Mercury’s everlasting identity crisis has been discussed on these hallowed pages ad nauseum. In what were perhaps the halcyon years of the American auto industry, namely the immediate postwar era to about 1975, Mercury’s most murky moments probably centered around the 1961-1962 model years, when every model was a gingerbready Ford. By 1970, Mercury had drifted slightly back toward Lincoln with its gothic front ends and imposing bulk. Both were attractive, if someone uncommon, options that someone liked enough to buy over a brand new Ford. Let’s look into that.
In 1962, if Joe Average wanted a racy Mercury convertible, s/he was really getting a Ford Galaxie, because in 1961, Mercury “realigned” its lineup (again?) to Ford’s. For several years prior to this, most Mercury models were more like Lincolns, even using versions of the MEL V8 (like the weird 383: who knew?). Ford’s old 312 was even a mainstay (as a base engine) in Mercury’s lineup through 1960; Ford abandoned it after 1957.
When Mercury became the luxury Ford in 1961, dealers got a whole different car to sell. For example, Monterey Customs (like this convertible) came with a standard 292, and all optional engines were based on the Ford FE block rather than the MEL. In fact, all of the engine options, right up to the 406, mirrored Ford’s. Mercury’s whole lineup was in lock step with Ford’s in 1962; compact (Comet), intermediate (Meteor), and full-sized (Monterey) were all represented.
According to the front fender badging, this example, with its bucket seats and console, is not the “sporty” S-55, which was Mercury-speak for the Galaxie 500XL. S-55 trim differed somewhat from the Custom’s. Either way, red on red is a striking color choice for this uncommon Mercury.
In an attempt to differentiate the Mercury from the Ford, stylists included jet-age touches like these “afterburner” taillights, which had obviously been done before (I’m looking at you, ’59 Cadillac). Ford styling was, however, often derivative (like the ’65 Galaxie, although to be fair, everybody was copying Pontiac at that time). An interesting tidbit is that the Monterey was the only big Mercury model until 1964, when the Montclair and Park Lane were reintroduced after being dropped in 1961.
To accentuate the apparent change for change’s sake mentality, compare the rear view of the Monterey with the Galaxie below.
Now look back at a ’62 Mercury that I’m including for no reason at all other than to use another picture of a Monterey convertible I have lying around.
It would be tough to argue that the Mercury’s posterior is the cleaner of the two. Though both are rocket-inspired, the Monterey’s taillights seem like afterthoughts compared to the Galaxie’s. As much as I like the featured Monterey, I think I would hesitate to call it a truly successful design. Let’s put it this way, if I had the money for a red Ford convertible in 1962, I wouldn’t be buying the Mercury.
And I wouldn’t have been in the minority. The Galaxie Sunliners of 1962 outsold the Monterey Custom Convertible at a rate of roughly 12 to one. That’s a pretty convincing trouncing that could be a result of myriad factors: looks, price, dealer proximity… The fact remains: one is far more likely to see a 1962 Galaxie convertible than a 1962 Monterey convertible at a car show or on the road today.
The Ford/Mercury comparison is, however, getting me a little off-track. Therefore, let’s get hypothetical. Let’s say the original owner of this Monterey is a dyed-in-the-wool Mercury booster, residing in a southern, rust-free locale. S/he keeps this Monterey for eight years before deciding to trade it in on a new Mercury. What might said fastidious original owner find on the lot in 1970?
It certainly would be a lot bigger and more Lincoln-like. In 1965, although it stayed on a Ford-based platform, Mercury made a conscious effort to veer toward the Continental side of the corporate lineup. Brochures mentioned the Continental overtly, in the same breath as the new Mercury. By 1970, one could be forgiven for thinking that this Marquis convertible WAS a Lincoln. It was bigger, heavier, and (probably) more powerful than the ’62, with its 429 under the hood.
Of course, by 1970, our hypothetical convertible-loving owner would have a hard time even finding a Mercury convertible, as under 2,000 of them were sold under both the Monterey and Marquis nameplates. Our featured Marquis was the most popular, at roughly 1,200 sold. The console and floor-shift were gone, replaced by a bag of Better Made potato chips. As I creep into middle age, I can understand the plight of our hypothetical owner, eating potato chips and needing a little more room behind the wheel, but I digress.
The Marquis’ rear end is more brougham than jet, aligning itself nicely with the ’70s sociological paradigm. It certainly seems wider. Unfortunately, this may have been Mr. or Mrs. Joe Average’s last Mercury convertible, as all convertibles, as we know, went into a period of hibernation by the mid-1970s. Therefore, if said owner traded for a new car every eight years, what would 1978 have brought? Another Mercury? Something else? Let’s end with that question of the day.
Keep the 70 and buy a Fiat 131 Panorama for shopping trips.
I’m a fan of the Mercury brand but the 60, 61, and to a lesser extent the 62 are pretty odd looking designs.
While this 62 is a nice car, what’s with the 2 tone interior? Red and black seats….with black carpets? If I bought this car, I’d be tempted to throw out originality and make the seats and carpets all red.
The 70? A very nice large convertible, certainly less “controversial” than the Ford of the same year with it’s (almost) overwrought front end styling and not so much muscular as borderline bulky body.
I just realized, everything I said about the 60-62 Mercury is what most folks say about the same years of Plymouth.
1978 Mercury Marquis 2-door hardtop, last ones before they got downsized for 1979.
Hmm, 1978. If any convertibles were to be found, they were small fry like the 124 Spider, not exactly what one would end up in after two full-size Mercuries. Visiting his local L-M dealer in ’78, what would he have found? In my opinion, nothing in the Mercury lineup. The ’78 Marquis & Co. had gone back Ford-lite again, which would be a letdown after this fine ’70 specimen. The Cougar? A big seller, but not for this gent. And certainly he wouldn’t go near a Monarch, Zephyr, or Bobcat. If he’d stuck with the big Marquis ragtop though the oil crises, he wasn’t downsizing now.
I think one of two things would have happened. Both assume that he might have the room in his wallet late in life to move up a bit. He could have found himself in a Continental Mark V–presence to spare, all the comforts and size of his Marquis plus some, and an available sunroof to at least put a little “wind in the hair”. And they could be had in red, naturally. Or, going in a completely different direction, I could see him crossing enemy lines and putting down his cash for an Oldsmobile Toronado XS. With the panoramic bent-glass rear window, and quite a large moonroof available, it was as close to open-air as you were going to get, since the T-top XSR model never made production. So our protagonist could have easily found himself in a shiny red Toronado XS.
Also, what about 1986, after the convertible was back in action? Slim pickings. If our owner decided to return to open air, given the available choices…a clean, low-mile 1985 Riviera convertible might be just the ticket.
I’d like to think that in 1978, the owner was resigned to believe that their youthful open-air days were behind them and downsized to a sedate Zephyr four-door sedan.
By the way the ’70, to my eyes, is a much more pleasant car to look at than the ’62.
I agree with BOC – the Mercury Man would have bought this 78 Marquis coupe. Maybe even with a white vinyl roof, just to go with the white shiny loafers he would likely have been wearing that year. I actually knew a guy who had a red 76-78 Marquis coupe, with a slick roof, yet, and found it a strangely appealing car. He was a 350 pound guy who drove with a cigar clenched in his teeth, and he just looked right in it.
Your mythical Mercury Man would then have been able to get one of the last Marquis coupes in 1986, red again, that would likely have lasted him until he either died or finally got into a Town Car.
I am still a big fan of the 62, although the dash is so obviously Ford-sourced that it is painful. At least you got a concealed shift tube on the steering column for column-shifted automatics. That 70 is an attractive car too. Had I been 20 or 30 years older, I could conceivably been the Mercury Man, at least if the Chrysler dealer had tried to screw me.
I’m going to risk being “that guy” for this, but the last Grand Marquis coupes were built in the 1987 model year, not 1986.
My Dad had a 1977 Mercury Grand Marquis Brougham four-door sedan. I drove it a number of times and I remember it as being a real pig with its ultra-soft suspension and absolutely dead-feeling steering.
I’m voting Cougar XR-7. That would have been the “high style” leader of the Mercury fleet in 1978, taking the role occupied by the convertibles in the earlier era. How about this one finished in the “midnight/chamois” trim option?
I like all those color-specific trim packages Ford/Lincoln/Mercury used to have. That seemed to be a Ford thing – I don’t remember nearly as many from GM or Chrysler.
Chrysler had a bunch, but a lot of them only had very short runs. The “mod top” cars come to mind, and the Aspen/Volare “Street Kit cars”, Gold Duster, Newport Cordoba, Newport Navajo, Dart Hang-10, Dart Spirit of ’76, Street Van, pickup trucks such as the Dude, Jean Machine, Li’l Red Express, Warlock, Midnight Express, Spirit of ’76, Macho Power Wagon…
They had alot of those sort of themed trim packages like the surfing or bicentennial themed Darts, but not as many that were simply “Maroon Luxury Group” that Ford had so many of in the ’70s
I actually prefer the ’62 Mercury’s rear styling to the Ford’s. It’s rare that the taillamps aren’t the focal point of the rear, but they’re not on this Merc.
Was 1962 the peak popularity year for rear grilles? What was the last car that had one?
Mercurys would have rear “grilles” for a few more years after 62. After the 64s, it wasn’t so much a grille as a fair amount of chrome. I suppose a (weak) argument could be made that the full-width tail light treatment used by the full-sized Mercury up through 78 was a continuation of this rear “grille” idea.
That year’s Ford LTD Landau had the last rear grille I can recall, if only a small one.
It would depend on whether the owner was a diehard convertible fan, or just wanted something big and distinctive.
If it was the former, I could see him or her moving to one of the imported brands. If it was the latter, it would have been a Lincoln Continental Mark V in one of the Designer Editions, or perhaps the very expensive Diamond Jubilee edition (1978 was the 75th anniversary of the Ford Motor Company).
The post-1960 full-size Mercurys have an interesting history. Before he left to serve in the Kennedy Administration, Robert McNamara was able to force Mercury to abandon its 1959-60 platform, which was developed exclusively for Mercury. He wanted to rationalize Mercury around shared Ford platforms. Very weak Mercury sales in the late 1950s helped him make his case. While it was not branded as a Mercury until the 1962 model year, the compact Comet (which shared a platform with the Falcon) was keeping the dealers afloat during the early 1960s.
This did save money, but also made it very difficult for buyers to justify the purchase of a Mercury over a comparable Ford. As the article notes, this car was hardly a step up from a Ford. Meanwhile, there was no doubt that a Pontiac from these years was a step up from a Chevrolet. At least the styling of the 1961-62 Dodge was so wacky that Lincoln-Mercury dealers weren’t too worried about any threats from the Mopar front.
I got Mercury poison bad, I always check them out first at shows and in magazines.I like them both but would much sooner have a smaller Comet (my first American car) or 67/68 Cougar than these giants.
Having watched people in 1978 cope with a fast changing automotive landscape, our Mercury man might have done most anything, including a radical downsizing that he might later regret. Assuning our man was doing well financially, and he lived somewhere where his ’70 had not rusted out, I say he keeps the ’70 as a hobby car and brings home a loaded Cougar XR-7.
Don’t care for this ’62 at all. If it were in black, the front end would look like my first electric razor from the same era.
For the newer version, I would propose the one-off Marauder convertible.
http://www.netcarshow.com/mercury/2002-marauder_convertible_concept/
Though I too prefer the Ford (love the wheel covers and side trim), I like the 1962 Mercury. As far as badge engineering goes, at least in terms of the exterior, FMC did a decent job in distinguishing the Mercury from the Ford, and both are handsome cars. For me, the Merc’s taillight lenses more closely resemble those on the 1962 Imperial than the 1959 Cadillac. And unlike the Imperial’s lights, they are somewhat better protected!
And Mercury:
The Mercury looks like it was designed to have that tail light. The Imperial looks like someone realized they forgot to design taillights into their car and said “ok, let’s stick ’em on here”…
And both could be viewed from the side, unlike the lights on the 62 Ford, a safety advantage before it was federally-mandated.
I’d take the Mercury just for the tail lights.
Interesting the ’62 convertible does not have a padded dash. Maybe could not be sourced when car was restored? We had a ’62 Monterey 2 door hardtop with padded dash, bucket seats and floor shifter with console like this car, except car was beige and interior was 2 tone white and beige. Ours had the 390 engine. Mercury did do a good job of making the ’62 car appear different than the Ford, but the ’70 shown looks a lot more like its Ford counterpart than the ’62 does. The factory AC hung underdash looked aftermarket on the ’62. Ford really took it’s time offering factory AC that was built into the dash.
And yet Ford offered factory in-dash air conditioning in 1956 (pictured):
http://collectiblecarcorner.blogspot.com/2008/08/history-of-auto-air-conditioning.html
I’ve never quite understood why they went back to add-on units. I suppose for the same reason that it took Ford so long to enclose the shift column – money saving.
Chrysler may have been worse – my neighbor’s ’76 Dart still had aftermarket-style factory A/C that looked almost exactly like the one optional in the ’62 Mercury.
My family had a 60 Ford Country Sedan and a 64 Country Squire. My father special ordered the 60 and it had a padded dash. The 64 was bought used and did not have a padded dash…..or at least that’s how I remember it. Apparently 65 was the 1st year for padded dash tops?
My parents had a ’63 Monterey Custom 4-door hardtop. When my dad ordered the ’63, he sold our existing ’59 Ford Galaxie family car to a coworker, and the dealer in L.A. offered us a ’62 Monterey Custom loaner until the ’63 arrived just before Christmas in 1962. I remember my mom driving it around for a month or two, and I was so enthralled with those little jet tube taillights, so neatly faired into the body. Moving up to a Mercury in those days was still a pretty big deal coming from a Ford, even though the Mercury was obviously a Ford derivative. Our ’63 had a padded dash, as did all of our family cars, my dad was very safety conscious. The ’63 also had the underhung A/C unit, I always thought it was so bulky and unattractive looking, and I recall we had a lot of trouble with it. Ford integrated the A/C on the Mercury into the dash the following year. And btw, I am reasonably certain the steering wheel on the red ’62 convertible pictured above is from a ’63, the ’62 retained the half horn ring typical of all Ford products then, and did not have the contrasting color grip sections, which appeared on the ’63. I specifically remember the three horn buttons on the ’63 steering wheel when I was learning to drive, which I thought were pretty cool.
A T-Bird W/ a T-Roof
You could get a ’77-79 Cougar with t-tops, couldn’t you? I’ve only ever seen one photo, but the Thunderbird was advertised often with t-tops.
Honestly, if he was a Mercury man, he’d either go for the Marquis, or if he at least wanted to stay in the Ford family he’d have bought a Thunderbird. Granted, the Thunderbird would’ve been pretty big compared to his last two cars, but the entire point of a convertible or coupe is to have a nice car for yourself.
Actually, I’m not sure there was such a thing as a “Mercury man.” I think there were “Ford men” who wanted something nicer (or maybe made a better deal). When they could afford to, they skipped right up to Lincoln.
What there were, were loyal customers of individual L-M dealerships.
A forgotten point indeed. “I’ve been buying cars from Joe Blow Lincoln Mercury since 1952,” was a common bragging point. It may seem foolish now but Joe Blow LM knew the value of a good customer and kept them coming back.
Possible timeline;
1972 – State legislature, at behest of dealer association passes bill nullifying clauses in dealer contracts that ban dealers from holding another mfr’s franchise.
1972 – Joe Blow Lincoln-Mercury becomes Joe Blow Lincoln-Mercury-Honda on the day the law takes effect, July 1.
1978 – ’70 Merc ragtop traded on ’78 Accord hatch
(2011 – With the end of Mercury, Joe Blow Honda gives up Lincoln franchise to Sam Schmo Ford down the street)
> 1978 – ’70 Merc ragtop traded on ’78 Accord hatch
That’s quite the switch! If our hypothetical owner had been happy with his ’70 Merc, don’t you think he would’ve given the Blue Oval one more shot before getting burned and switching to imports sometime in the 80’s?
I’m thinking if he wanted to stay sporty(as far as a red,full size convertible can be sporty) he would have gone with a red, t-top, heritage edition t-bird. sorry but the bird still had more cache than a x-r7 any day of the week.
if he wanted to stay brand loyal, a smart salesman would have tilted him towards a 78 Lincoln town coupe. time to go up before the car goes down!(in size)
I’ll break the rules a bit. If s/he could have waited nine years instead of eight, maybe s/he’d like one of these, with T-Tops.
I’m seeing a 78 Lincoln.