I love an old Mercury. I’ve never owned one, but that’s just a matter of coincidence at this point in my life, and it’s only a matter of time considering my car-hoarding proclivities. A couple weeks ago, by way of a ’64 Cutlass, I promulgated the virtues of the “20 footer,” a car whose appearance gently but decisively deteriorates upon approach. The 20 footer is everywhere, God bless it. Right in town was this ’62 Monterey that looked great from the road and even greater up close, if you’re a fan of that kind of thing.
A ’62 Monterey is not quite the Mercury of my dreams. For example, I’d prefer a Breezeway (’63-’65).
Or a ’65 Comet Villager…
Or a ’67 Cougar…
That’s all personal preference, however, and takes nothing away from the Monterey magic. I’ll confess that the Monterey is perhaps more of a 30 footer, but let’s take a walkaround anyway.
After reading J P Cavanaugh’s recent posts about the automotive history of white paint, I’ve begun to notice the subtle variations in shades of white. In this case, there was no need, because only one white was available on the ’62 Mercury – Sultana White – otherwise known as Wimbledon White in the Ford line. This corner of the Monterey looks pretty good, but there’s a little rust at the bottom of the driver’s door, not uncommon in Michigan. Please notice how awesome the fender-mounted mirror is. The hubcaps have that 1960s “more time was spent designing this than you realize; do you realize the manufacturing difficulties of these things?” look, and the chrome and stainless trim are quite serviceable. Not a bad start.
Uh-oh. You know the interior smells bad. Original upholstery is going to be expensive, so throw a blanket over that front bench, reinstall the missing door hardware, and drive on.
This is my favorite part of the ’62 Mercury – those goofy looking “afterburners.” Up close, notice the specks of rust and failing paint – get this thing inside a garage before it gets any worse – it’s perfect right now! Ford maintained its focus on jet imagery longer than other makes; rocket-inspired taillights only lasted until 1964 on the Mercury, and they were toned down significantly by that time. Ford used big round taillights all the way through 1965 on the Falcon.
The 1962 Chrysler is sometimes called a “plucked chicken,” since its fins were shorn from the otherwise similar ’61 models. The ’62 Mercury looks similarly bereft, although I still like the look.
What do you think?
Here’s another look at those cool taillights (oops, this one’s broken) and the gradual wear and tear that make this Monterey a 20 (or 30) footer.
This “bleeding rust” could probably be cleaned up with a little effort at trim and emblem removal. American cars from the 1950s and 1960s were and are often derided for their “gratuitous” trim, but it often gives a car a character of its own. An altered trim piece is enough of a clue for any car guy to identify an old car’s year of manufacture. If you wanted to be cynical about it, you could say that the slight difference in trim between, say, a 1955 and a 1956 Plymouth Belvedere was a condescending attempt to make a buyer think the same car was new, but I think little stuff like that is fun, and it’s important to have fun with your hobbies.
Walking around the passenger side, we can again see that this Mercury seems to have its original upholstery, but once again, it’s badly worn in general, and hypothetical on the driver’s seat.
According to the brochure, the Monterey Custom came standard with the old 292 Y-Block; by 1962, the Y-Block was only eight years old yet nearing the end of its lifespan. I didn’t look under the hood of our featured car because there was no evidence that it was for sale, but one of three displacements of FE engines could also be found under the hood of a Monterey Custom, ranging from a 352 all the way to a 406 with three two barrels. This one does not have the 406; it was a four-speed-only engine option.
Thus concludes our walkaround of this neat old Mercury. A ’62 Monterey is most likely nobody’s dream car, but a solid old sedan like this is always worth looking at. As old biases against four doors begin to fade away, this car and others like it could make somebody with a little cleaning time and ambition very happy, and maybe that person is the current owner. While it may not be a Breezeway, or a Comet Villager, or a Cougar, it’s a proud member of the 20-footer club in my book.
Related Reading:
Junkyard Heirloom Gallery: 1962 Mercury Monterey Commuter Station Wagon by Jim Klein
Curbside Classic: 1962 Mercury Monterey Custom – No Respect by J P Cavanaugh (This car is eerily similar to the one I found!)
The ’62 was the oddball of the ’60’s Mercs. It’s the only year where it looks like a re-trimmed ’62 Ford. The ’63’s picked up where the 61’s left off, and kept going from there.
And just how is the ’61 not a re-trimmed Ford? It’s the same car, except for different front and rear ends.
I’ve often thought that the evolution looked shuffled.
If I didn’t know and was asked to place the models in chronological order, to me,
the natural progression would seem more likely ’63, 61, ’62, ’64 with the”pipeside” gradually fading away.
Edit – Ford, not Merc.
The front is a bit Ford-generic, but I just love the back of the 62. Those taillights!
I’m a bit of a 20 footer myself these days, so I can appreciate the sentiment as applied to cars. 😉
No shame in being part of the club, Doug! 🙂
(Of course I had to comment:)
In case some of you forgot (or didn’t know), I had one of the best surviving examples of one of these from 2015-18:
Adding picture. The roof is “Sultana White”, which is the same as Ford’s “Corinthian White.”
What engine did yours have, Poindexter?
390 V-8, 4 bbl. carb., dual exhaust, 300 HP.
The dashboard is also beautiful. It’s hard to find the original pale gold finish in good condition like this:
I had never noticed that gold-ish dash applique before! My eyes could never pry themselves from the shifter concealed inside of a collar like everything except the Ford. 🙂
One year only! Here’s a better shot of the dash–it’s like you’re driving a space-age silver and gold pipe organ, with chrome plated “stops” you pull out!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/myoldpostcards/6438706913/
Kudos for highlighting the virtues of a ’60’s Mercury four door sedan as a collector car one can still buy without mortgaging the house yet drive and enjoy daily. Since they are a low- demand, low-visibility old car, even good examples sell for under $10K and can be found for less if one is mechanically handy.
Those in search of a reasonably-priced older Mercury are invited to visit the AACA Forum ‘Not Mine Cars For Sale” section where we re-post those we glean from Craigslist and other sites. The oddest-ball ’62 Monterey even showed up: a six cylinder with manual shift!
I look at your links almost daily – thanks!
Good Man, +1
I am a huge fan of the 62 Mercury. This is the up-market Custom, given the extra bling on the fenders to the side of the headlights and the trim for contrasting paint under the side windows.
I drove something like 40 minutes one evening to look at one of these that was described so glowingly on the phone by its owner. What a POS when I finally got there.
And what is up with that drivers side seat back? It looks like the upholstery has been pulled off, leaving just the foam underneath (with permanent crease imprints from living under the upholstery for the first 50+ years of its life).
Maybe someone got started on an upholstery job and never finished…that’s a common theme, well…everywhere!
I can’t count how many times a car has been misrepresented to me on the phone or online. A lot of times, I think the owner just gets tunnel vision regarding their car’s flaws; you just start to see past them after a while. On the other hand, some people are just lying jerks.
My first car was a 1964 Mercury Monterey with the Breezeway window. I drove it for 8 years and finally sold it in 1984 when I graduated from college and needed something more dependable to drive to another state for my new job. It was in fairly good condition but was using a lot of oil by then. Attached is a picture of it. Sorry about the quality of the image, this was taken before digital photography and was scanned on an old and cheap scanner. 🙂
Neat Breezeway! I checked one out for sale about 20 years ago, but it was rustier than I would have liked. I enjoyed the test drive though!
This ’62 Mercury is identical to the car used in one of my favorite ‘nuclear nightmare’ flicks “Panic In The Year Zero”. Some great scenes with it pulling a travel trailer as Ray Milland and family go on vacation, but end up escaping an atom bomb attack on LA.
That Mercury is sitting pretty level considering it has a trailer attached. 🙂
I’ve never heard of that movie before, but I love Cold War-era history…I’ll have to try to find it on an inside day.
A neighbour had one of these Mercs in the 1970s, so it was already well on to ten years old. It Had Rust Everywhere. It was in some colour of drab grey. He never washed it, and I’d be surprised if he ever even changed the oil, or had it done somewhere.
Sometimes he’d plunk the Merc in the parking spot in front of our house, and it would be there for days on end.
He replaced it, eventually, with about a 1972 or so Comet in light green. That one never got washed either, from the day it was new.
Your neighbor sounds a lot like my late uncle (RIP). Cool guy, but he was hell on his cars.
Once you see the taillight as a cat’s penis, it’s hard to unsee it.
Imagination is everything.
Very good write-up. Kudos to you for showing a four door sedan some love! I agree.
Thanks!
While there isn’t anything sexy or cool about this Mercury sedan, it’s just an old family car, it’s survived in good original shape. That makes it pretty cool actually. Ain’t nobody going to make a hot rod or custom out of this. This is the kind of car you borrowed from your folks when you finally got your license, before you were able to buy a car for yourself. I’ve started to appreciate cars like this in my old age. I think that I should consider the 1960 Mercury rear end treatment as grotesque, but I find it fascinating!
I actually really like ’59 and ’60 Mercury, the ’59 a little more than the ’60. The dashboards are crazy (in a good way).
Wow, what a neat survivor ! .
I don’t want to own a full size American Land Yacht but I do remember the occasional ride in a new one and the inevitable rides in hand-me-downs of my teen-aged friends later on .
I wish this was a two door but just to see it still out on the road is nice .
I have fond memories of both my 1962 full size Fords .
-Nate
Parents owned a clean ’62 S-55, 390 4 barrel floor shifter auto with bucket seats, had factory under dash AC, beige 2 door with beautiful cream and beige interior, 4 lap belts, lots of chrome and stainless steel inside. 14 year old me never realized it was an S-55 until I discovered CC.
Dad traded it in on a puke green ’67 4 door Monterey that ran poorly, it had 2 barrel 390. Eventually it was discovered the exhaust was plugged up due to baffles falling apart in the muffler, this was discovered after first a valve job was done and then a rebuilt transmission was installed.
Mom was pissed at him for a long time for trading her “White Knight” as she called it for the pos ’67 that drained his bank account in expensive unneeded repairs due to nothing more then a plugged exhaust.