Note: After reading the recent CC on a 1974 Mercury Marquis, my daughter, Eileen, had an abundance of questions. She and I have had car conversations before. Soon thereafter Editor Jim Klein sent me pictures of this Park Lane he found in a salvage yard in Colorado. Perhaps showing Eileen the light will also illuminate a few others to the awesomeness of the winged messenger.
She observed having progressed from “Spawn” to her real name. JES
ECS: What in the world is so fascinating to you about these Mercurys?
JES: That’s such a wonderful question with a rather simple answer, an answer one might even call elegant. Elegant as in this Mercury – well, in its prime, anyway.
Think of the American car brands that were available in 1965.
Three of the five General Motors brands were named after somebody, as was Ford, Dodge, and Chrysler. A fourth GM nameplate was a derivative of Oakland, a brand named for its home county in Michigan. Cadillac was named for the long dead French explorer who founded Detroit.
Lincoln was created by Cadillac founder Henry Leland in 1917, naming it after an assassinated president. Can you envision Elon Musk creating a new brand called Kennedy? No, me neither.
Like Pontiac, AMC was a derivative stemming from the merger of Hudson and Nash, with both having been named after somebody. Imperial was a spin-off from Chrysler, sometimes having had a Chrysler nameplate.
Studebaker was practically dead; Checker was a specialty vehicle.
This makes Mercury unique. It was created to fill a void, ultimately having a long tenure in North America. Its existence was based upon a concept, and its name reflected as much; it was not named after a person or place.
In all fairness Plymouth was the closest to this concept as it too was created to fill a market void. However, Plymouth had a name shared with binder twine and with a rock used by aggrieved Englishmen who relocated themselves to North America in 1620.
Due to its genesis alone, Mercury was unlike the others and I like unique concepts. That was Mercury – in its heyday, at least.
ECS: So, nothing to do with your addiction to 70’s funk-a-lishious tv theme songs? Some of those were certainly “unique concepts.”
JES: No, but it is a nice perk. Remember, Mercury goes back to 1939. This Mercury was aimed for those who came of age during the Big Band era and still enjoyed such things. Funk-a-lishious was for the 1974 to 1978 models.
Think theme song from Shaft.
ECS: I still say that song sounds better on a large group of ukuleles.
JES: Can you imagine how relaxing it would be to listen to Glen Miller on an aftermarket hi-fi while cruising around town in this Mercury? As you once said, it would be as refreshing as a cucumber salad with pieces of watermelon with a root beer on a warm summer day.
ECS: Not an exact quote, but close enough.
ECS: This particular specimen is a rather pretty blue with dramatic accents of a rusty tone. Any color preferences?
JES: It’s called Peacock. Decoding the VIN plate reveals the interior had been decorated in turquoise.
I prefer dark colors on cars. It adds a degree of sophistication and intrigue. Lighter colors give off an entirely different vibe. Remember, of the two new cars I’ve purchased in my life one was black and the other was gray. You could say I have a sophisticated intrigue or I have an intriguing degree of sophistication. Yes, I know that last statement could be interpreted two different ways.
ECS: My answer to that is a third option, which I will not distress our readers with. Yet. I figured it was safe to say white would not be your top preference, but I still had to ask.
You seem to be able to come up with an analogy for every conceivable aspect of these vehicles. For those of us who aren’t mega super fans like you are, please explain.
JES: When your mother and I found out you were on the way, everyone congratulated her. Profusely. While I was standing there. Nobody congratulated me. They ignored me. This went on for weeks. Everyone seemed to have forgotten you were a cooperative effort.
I take that back. Your late Great-Aunt Sally, one of your grandfather’s older sisters, congratulated me. So I’ve always liked Sally. She didn’t overlook the obvious.
It’s like Mercury. People tend to overlook it. Ford had respectable success during the 1960s and the 1970s were, well, the 1970s. It was not a good decade for many car companies. But the success Ford had was due in part to the products offered by Mercury. Perhaps they weren’t necessarily the most popular, the most revolutionary, or even the most original. But Ford used Mercury to tap into more success than would have happened without the nameplate. Ford sold as many of these Park Lanes in 1965 as they did nine passenger Country Squire wagons.
People tend to forget that.
Mercury was simply the ideal vehicle in many regards. Can you imagine Jack Lord driving around Honolulu in, oh, say, a green AMC Ambassador? No, me neither. It was not menacing enough. That was a part made for a Mercury.
ECS: You do realize your little analogy brinks on being too much information for some of us? Me included. (My apologies to the readers who are in the same boat as me.) And about your tropical television allusion, I frankly would be unlikely to notice if what’s-his-name were to start driving around in something different, unless, of course, it was kinda weird.
JES: Define “weird”. As in color? Or something that just would not fit, like his driving a corroded Studebaker? Inquiring minds want to know.
ECS: The Magic School Bus or Speed Racer’s car. Better?
What is your favorite feature of this individual car?
JES: I think both of those would have presented copyright issues. Besides, Speed Racer would have messed up Jack’s hair.
This Park Lane is absolute proof positive Mercury was a styling trendsetter. Like many instances in life, people don’t want to acknowledge the true leaders. It upsets their apple cart.
Case in point: The tail lights. This was in 1965. Cadillac aped this theme in 1967, going full divide for 1970 – you cannot tell me Bill Mitchell never saw a 1965 Mercury.
Then again, maybe the executives at GM were so cloistered they never did. Perhaps some aggrieved GM stylist pulled a fast-one on Mitchell who recognized the absolute freaking genius involved and green-lighted it.
No doubt some nattering nabob of negativism will say “wait, wait, Cadillac had the vertical tail lights first! Mercury was aping Cadillac!”. Sure, Cadillac had vertical tail lights but the basic treatment of the 1965 Mercury was aped by Cadillac beginning in 1967. Cadillac had jumped on the Mercury bandwagon.
Two other features I like about this Mercury; this particular Park Lane, which was the top model at Mercury for 1965, had a four-barrel 390 under the hood, rated at 300 gross horsepower. There’s a lot to love with a 390, primarily torque, torque, and more torque.
Also the frontal design and profile of the Mercury are a perfect combination of Lincoln and Ford. This Mercury delicately, yet definitely, split the line that existed between Ford and Lincoln. Mercury hit its stride with the full-size cars in 1965 and kept it until 1978. Then things went all to hell.
Incidentally, this particular Park Lane was built in St. Louis on January 22. This was two days after Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in for a full-term as President.
ECS: Uh…okay. I’ll take your word for it.
What is – if it’s even possible – something you DON’T like about it?
JES: Let me get back with you about that.
ECS: How did I not see that one coming?
In your opinion, what is its most striking feature?
JES: It does have one striking feature and it’s not a good one, so maybe this also answers your previous question. And, no, it’s not where something has struck the side of the car.
That Breezeway top is definitely a striking feature – and not exactly to my liking. It makes the profile of the roof look all cattywompas. The regular sedans looked much better; more poised and ready to pounce on the slow-pokes littering the highways.
However, you may be interested to know this. Where I finished out my prison sentence college at the University of Missouri-Rolla (pronounced Rah-luh; the founder was from North Carolina and named it after Raleigh but legend has it he had a speech impediment) there was a guy who had a bigger Mercury fixation than do I.
He had a shop along Old US 66 on the west end of town. At one point he had nearly 20 old Breezeway Mercurys like this one parked beside and behind his shop. They disappeared at some point after I left in 1995. In an absolute irony I was recently through there and the local Ford dealer has relocated to that property.
ECS: Out of all the Mercurys in existence, what model would you want to own?
JES: Only one? That’s a toughie. I really like the 1968 Park Lane. But only one? How about a 1974 Marquis in a dark blue – I don’t care if that was an original color or not. Red would work also. It would have to have a 460; I don’t care to have that puny little 400. If I’m getting a Mercury, I want the biggest honking engine available. Anything less would be all hat and no cattle.
ECS: Gee, how shocking.
Would you let anyone else drive it?
JES: Maybe you. Maybe your mother. I’d let you change the oil every season. You need to learn how to do that.
ECS: Thanks. Thanks a lot. I’m utterly astounded at your undying generosity. (insert eye-roll)
You are constantly singing the praises of Mercury at every last excuse you find, and there seems to be a lot of them. Is there any chance there’s actually something you find fault with regarding your cherished Mercurys?
JES: Why yes there is. Life presents one’s self with many and various opportunities. Success is realized by how well these opportunities are utilized. Ford was characteristically spastic in intelligently exercising the opportunities presented to Mercury. We all know how that ultimately ended.
Plus it’s genetic. Your great-grandfather’s younger brother was a serial Mercury owner after Edsel went kaput. He had purchased two Edsels brand new.
ECS: Well, I already know I didn’t get THAT gene.
JES: Yes, sadly, your mother’s DNA diluted that out of your system.
ECS: And I’m just fine with that one.
Is it possible there’s someone else out there with more Mercury poisoning than you?
JES: Yes, but he’s likely dead.
Another brand that disappeared a long time ago here the last oneswe had in any quantity new were actually Ford bodied and Mercury trimmed sedans and coupes in the late 40s boasting Henry’s sidevalve V8, but there was no performance advantage here all Fords and Mercuries got the Mercury engine after that it was just rare private imports that have arrived.
There’s a little ’63 Plymouth in the front end…and Rover P6 too.
Ford never did figure out what Mercury was for. The ’49 established a reputation for serious speed and low-down rumbling. Instead of building on the rep, Ford decided to market Lincoln as the off-road racer. (Luxury buyers don’t want dirt-track performance!) Then in ’57 Merc was the ultimate space-age gadget, with two “computers” on the dash. Instead of building on the reputation, Ford introduced the Edsel as the ultimate space-age gadget.
Mercury seemed to bounce like a ping-pong ball around between Lincoln and Ford, sometimes closer to one than the other. But as society changed throughout the last century, Lincoln moved downmarket and Ford upmarket, and Mercury’s traditional slot eventually contracted to the point where it got squeezed out entirely. Or knocked off the table, to continue the ping-pong analogy.
But even while it lasted, Ford management often didn’t seem to know what to do with it. The early sixties are a case in point. For 1965 Mercury had a distinct identity as you pointed out, Jason, and nobody who knew American cars would confuse one with a Ford or a Lincoln.
Henry Leland named his new motor company after Lincoln because Abraham Lincoln was the first president Leland voted for.
Mercury was never equipped or allowed to completely lived up to its original intended market purpose..
Nicely done Jason, and I agree that 1965 to 1978 were peak Mercury. I talked about 1966 Park Lane barbecue in my COAL#2, and I’m amazed at how many changes Mercury stylists enacted from one year to another. Case in point – the 1965 had the stationary header above the grill, while the 1966 had a full hood, no header. And, of course, the 1967 was completely different yet again. This was certainly the time of full employment for automotive stylists – no rest for the wicked as they say!
Glad you could put the pics to good use, you did more with them than I could have. I find two of the things that you aren’t wild about specifically the most interesting things about the car – the color and the roof. If it were white or black or green and a conventional or formal roof I may well have skipped right over it. The color got me to stop and take a look and the top hooked me…Perhaps that would have gotten me into the showroom in ’65 had I been there.
Hi, Eileen!
You bring up an interesting point about the color.
In and of itself, that isn’t a bad color at all and the turquoise interior was no doubt beautiful once upon a time (seeing repop turquoise upholstery in Ford parts catalogs always has me looking). Part of my muted excitement about the exterior color comes from Ford having used a similar, though admittedly different, color for a large portion of the ’90s and ’00s. So in the context of 1965 it is unique. The same applies to the roof.
Like you I would have stopped to look at it; if I were out to buy one for myself, the roof isn’t as attractive in that regard.
Eileen is still shaking her head about my ability to have so much to say about any Mercury.
The only 60’s Mercury 4dr I’d want is a Breezeway model. I like the color and while I do like and own my Mercs in black and dark blue, I think these look good in a light color. I’d be quite happy to add one just like this, to the other Mercs in the driveway, in decent condition of course.
I have always had mixed feelings on the 65 Mercury. Perhaps it is because my grade school principal, Miss Stover, drove a 65 Mercury sedan for a long time until replacing it with a new 1972 Marquis.
I could never get on board with the Breezeway roof, as much as I like the idea of the lowering rear window. And while I like the vertical taillight concept, I always found the execution on these to be clumsy, with the bottom halves being woefully unmatched to the top halves. All in all, I always found the 66 (non-Breezeway models) to be a more attractive car overall.
Did Mercury really start to go to pot when the winged-messenger-god disappeared from the cars? I know that the sailing ship disappeared on the 1960 Plymouth, but suspect that Mr. Mercury went away for – 1969? And I wonder did Mercury ever have a gray paint they called quicksilver? Asking for a friend. 🙂
I wonder how Fiero-style buttresses would have worked with the Breezeway roof. Would it look less weird or more?
It would have helped. Or maybe adjusted the trailing edge of the rear door glass to match the cant of the Breezeway glass.
Anyone know where I can find the right and left rear quarter panels for a 1966 Mercury Parklane convertible? I’m interested in quality reproductions or someone selling the panels; I’m open to suggestions that fit this vehicle (year not an issue [just fit]). Thanks.
Wow, your analysis of the naming of Detroit brands and thus the uniqueness of Mercury, is worthy of an honorary doctorate of automotive history. To heck with honorary, a true PHD of CC! I suppose only Saturn fits into that same category, and look where that got them. Even Tesla is named after a person, even if that person is neither a Michigan historical figure or a dead President.
To someone of my slightly older age, Mercury was always in an odd place. At some point I became aware of the genesis of the brand as a higher performance Ford, and then of course there were the famous ‘49 Mercuries whose power (sometimes from a Cadillac engine swap) and aerodynamics also contributed to racing success, at least on the dry lakes of the West. But for the most part, they seemed neither here nor there, more closely derivative of basic Fords than say, Buick’s or Oldsmobiles were derived from Chevies. But at least I can say that I’ve driven a few, an early Cougar and a Montego MX wagon.
Thank you. The uniqueness of the name and its history just sort of hit me one day.
Mercury was always in an odd place, thanks to the wisdom of those at Ford. Mercury was opportunity squandered time and again.
Despite my always carrying on about Mercury, I’m under no illusions as to it being a dandified Ford and/or dehydrated Lincoln, depending upon the year. Perhaps that only adds to its appeal.
Having been born in NC and living here my entire life, I can vouch that very few native born North Carolinians bother pronouncing it correctly, which would be “Rah-Lee”. “Rolly” would be fairly common, and I can see “Rolla” for sure. “Capital City” is used often in jest, which was what they called it on the Andy Griffith show.
We also call Charlotte “The Great State of Mecklenburg”, but I’m getting into the historical weeds……
As a side note, Andy often talked about “Mount Pilot” on the show. He was born in Mount Airy, N.C., a real town, and there is a Pilot Mountain, N.C. nearby, so he blended the two.
Years ago I worked with an older gentleman whose first name was spelled “Rolla” but pronounced Rolly.
Living in the state capital these days, I have also referred to it as “Capital City” with no reaction. Then again, the Chyrsler / Dodge dealer here is called “Capital City”.
Personally, I actually really like the look of the 1965-66 Breezeways. I think that the rear of the roofs look more in proportion (being longer and lower looking) than do the 1963-64s. I also like the overall appearance of the 1965-66, with a slight edge given to the 1965s due to the front end treatment and C pillar trim. In fact I like them so much that i bought one about 10 yrs ago! A very nice 1966 in a nice clean color of white with blue interior. Only 57K miles on the 410 engine. I might note that these cars are very long, being fractionally longer than my 1972 Continental Mark IV, however very light for their size. I believe mine weighs about 3,980 or so! For a car of this size, that is amazingly light.
Since I liked the C pillar trim better on the 1965s, I installed them on my 1966. I really think that they look cool. And of course, the power rear window is also very cool – no pun intended! I love the interior with all of the chrome garnish molding, in particular that around the rear window and C pillars.
Since it is body on frame, the car is very quite and accelerates easily with it’s very smooth running 410.
The tail lights on the 1966 seem to mimic the 1965 Lincoln Continental (In the Lincoln Continental Tradition!), although also the 1963 Pontiac’s. A little bit odd, but my Parklane has cornering lights! That is a feature that even the Lincoln Continentals did not offer in 1966!
Beautiful car!
That is indeed a very nice Mercury! May you drive it in good cheer for years to come.
A wonderful piece. How old is Eileen? I gather she’s a teen, and as a healthy one, it would be quite uncommon to share your automotive interests, let alone that strange Mercaddiction. Tell her to keep up those interviews. She might be able to understand why people like things so much weirder than Mercurys.
Amusingly enough, while my daughter doesn’t share quite my automotive interests, she loves trucks. Big trucks. I know she checks out CC occasionally, and often looks for Johannes’s truck articles.
Back in March when school closed for the year, she brought her school-issued iPad home with her, and her home page was of a DAF tractor-trailer. She said she often finds new pictures by googling “Dutch Trucks.” Not surprisingly, she said she finds it hard to find other kids who share her interest.
I’m not dead, despite a lot of Mercury in my blood. Not only is it in my blood I’ve got several Firemen at the ready in the driveway (and a few Mountains too) spread around 3 vehicles.
My parents owned this car, only in bronze. Traded a ’65 VW Beetle for it in 1967, and it was in our family for just over three years.
I remember my dad saying it was “light in the front end.” Also that it had a Falcon transmission behind that 390. And it didn’t always start and flooded easily as I recall.
Oh, and the way we discovered it had a Falcon tranny, was when it self-destructed and had to be replaced. Car was four years old at the time. Today we’d be grousing about what garbage Ford builds and vowing to never own another. In 1969 we had the repair done…maybe Dad did it with some help, I’m not sure…we were not mechanical illiterates, and yeah, we’d complain but kept driving it ‘cuz overall it was a good car.
One night my mom was driving when she was broadsided by an out-of-state ’64 Buick Special. The impact spun her around but she wasn’t injured. That night we were all thankful for having such a big old tank. The Bug it replaced, no doubt, would have been far less forgiving.
In retrospect, it would’ve been interesting to see what the Park Lane drove like but I was 13 when it was sold, replaced by a ’64 Chevy II Nova wagon with a STICK. YAYYY! I did get to drive and enjoy that one for a bit. I just remember that my dad would talk about how he HATED to drive, even in his 30s. I’m 63 now, and believe WHAT you drive goes a long way toward whether you love or hate driving. Hence, driving enjoyment is paramount for my wife and I when we choose our rides.
Just for the record, we LOVE to drive.
Usually, the automotive journalist is the interviewer, not the interviewee. This was pretty cool Jason (and Eileen).
Yeah, there’s something about a Mercury. I too like these cars, and agree on Peak-Merc. ’65 to about ’78 sounds about right… heck, I’ll go back to ’63 and include the Comet.
Like you Jason, I have to agree on the Broughamtastic-Fantastic Marquis from the mid-seventies. Steve McGarrett’s 1974 was a nice car when Jack Lord had it, and a nice Curbside Classic when Alex O’Loughlin portrayed the character, and the same exact car played the role of the car that Steve and his dad were fixing up together as a project car.
My great uncle had such a car, purchased right after my Dad bought the ’73 LTD. The LTD was my Dad’s first Ford, and the Merc was my Uncle Harold’s first Ford product too. My great uncle always had to upstage my Dad. I was even a little jealous when the LTD became mine, as there was just something about his Mercury…
My great uncle even purchased his in the exact same color combination as my Dad did with the LTD. This Merc that Yohai shot a few years back is a dead ringer for it…
Come on, Eileen. She is far too young and clever.
The only two Mercurys that ever affected my orbit:
1. My kindergarten teacher had a mid-60s with Breezeway. A Mercury without Breezeway is no Mercury at all. I have essentially one memory of it, parked on the street beside the classroom. The roofline caught my attention, only later I figured out why it was the way it was–aerodynamics to keep exhaust fumes and rain out when the back window was open. I liked her; the car seemed to be part of the package. As it turns out, she was the daughter of the next-door neighbor to my aunt and uncle; “Pete Fail’s kid”…but to me she’ll always be Mrs. Magnuson.
2. The mother of a high-school/college girlfriend had a Park Lane, Breezeway, and 410 FE. I’m not sure I ever saw the car move, let alone ride in it or drive it myself. I liked the girl, the car seemed to be part of the package. And then it was sold…gone…and later, so was she (but the two events were not related.)
Like you, Jason, I am also afflicted with “Mercury poisoning” and have a real soft spot for 1965-1978 Mercuries as well. The Breezeway roofline on this 1965 model is a no sale for me, though, as it conjures up a childhood memory of a carpool ride in a 1964 Breezeway that seemed to suck in the fumes from its oil-rich exhaust. My favorite of the 1965-1968 generation is the 1968 Park Lane driven by McGarrett. Great column and love the dad/daughter repartee!
I like Mercury a whole lot as well.
I was raised a Ford kid, so I always coveted Mercury as the Ford with different styling. I always admired the 58-78 era. Sometimes the styling would work, sometimes it looks off, yet the Mercury styling was always different from Ford or GM.
This generation was the Ford-Lincoln look. Very nice.
I like the Breezeway, the light bar across the front end, a-la-Sable, the waterfall grilles, the big-torque engines, the Lincoln-esque fender lines, and the heft of the late 60s-78s.
There is just something about a Mercury that makes them feel a bit more exclusive than the average Ford. I’ve always liked them.
Jason, only you (and Eileen) could write such an entertaining piece that meanders everywhere from ukuleles to Lyndon Johnson. Terrific stuff.
It’s mighty hard to explain a lifelong interest like your fascination with Mercurys — there isn’t just one root cause but probably several. Maybe dozens. So this interchange suited its cause perfectly. Thanks for your invitation to enjoy this Shafer Family dialogue!
Thoroughly entertaining! Jason and Eileen, you need a show.
And Jim Klein, these pictures are fantastic. They really capture all of the cool, stylistic details of these ’65 Mercurys. The more I look at them, the more I really like and respect what Mercury was trying to do here. I especially like the front clip: the angular, blunt frond end, abundance of what look like right angles, and the speed-strakes on the front fenders.
The connection between these taillights and those of the ’67 Cadillac was brilliant.
Thank you.
I have also noticed while the views of this article have been somewhat muted, nobody has voiced any disagreement about the tail lights. Mercury was indeed the inspiration for GM on this one!
I like square cars, but that front end is too square and flat for me. The instrument panel is too flat as well, a common theme at Ford in 60’s Lincolns and, later, the Granada.
I’ll chime in here. I like the 63-78 Mercs, too! Having owned many over the years. The hoods on 65’s and 67’s will interchange – how bout that? I have both. What killed a lot of Full size Fords/Mercs in the salt regions was frame rot. I had a ’67 Montclair fastback that had 4 wheel steering before it was cool! (frame rotted and snapped putting it on a rollback) Here’s a pic of my ’65 – loaded Park Lane Marauder with 52k on it.This will be my son’s when I pass it on to him. You see, I bought it on the day he was born. I didn’t intend it to happen, it’s just that my wife’s water broke just after we got home from buying it. He’s going to be 22 on July 3rd, so that’s how long I have it. When I bought it on 7/3/1998, it had 46k on it, so as you can tell I don’t drive it as much as I should, but it’s wonderfully preserved. As for my son, well he would like to get a 58-60 Lincoln – he has a thing for these cars, go figure. In his garage he has a ’96 Townie and ’95 Mark VIII, so he takes after his old man, I guess….
That is a fantastic looking Mercury! Yes, you do need to drive it more. You will turn many heads driving this lady around.
Thank you Jason. That’s a compliment coming from a Mercury Lover like yourself. I do get thumbs up a lot, and a like to play the hardtop part well by putting all the windows down. It’s pretty loaded – the only things I think I don’t have is the auto headlight dimmer and AM/FM radio – she has pretty much everything else. Best part is she was a one owner car before me that sat in a garage from like 1985 to ’98 when I bought it. I think it was garaged it’s whole life. I have original items from the car when the previous owner bought it like the keychain and owners manual and service coupons. I have a feeling it wasn’t cheap new, since it was so loaded up.
Thanks again for the kind words.
And those 2 options are easy retrofits, especially the radio.
Roger – kinda – the thing about the AM/FM radio for that year is to find one that someone doesn’t want 500-600 dollars for, if you can find one at all. And then we have to make sure that it will work with my power antenna.(with the current radio, you pull on the knob and it raises the rear antenna)
here’s another pic
front end shot
On a sales trip (Pre Covid-19), stayed at a hotel full of Mercury loving guests.
Man – Rob, what a pic! Must’ve been a Mercury club function. Too much delicious Mercury in that pic for me to process! Now, honestly, if someone were to say pick one for yourself, I’d have a really hard time. I do see a 69-70 Marquis in the back, and I do like them, but the 50’s wagon seems to scream to me….
I’ll agree with Jason that the breezeway does not technically make the best looking Mercury, the formal four-door hardtop is conventionally handsome, and, its a hardtop.
I believe the last year you could get a breezeway four door hardtop was 1964, which is too bad. The ’65 body was the best looking Mercury in several years, and deserved a breezeway hardtop
But, it I were to dip my toe into the Mercury pool now, I’d have to go with the breezeway regardless – sort of function over form? Certainly a unique form, with a function.
Mercury roof lines all had great details in ’65, there’s not a bad one among them!
Take the Canada Challenge. Read the Canadian brochure and spot all the differences.
http://oldcarbrochures.org/Canada/Ford-Canada/Mercury/1965-Mercury-Full-Size-Brochure/index.html
I really like this year of Mercury. This color is also quite nice. I like them from 1951 to 1978 for one reason and 1983 and up for other reasons. Even from 1979 to the end, with them being a Ford only, without any Lincoln ques, I still like them better than the Ford. I have read that Robert McNamara, before going off to Washington to mess up his post in government, he almost was able to dissolve Mercury and Lincoln. His vision was to only have Ford and a large Thunderbird. He did kill Edsel. They could have fixed Edsel. Now Lincoln was too big and costly, so something needed to be done there, but he didn’t like it. Mercury was a mess because he wanted to break it and make it go away. Fortunately he was not able to get it done but did make a mess out of the car. Adding an inch to Fords wheelbase just didn’t get it done. I guess we are lucky. McNamara didn’t like one design and picked another so the one that lost out got tuned up and became the Lincoln for 1961, so I’ve read.
I have a 1965 Park Lane convertible and its factory color is very close (if not exactly) this. Color code F – Tiffany Blue. So, I wonder if “peacock” is just how this person described this color (which I am also not a fan of) or if there is another, similar shade that isn’t Turquoise or Tiffany Blue.
This color appears to have been used as early as ’61 by Mercury. I owned a Meteor 600 – 2 door sedan with 223 – 6 cylinder and 3 speed manual column shift in this shade. Also, am pretty sure that my Mercury model was the only one in my state in that shade of turquoise. It was bought new by an older gent from a Merc dealer in Bismarck, ND. He was a bachelor from Adrian, ND and spec’d it without a radio. Without a cigarette lighter. Without tinted glass or overdrive. It had tiny center caps on the wheels which resembled the dog dish you fed Fido in.
It had vacuum wipers which operated quite quickly when decelerating and came to a stop if the throttle had only the lightest of touch on the pedal. It had only one option: a heater/defroster system.
In 1961, ‘Breezeway’ was only uttered if one was stepping out on the unscreened porch attached to the front of this old farmer’s country home on the prairie. I can only imagine his guffaw at learning it was a viable option on future up-market Mercurys ……
Are you by any chance still parking out this car or one similar? I’d sure love to get my hands on one of the backup light lenses. Thanks very much.
I’m looking for dash trim brackets, circled in photo. I think there are 6?. They are on the top front of the dash and hold the windshield to dash trim. Also the small padded dash corner with the courtesy light.
1965 Mercury full size.