The Ford Motor Company said Wednesday that it would stop production of Mercury vehicles in the fourth quarter and discontinue the brand. (NY Times 06/02/2010)
My dad was a "Mercury Man." His first car was a 1950 Mercury that he bought from his uncle. It was a four-door classic black sedan. I remember vividly that it had a stick shift, a starter button on the dash and that I moved it forward at the tender age of four or five by pressing said button while it was in gear.
I also remember sitting in the spacious back seat (upholstered in an itchy-scratchy grey velour) on the way home Sunday nights and listening to Mom and Dad talking while listening to Howard Miller on WIND radio.
Here's a pretty good picture of how the car looked and its interior. I honestly didn't recall the "suicide doors" .... cool!
The '50 Mercury died a noble death while saving the life of my dad. A family emergency required Dad drive from our suburban home into Chicago. He took a curve at too great a speed, rolled the car (way before the days of seat belts) and walked away unscathed.
The replacement for the staid 1950 Mercury was a svelte and sporty 1957 Mercury in two-tone Red and White with black and white houndstooth interior. Unfortunately it was more svelte than dependable. At least three times we tried to drive from our home in Lombard down to New Salem. Each time we had a break-down and failed to make the trip until we replaced the car with a more dependable Mercury.
The two-tone color scheme is shown in the top of the photo to the side. Ironically, my Dad really, really wanted the blue-and-white model but couldn't wait for it to be delivered and took the red-and-white one as it was in stock at our local dealer.And, as luck would have it, our local dealer was within a mile of our home. While Barta-Gorski Mercury was a relatively small dealer, it did deal fairly with Dad and vice versa. He bought a total of three cars from them and would have bought the last two Mercuries there if they'd stayed in business.
Due to wanting more dependable transportation, Dad traded in the 1957 Mercury for a 1960 model. It was one huge car. I learned how to drive and got my license in the 1960 Monterey ... even passed the parallel parking portion of the test despite its daunting size. (In comparison, the 1960 model was 7 inches longer and 3 inches wider than the Ford Crown Victoria of 2009.
One other memory I have of the 1960 car was its turtle-like appearance and turtle-like acceleration. It weighed around 3600 pounds and was likely powered by the 312-cubic inch V8. Dad bought it in "Aztec Turquoise" (see sample below)
Note that there were two "bulls eye" ornaments on the front left and right fenders ... it made for better aiming when hunting pedestrians. (Just kidding)
The 1960 Monterey was traded in for one of my all-time favorite cars: a 1965 Monterey 4-door sedan in a gorgeous "Midnight Blue" with a "Breezeway" rear window. The "Midnight Blue" looked almost black at night but glistened with some sparkles during the day time.
This was before the days of stereo radio (except on Cadillacs and Lincolns or other high-ticket cars). But Dad popped for front and rear speakers ... which coupled with the Breezeway rear window made for a great cruising sound system. The Breezeway model is in the middle photo below
The '65 version was also a substantial step up in terms of engine capacity as it had (as a standard powerplant) the 390-cubic inch V8. The Monterey model was the base model but I like its looks better than the Montclair or Park Lane as it had less chrome on the sides.
Dad bought at least two more Mercuries after that -- maybe more. But by then I had my own car and didn't drive either very much. There was a 1969 Mercury ... our first car with air conditioning that was a sorta-yellow with a sorta-green vinyl top (I think).
And his last Mercury was a black one if I recall correctly. I do remember that he bought it before moving to Arizona ... but once there, Dad felt the car was too dark and gathered too much heat. So, he had a white vinyl roof put on to deflect the sun ... which transformed it to a "look-alike" squad car. He joked/complained about how folks would hit the brakes when he came up behind him.
Dad's last car was an Oldsmobile ... and he passed away a few years later. Now Mercury joins him ... I know one guy who's in heaven and probably still driving a Mercury. RIP Mercury ... and Dad.
