While GM can lay claim to inventing the pantheon of automotive brands that Alfred P. Sloan gathered into his eponymous ladder, that didn’t stop other manufacturers from also trying to get into the “Car for every purse and purpose” game. Ford wasn’t about to cede any ground to GM, so over the years they made various attempts at creating their own stepping stones of brands, ranging from Mercury to Edsel to Continental to Comet.
These Ford Motor Company ads from 1939 showcase Ford’s effort at building their own Sloanian Ladder, with the introduction of the new-for-1939 Mercury brand.
1939 Ford Motor Company Ad – How many different cars are there really?
We’ve discussed at great length over the years the changing definitions of what constitutes a Brand vs. a Model and how this changed after the introduction of the Big 3 compact and intermediate models in the early 1960s. However it was defined, there’s no escaping the fact that Ford had fewer actual brands than GM in 1939, so they had to take some liberties even by the loose definitions of the day. I’m not sure how many people actually considered the Ford and DeLuxe Ford to be different cars. Similarly, I never thought of Lincoln and Lincoln-Zephyr as distinct brands, but Ford was clearly marketing them as such.
1939 Mercury Ad
From the very beginning, Mercury’s rung of the FoMoCo Sloanian Ladder was tenuous. Even after reading the text in the above ad, I’m still not exactly clear who the audience for the new Mercury was, or what its value proposition was (other than being a slightly fancier Ford). If it takes eight paragraphs of text to explain, as the old saying goes, you’ve already lost the battle.
As we all now know, Ford fared no better than GM in their attempt to build a Sloanian Ladder. The Ladder as a concept was obsolete almost as soon as it was realized and was never able to match the realities of the marketplace.
Excellent terminology that only gearheads and auto marketing geeks would understand and adore:the ‘Sloanian Ladder.’ I suppose at some point the ladder turns into an anchor, evidence of which is routinely attested to on CC.
Ford’s real problem in the ’30s wasn’t branding, it was pricing. The Ford brand was around $500 and the Lincoln started at $5000. That’s a factor of 10 with nothing in the interval. GM and Chrysler started their bottom rung at $500 and started the top rung at $1500, with several choices in between. Even without the in-betweens, the top rung attracted a LOT more potential buyers.
Like with the later Edsel, I think Ford really tried hard to sell that first Mercury.
And as with the Edsel, part of the first year promotion was a nice model of the new car. Edsel had the AMT 1/25 scale model and for the 1939 Mercury there was a cast metal Mercury four door sedan. In about 1/40 scale, it was actually a coin bank. There was a slot at the rear edge of the hood and an access port on the bottom of the car. A variety of colors were issued (mine is a medium blue). These were pretty accurate castings; the raised phrase “Mercury Eight” is cast at the sides of the hood. This was a one year only issue; nothing like it appeared in any subsequent year.
From my graphic design training, the first two ads reflect repetition in their design. Not the best approach to take, if you want to convey brand distinction. The first ad showing similar-looking noses in a consistent pattern, even if the colours and grilles are unique. Probably best, not to show the lower-priced cars lined up, with the more premium brands.
One other observation I forgot to mention in the post. If you look at the second picture, it is clear how outdated the Lincoln Model K was by 1939 (its final year). With its fender-mounted spares, running boards, and obsolete body styles, such as landaulet and dual-cowl phaeton. It stands out in the Ford lineup, albeit for the wrong reasons.
The Brunn Brougham in particular stands out as looking like a 1933-4 car with faired-in headlights.
That was really a stretch considering the first three steps on the ladder were: Last year’s Ford redone, this year’s Ford, and this year’s Ford with a bit of extra chrome and a few more horsepower. Followed by a moderate jump to a small V-12, and finally followed by a huge jump to the Model K.
I sometimes wonder if Ford believed in the Slonian Ladder other than, “GM has it, so we have to have it, too.” Chrysler’s attempt at least had some differentiation between the different marques, even if they all shared the same drivetrains, and way too much of the same styling.
The Mercury was more than a Ford with different trim. It sported several unique body panels. Park a 1939 Mercury beside a 1939 De Luxe Ford, and the differences become apparent.
The expanded line-up was the work of Edsel Ford, who had to get a buy-in from his father. Henry’s attitude ranged from indifference to outright hostility. This line-up was the best that Edsel could do.
The 1939 model year also marked the debut of hydraulic brakes on all Ford Motor Company vehicles except for the Lincoln K-series. Ford had lagged behind the rest of the industry in switching to hydraulic brakes due to Henry’s refusal to budge on the issue. He finally gave in when it became apparent that the retention of mechanical brakes was hurting Ford’s sales. The effort to expand Ford’s line-up was just one battle that Edsel was fighting during the late 1930s.
Actually the Model K was competitive in style with contemporary Packards and Cadillacs. They had similar body styles available, had fender mounted spares, and even still had their headlights in pods as opposed to the Model K headlights integrated in the fenders.
The ad really just tries to sell something that Ford hadn’t made, like manufacturers calling mashups of manual transmissions with extra features some kind of “matic” when other brands had actual fully automatic transmissions.
Chevrolet also had two price lines of vehicles: Master and Master Deluxe. Master Deluxe had IFS and nicer trim.
Mercury was a serious attempt to make a mid price car.
Zephyr was a serious attempt to make an upscale car.
The K series Lincolns were just hanging around. They’d never been anything but a hobby and a Ford manufactured luxury car for the Ford family and very wealthy Ford loyalists. Reminds me a lot of the obscure Japanese luxury sedans that mostly were built for the corporation’s own executives and for government users who didn’t want to be seen in imported luxury cars.
Do the best you can with what you have – that was the Ford Motor Company of the late 1930s. The big Lincoln K was a wonderful car, but one that had become obsolete during the lingering depression of the 1930’s, when flaunting wealth was definitely out of fashion.
I have also been fascinated by Ford’s short term program of selling what appeared to be a mildly updated version of last year’s model as the “bargain Ford” while the DeLuxe was clearly new. The more modern version was how the Maverick and Valiant hung around when the Granada and Volare came out.
Also, it is important to remember the context – Ford Motor had fairly recently been surpassed in corporate sales by Chrysler, which was the No. 2 manufacturer in 1939. These ads are the No. 3 company’s attempts to make it look larger and more formidable than it actually was.
Ford’s challenge was losing buyers as they moved up to a larger or nicer car. The Lincoln Zephyr was a nice car and certainly helped Lincoln during the Great Depression but there was a still a significant price gap between the two lines. Undoubtedly they were losing sales to Dodge or Oldsmobile but I would suggest they were aiming at the Buick Special. If you look at Buick, the best selling model was the Buick Special. Buying a Buick Special meant you got a V8, a larger car and the cache or respectability of a premium brand. After 1933, Buick was rising on the sales charts and by the time Mercury launched in 1939, Buick was ranked 4th in US Auto Brand sales. The bigger Buicks, i.e. Century and Roadmaster, were more expensive and priced around the Zephyr but a Buick Special buyer was not likely cross-shopping Zephyrs though they may have considered the Packard Six/110. Ford needed something to fill that gap and so you get Mercury.
Well put. No V8 in the Buick but the straight 8 was a winner!
The Ford range here was longer begining with the little 8 & 10hp Anglias and Prefects moving on up through the US V8 range but without Lincoln really having any presence.
I’m still pissed Ford gave up Mercury & GM gave up Oldsmobile.