(first posted 6/30/2015) In the time I have been writing articles here, my affinity for Mercury has prompted a few accusations of my having Mercury poisoning. For that, I can only plead to being guilty as charged. Just don’t think I’m as whacked out as The Mad Hatter; this affinity only applies to the full-sizers.
This white Montego is a mid-sizer. It is simply a gussied up Torino, the car that can readily trace its roots back to the humble Ford Falcon of 1960. With Ford having doused this Montego with Torino DNA – a car I have limited capacity for liking – having any warm fuzzy’s for this particular Mercury is going to be very unlikely.
Our featured Montego is a stripper model, something that should be (but obviously isn’t) oxymoronic for any car wearing the Mercury label. Sitting on this Montego for weeks, I’ve been looking for a way to effectively explain and convey my thoughts on this Mercury. I didn’t want to totally eviscerate the car.
Then it hit me. An analogy for the entire 1971 Montego line, all enveloped in a wrapper that helps illustrate the inherent spirit of the Montego series.
The Mercury Montego line for 1971 can be viewed as being analogous to the personas of these four gentleman. Look at them closely, you’ve likely seen them before.
At the top of the Montego heap was the Montego Cyclone. It was loud, it could be visually captivating, it had a language all its own. Production was low, but if you’ve ever seen one, it made an impression that sticks with you.
Think of it as the Mercury version of Harpo Marx. Always making noise and not blending in with the crowd was his specialty.
Moving down the ladder of the Montego line was the Montego Brougham. Slathered with a vinyl roof, chrome do-dads galore, and all kinds of other flourishes, it sported an abundance of fakery and pretense.
Like the Cyclone, it wasn’t the best seller. People tended to either love these or hate these – there really was no middle ground.
The mustache and eyebrows were grease paint accessories; think of it as being like a vinyl roof. Groucho was a cocktail of snarky and obnoxious, much like the luxury of the Montego Brougham.
The Montego MX was the everyman of the lineup, the one always trying to get ahead. The best seller of the line, it was successful in that regard as it was sedate and relatively inoffensive.
Do you see a pattern yet?
Where does that put us? Oh yes, determining the base model Montego’s comparison to the Marx Brothers. It certainly seems to fit; but what about this base model?
Zeppo was the straight man whose seeming lack of persona relegated him out of the typically remembered Marx Brothers trio.
This base model Montego was the Zeppo of the bunch, the quickly forgotten youngest brother. Frequently overlooked in history, the base Montego – like Zeppo – was actually one of the more crucial members of the lineup. Zeppo could double for any of his brothers both physically and in voice, much like this Montego could be gussied up to mimic all the other variations.
Maybe this comparison is somewhat unorthodox. Then again, this particular Mercury is rather unorthodox in terms of the typical 1971 Montego.
By 1971 automatic transmissions were seemingly becoming as common as tread on tires, with over 97% of all Montego’s having an automatic. Not this one; it’s one of the three percent requiring a shifty person. A three-speed in a Mercury seems so 1951, not 1971.
Also, V8 engines were rapidly filling engine bays all over North America, with nearly 92% of Montego’s having eight pistons pumping away in a harmonious symphony. This one is squarely in the minority as the standard 250 cubic inch six is under the hood.
It’s also in the minority for air conditioning and likely power steering. As stripped as this car is, I cannot imagine power steering as part of the package. This car has the appearance of a loss-leader to draw in customers, enticing them into a nicer Montego or, better still, a full-sized Monterey or Marquis.
A google search reveals no Bill Bogley in Bethesda, Maryland; somebody in Maryland will likely know what happened. Despite however long it sat on the lot, it ended up in the St. Louis area by 1975, as evidenced by stickers on the windshield.
Numerous articles throughout the archives can be found to discuss “Bunkie Beak”, a syndrome of certain early 1970s Ford’s, particularly Thunderbird’s, having a pronounced protrusion from the frontal regions. Named for Semon “Bunkie” Knudson, it was a Pontiac design element Knudsen brought with him to Ford.
Arguably this is one of the worst manifestations of Bunkie Beak on any Ford Motor Company Product. This unruly trait even succeeded in imprinting itself in the minds of non-car people. How so? In the early 1980s, the drunk teenage children of a neighbor crashed their Montego into some large, fixed object. My mother, the orthopedic nurse, commented how they had been so badly injured yet the headlights on their car weren’t even broken (the Montego had been dumped in open sight near their house for nature to reclaim it). When I explained they were driving that Mercury with the grossly inset headlights, it all made sense to her.
Something that does not make sense is using tail lights from the Comet on the mid-sized Montego. Did this succeed in elevating the Comet or lowering the stature of the Montego? And why do this on a Mercury? Ford didn’t have such tail light sharing between the Maverick and Torino; their tail light sharing was between the Maverick and Pinto.
Was the ambition to create a mid-sized Montego so weak as to forego all originality? This is an unfortunate outcome for a car intended to compete with GM’s mid-ranged cars. GM didn’t share tail lights nor did Chrysler. Just blatant repurposing of tail lights is straight from the AMC playbook and AMC did so only because they were financially destitute most of the time. Mercury wasn’t, so why was this allowed to happen? Given sales were about one-eighth that of the Torino and half those of the Comet, it appears nobody really cared. Or those at Mercury treated the Montego endeavor with a healthy dose of Marx Brothers irreverence.
When I started this, I wondered if the comparison to the Marx Brothers was logical. Perhaps in the bigger picture it is. Like the Marx Brothers, the Montego was completely offbeat while possessing distinct personality traits; unlike them, it does not make a strong case for itself being in the lineup.
In the automotive world, being an offbeat model of an offbeat brand is not an enviable position to have. This Mercury is very much the Zeppo Marx of the 1971 lineup, but the world is a richer place for this Montego having been produced.
Sometimes it seemed like the Big 3 was following the old JDM model of having the same basic cars with minor trim changes (Toyota Chaser, Cresta, Cressida, Mark) to serve different dealers.
Definitely. At least before the ’60s they were only working with one or two body shells, so it was possible to make the different brands more distictive. Once each brand came in 3 or 4 different sizes, it became increasingly difficult to restyle each car annually and keep the quality.
I think you’ve got that reversed. Big 3 always had varying trim levels to upsell people. Years before JDM had a significant automobile market.
Im not talking about trim levels, I’m talking about rebadges. A Montego is ostensibly more upmarket than a Torino, but you could still get a Montego specced like this. Therefore, different dealer networks selling mildly different cars and often at the same price point.
The Japanese as usual followed the British industry where the likes of BMC and Rootes had a seperate dealer network for each rebadge.
This is a strange spec model. Fleets usually don’t buy 2 door and cheap guys usually don’t spend the $75 extra for the Mercury nameplate. “Paying more for a name just tells people how stupid you are.” I can hear my father saying.
That said what a great basis for a father-son restomod. A floor shift conversion, a tach added to the column , perhaps dark blue paint and white letter tires, and disc front brake conversion. This might not be required as this must be the lightest Montego by far so the brakes might be ok as is. A dual exhaust to get the economy engine breathing and sounding better. In the end son has a distinctive car with a engine that won’t bankrupt him or get him in trouble. The cars platform mates have myriad options so he can be continually adding features and walking junk yards. What fun there is to be had here.
There were brand loyal buyers of ‘strippo’ cars, who wanted the upper mid brands with no options. Dealers would knock off price to get a sale from the Low Price 3 stores.
Many Buick Special owners in Chicago, bragging they “got a Buick for a Chevy price”. Same here some could say “Mercury for price of a Ford”.
You left out Gummo, the forgotten Marx brother, who became an agent.
In another CC about the Montego, seems like someone mentioned the ‘Bunkie Beak’ as being the primary impetus behind the 5mph bumper. I don’t know if that’s true but, if it is, it’s a gross disservice to Mercury, and Ford Motor Company, as a whole. The Montego’s snout was no better or worse than anything else at the time. It just stood out more than any other car, sort of like the Jimmy Durante of cars. In fact, maybe the comparison should have been to that old vaudevillian instead of the Marx boys (although it was good to see that photo of the group in their later years).
Plus, I’m thinking maybe the Cyclone should have been for Chico (properly pronounced ‘Chick-o’) because of his prowess with the ladies. Speaking of which, how old is that photo? Chico was the first to die and he sure doesn’t look too much longer for the world.
I thought about applying Gummo to the station wagons, but at that point it was tedious and I didn’t know how many folks I might lose with what I had!
Gummo was in the picture above, but I cropped him out. See the extra hand on Groucho’s shoulder? This was taken from wikipedia and it stated it was from a Tonight Show appearance around 1958 (give or take a year or so).
Incidentally, Chico was the oldest survivor; there was an older brother (the firstborn) who died as an infant.
Yeah, I saw the extra hand and thought it might have belonged to Gummo.
It looks like Chico died in 1961 at 74. Harpo followed in 1964 at 75.
Groucho was eldest survivor, by the way.
If you mean who lived the longest, while Groucho might have been older when he died, I think Zeppo outlived Groucho by a couple of years.
Zeppo was the last to go.
When the late, great Kevin Martin was nearing the end, his wife read him one of the funniest books ever written; Harpo’s autobiography ‘Harpo Speaks’. I still miss him.
I have a soft spot (in my head) for these cars. Back when I was a kid, I grew up in a whole raft of Montegos, starting with a 1968 and ending with a 1974. Oddly, as an adult, I have never felt the need to have one of my own.
This car would be something my father would have purchased during his late child raising years, especially after a few option laden cars that became troublesome in their old age. That’s how we ended up with a 4 speed VW Fastback that my mother never completely learned to drive. Two of our Montegos were strippers like this one, six cylinder cars with the only options being automatic transmissions and radios. Seriously.
That said, if I were so inclined, I would totally rock the featured car. Hot Rod Magazine did a Cyclone project car several years ago that I would use as a template for a resto-mod. This car would have been the perfect starting point.
Alas, it was not to be. Hopefully it found a good home and is not being converted into Chinese window air conditioning units by now.
A Mercury six was definitely a brand-ending error.
Until the Comet, Mercury was the only Pure V8 brand. Older brands like Cadillac had ended up with V8s, but Caddy started with 1 cylinder and settled on V8 after trying 12 and 16. Only Mercury was born with a V8 and offered nothing else. I could spot a Merc with my eyes closed.
So Bobcats had V-8s?
One could obtain a six-cylinder in a full-size Mercury in 1961 and 1962. The take rate was undoubtedly low, but the option was there.
Maybe Canadian Mercurys could had been available with a 6 during that era along with the Meteor until the early 1970s.
Bill Bogley was a longtime Lincoln-Mercury dealer in Bethesda (just outside of Washington), but the dealership and inventory was seized by the IRS in 1975 for failure to pay Social Security taxes for its employees.
I don’t know how the legal case was ultimately settled, but the dealership never re-opened. The building itself later became a Mazda dealership, and has since been torn down.
Yes, it was at 7809 Wisconsin Avenue, it’s a CVS now.
99.9% chance that I placed the Bill Bogley name plate on this car. It was one of my responsibilities as a ‘lot boy”. I grew up at Bogley and prior to that at Grady Motors which became Bogley. I am perhaps the one remaining person that has the ‘inside’ information. Yes the address was 7809 Wisconsin Ave but after Bogley left it was bought by Ted Whalen and became Whalen Lincoln Mercury.
The phone was 656-4200
The 70-71 FoMoCo midsize platform was like the canary in the coal mine. Ford had been on such a roll in the 50s and 60s, before everything went to shit in the 70s with uninspired designs and too much obvious parts sharing.
Looking at these in a fresh way, they were simply not competive. The GM A bodies were far superior cars, as were the Cheysler B bodies. These Torino/Falcon/Montego cars were almost like place-holders, to have something for the guy who just could not be upsold.
These were really rare cars from new, particularly as a 6 cylinder stripper. My nomination for the most uninspired piece of design is on the dog dish hubcaps that Mercury used. Perhaps the dullest hubcap ever. Not even a logo? As much as I tend to love oddball strippo (the 6th Marx Brother?) cars, this one does nothing for me.
There was at least one iteration of the Cyclone that many people loved: David Pearson’s Wood Brothers Cyclone! I’ll say it…David Pearson was the greatest stock car driver of all time. Not to spark an off topic debate or anything… 🙂
Yes! One of my favorite race cars – and racers – of all time. “Silver Fox” was at his peak driving this Holman-Moody BOSS 429-powered “Cyclone” for the Wood Bros. It’s interesting how the Montego 2-door body style turned out to be far more aerodynamic and stable at near-200mph super speedway speeds than its swoopier “flatback” Torino cousin.
Won’t get any argument from me 🙂 .
The Montego tail lights trickled down to the Comet, FWIW. Little know fact. Ford actually spent money to subtly redesign these lights. We had a late ’72 production Comet 4 door LDO and it had a number of ’73 model traits. The lamp units actually said ’73 on them and the backup light is bigger than earlier. It also had the late style AC center vents with vertical fins instead of horizontal, and provisions under the kick panels for speakers, to accommodate the new for ’73 FM Stereo option. Yep, I’m a Maverick nerd!
As for this, pass! If it was totally rust-free it might make a nice donor for a Cyclone clone (CyClone, get it?) if someone was predisposed. $1650 is crack pipe.
You have it wrong about the taillights. The 2 unit lights came on the Montego, first. The Cyclones and Broughams actually used 3 unit pieces. When Mercury got a badge engineered version of the Maverick, to be named Comet. Applying the 2 unit Montego taillight was a quick and easy (and cheap) way to achieve a different look for the Comet. Think of them s a Mercury big brother hand me down.
Aaaannddd… The 1970 & 1971 Torino used a variation of the Maverick and Pinto tail lights. Ford added vertical bars to the same basic tail light to make it different…
Um, no.
The 1972-’73 Torino used taillight lenses that, if not identical, were very similar to the Pinto/Maverick units flipped upside down.
Again they have a similar appearance but aren’t even remotely close to being interchangeable. For one thing the Torino lights are recessed, while the Pinto’s protrude.
Zeppo might’ve been a dull straight-man on stage or camera, but he still had talent: industrial. His company invented the Marman Clamp, used initially on the A-bombs.
Agreed. He likely made more from his engineering endeavors than from entertainment.
Hedy Lamarr is another example of an entertainer with engineering talent. She & a collaborator patented spread-spectrum frequency-hopping, long before it became technically practical.
Good looks & brains do come together: I knew a cheerleader who went on to be an EE professor.
That’s Hedley
“Count de Money! Count de Money!”
“De Moh-nay! De Moh-nay!”
A car like that was almost certainly a bespoke unit, ordered by a single person and not part of a fleet. The buyer would be a crotchety no nonsense type who was tight with a buck, and produced folded arms in defiance when proffered the options sheet.
“I want 2 doors, a 6 cylinder and a standard transmission. No more. No less. Or no sale.”
“We’ll have to order that special for you, Sir.”
“Well, you go right ahead and DO that, then.”
Jack Benny, a contemporary of the Marx’s whose comedy persona was partly hung on the badge of cheapness, would be a good fit for this stripper. I can imagine him sliding behind the wheel, a big grin on his face when told the price.
“Gee. So much car for so little money… Say, could you take a little off if you kept the hubcaps?”
We make fun now as Mr. Benny did then, but those now departed cheapskates saved their money and created a lot of wealth that allowed many of us later to skate on the fruits of their labor.
I share your dislike for these 100%. In fact these make appreciate the Torino more!
That hideous nose and cheap, almost J.C. Whitney like taillights are just awful. Why not just bolt some universal trailer taillights on there?
I know of a Montego MX that’s been sitting in the front yard of a house for several years, at some point recently the owner moved it from the grass to the driveway.
Whenever I pass it I can only think, If that were a more attractive car would it still be sitting there?
Is JC Whitney still around? I haven`t seen a Whitney catalog in years.
They are alive and well. Thye are more of an online outlet now.
I still make the pilgrimage to the Lasalle, Il warehouse once a year for their Car Show and Clearance sale.
This may well be the most famous of these unloved cars, the unmarked cop car chasing Eleanor.
I’m just enough of a dork to have watched the DVD commentary with the movie but that that Montego had a police spec 429 and was apparently the fastest car in the chase, much faster than Eleanor off screen. I always thought that was the coolest car of the chase besides the Mustang, it was pretty much in the pursuit from start to end, every other police car persuing crashed into something within seconds.
The City of Los Angeles actually used these Montegos as marked patrol cars in 1970 (if I’m off, it’s only by a year). From what I’ve read they were ordered with a 429 and no power steering.
Yes, the Montego was the LAPD squad in 1970. Reed and Malloy didn’t get one though – they kept their ’69 Belvedere for an extra year.
Mercury must have been a very aggressive bidder that year – the CHP had the 1970 Monterey. It may have been those that had the 429 without power steering.
Actually the Monterey and Galaxies were still using the FE 428 PI in ’69 & ’70. The 429 in the Montego was the same CJ unit as the Cyclone and Torino Cobra. This engine was also used in ’71 big cars with the PI package, and was the high water mark for Ford police engines before everything went low compression and pear shaped in ’72.
Adam-12 did featured a 1970 Montego but only as a background vehicule.
http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_681912-Mercury-Montego-1970.html
No, the 1970 CHP Mercurys used a 428 C.J. and had no power steering. I owned one. It was one of the fastest cars I ever drove. I had the pleasure of driving it down Interstate 5 from the Bay Area to Los Angeles one night pretty much wide open. I had it up to 120 for short stretches. It had more on tap but I didn’t want to push my luck. It was still in its original black and white paint and had its spot lights. Even though it had long been out of service and even though it was night time other drivers were quick to move aside when I rolled up on them. I hadn’t expected that but it gave me a thrill every time. I sold it not long after to a police car collector. It has been fully and beautifully restored and was featured in Hemmings about 5 years ago. You can look it up.
I didn’t want to sell it, I never want to sell them, but I had too many cars and time and space were finite resources.
The Montego cops were the first to spot “Elenor” and they lasted to the end of the chase.
I love the front of this car. I must be in the minority.
There’s two of us here so you’re not completely alone.
Makes 3 of us 🙂 .
The taillight thing works both ways…the ’62 Comet used ’60 Lincoln Continental taillights! A big step up.
And IIRC the ’60 Comet used ’60 Edsel taillights!
On the S-22 (bucket seats etc.) model.
Hilarious write-up… this may be the least appealing car I have ever seen on this website. It pushes none of my buttons. I mean, it’s even beige, the non-color. I think John C. nailed it when he called it a good basis for a father-son project. The car is a blank canvas!
Thank you. It’s utter lack of appeal is what appealed to me. I found this car while driving down the road and turned around to come back for pictures. When the windshield proudly proclaimed its straight-six and three-speed I knew I had struck, well, not gold, but something with this car.
No offense, but did you actually look under the hood? That looks like a standard issue 302 air cleaner to me.
No, I did not look under the hood. The seller had “six-cylinder” and “three-speed” scrawled across the windshield.
A pity a shot of the engine compartment wasn’t possible. These strippo, six-cylinder, 3-speed manual cars that are larger than a compact are great CC finds.
It’s a shame restoration would be so pricey (if even possible) on a vehicle that’s likely every bit as rare as versions on the opposite end of the spectrum (Cyclone GT with a CobraJet engine). Because of their rarity, these intermediate and larger six-cylinder, 3-speeds (especially in 2-door guise) are the ones to see at car shows, particularly when they’re in a really good ‘survivor’ state.
It’ s definitely a 6 cyl. air cleaner on the front seat. Notice the thumb screw in the lid instead of a wing nut. Also it’s shallower than a v8 and does not have the distributor clearance recess on the front edge. Looks like the one on my sister’s 250 Maverick (past tense). God knows I worked on it enough.
This car totally works for me. The super-small “undersized” tire/wheel combo accentuates the fuselage shape to me and brings out the curves. The taillights combined with the white color really do bring out the character in this car.
I find it odd that this is actually a two-door hardtop & not a post sedan….however, I’m too lazy to research if Mercury even produced a two-door sedan in the 1971 MY.
It would be a shame to see this car bastardized into a hot rod but it’s very likely.
With the obvious (and thorough) sheetmetal rust, I don’t really know what this would be good for. Considering the level of work needed, someone would have to be a truly dedicated Mercury Montego maven to even go the street-rod route with this.
Otherwise, it just seems like a beater until something major lets go (which probably wouldn’t be too long, given the poor shape it’s in already).
“…using tail lights from the Comet on the mid-sized Montego”
The ’71 Comet inherited them from the 70-71 Montego
Well, the Montego did derive from the mid size Comet line; name last used in ’69 for base model. Switched to the Maverick twin for ’71
Nice car that you hardly ever get to see and definitely one of the forgotten vehicles built in the late 60’s/early 70’s, I don’t think the Montego started to catch on in sales until 1972, didn’t the 1972 Montego MX Brougham’s sales increase in large numbers to the 1971 Montego MX Brougham’s sales?
The ’72 Torino/Montegos sold better, due to giving buyers what they wanted, luxury and size, for a mid size price.
While the ’72 GM mid size cars are collectible, and part of the “classic muscle car era”, at the time, they were considered ‘outdated’. So, some buyers went to Ford. And no, I am not agreeing with those buyers!
The fact that the bloated ones sold so well is baffling. The idea that you were paying for a mid size and getting a full size must have had a lot of sway.
These look a little bloated too, but I am a little more forgiving on a bargain hardtop. The first picture in the piece has a slight hint of early Toronado.
I do notice that the 1974-76 Montego’s didn’t sell nearly as well as the 1972-73 Montego’s due to the oil crisis, I didn’t think the 1972-73 Montego’s were as bloated as the later Montego’s.
The growth from 1971-1972 wasn’t as much as the 1969-1970s. These 1970-1971 Ford/Merc Intermediates were big cars too.
After 1969, Mercury just didn’t really seem to try anymore with the Montego. A gussied up Torino is pretty accurate – with a funny nose.
Ford paid a price for this in the ’70s as the mid-price mid-size car became one of the hottest categories, and the Montego languished. The advent of the Cougar as a mid-size certainly helped, but even it didn’t really take off until 1977.
These stripper mid-price cars were always a little perplexing to me, they take away some of the pretense of a mid-price brand. GM was just as guilty, but it wasn’t always that way. Until about 1958, a base Buick was a pretty nice car, and you got 8 cylinder power for your trouble of seeking out a Buick dealer.
You want a rare CC find? Find a ’70 or ’71 Montego MX Brougham four door hardtop!
The least broughamy brougham that ever broughamed!
Even the Torino Brougham was nicer than this.
What a horrible Brougham interior!!
The MX Brougham was a rather pale effort compared to what else was available.
What makes the ’70-’71 pillar-less four door hardtop Montego odd is that it was added to the last two years of the body series, long after Ford had begun the change to pillared four door ‘hardtops’ that would be the norm in just a few years.
The survival rare of all four door Montegos appears to be very low, the pillar-less models nearly extinct……so the CC challenge stands….capture one in the wild!
Actually like the side profile of these cars, but the Bunkie Beak only seemed to work stylistically on the hidden-lamp cars. The Cyclone managed to look tough; the rest of them ended up just looking peculiar.
I love these cars. Am ex girlfirends dad was storing an original ’70 Cyclone Spoiler in his garage for a “collector” without the space time or money to keep it or restore it. It had something like 54,000 miles on it but hadn’t run in a decade. It was bright yellow. I recall the headlight lids were up and I got tired of looking at the lights so I went under the hood and disconnected the springs that held up the light covers. The covers dropped down and we could look at that sinister face whenever we opened the garage. I don’t know what became of the car.
Apparently, I missed this article the first time around. Brilliant in both premise and execution.
I always thought a good automotive nomenclature group would be Chrysler Caliphate, Dodge Imam and Plymouth Jihad.
Somehow seeing this and the variants of the Montego make me like its ’70 and ’71 corporate sibling, the Torino, better. The Montego feels like an afterthought with a Bunkie beak. (Thinking about it, how is it Bunkie left the Torino alone?) There was a lot about the ’70 Torino Brougham I bought in ’78, and it served me well for several years. I think, too, the Torino Brougham’s interior was better realized than the Montego MX Brougham. (And yes, Ford sure used a bunch of visible parts across all divisions and all trim levels.)
The ‘beak’ question is easy: the cars that got it (T-bird and Montego) were Ford’s premium products. The Torino? Not so much.
Unfortunately, sales didn’t turn out the way Ford would have liked. If they had, Bunkie might not have been cashiered by HFII so quickly, and his Pontiac-like beak might well have spread to other model lines.
This is the only Montego I would want. Wonder what happened to it. I would also be interested in the marti report. Can’t have been more than a handful built. I would do a slow driver quality resto and enjoy driving a real rare car. I definitely wouldn’t do anything to that 3 on the tree. It is the best part of a really cool car