_Grand_Marquis.jpg (721291 bytes) e1985_Mercury_Colony_Park.jpg (2097865 bytes) e1988_Mercury_Grand_Marquis.jpg (2221264 bytes)
1969 Marauder X-100 1970 Cougar 1973 Cougar 1977 Grand Marquis 1980 Colony Park 1988 Grand Marquis

Mercury began as an up-market Ford, and really hasn't evolved much from that beginning.  More stylized (particularly in the 1950's) than comparable Ford's, the Mercury line was designed to appeal the growing middle-class.  Starting in the 1970's and reaching into the present, Mercury products have mainly been Fords with different grilles and trim.  Attempts are being made to create a greater differentiation between Mercury and Ford products (the recent-past Villager and Cougar for example), but Mercury has never had their own engineering department to truly separate themselves from the parent corporation.
 
Did You Know?
  • The 1949-51 Mercury used the same body shell as the smaller Lincoln of the same years.
  • The first use of "The Big M" slogan was in 1956.
  • The first reverse-slant retractable rear window was on the 1957 Turnpike Cruiser.
  • The first non-V8 engine in a Mercury did not appear until 1960, in the Comet.

  • The car Tracy Bond drove in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was a 1969 Cougar.

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© 2001 San Francisco Historical Automobile Society, P.O. Box 880233, San Francisco, CA 94188-0233