Trinity Lincoln Mercury, Inc.
1952 Lincoln Cosmopolitan in the showroom.
Fitzgerald Lincoln-Mercury, Ann Arbor, MI.
Fitzgerald Lincoln-Mercury, Ann Arbor, MI.
Beckley Lincoln-Mercury, Beckley, WV.
Francis Lincoln-Mercury, Portland, OR.
Charlie Stuart Inc., Mercury dealer, Indianapolis, IN.
Continental, Lincoln-Mercury, Carr’s Motor Sales, Austin, TX. (Showroom covered here previously)
Urich Motor Co., Lincoln-Mercury, Whittier, CA.
1961s in the showroom.
Lincoln-Mercury dealer, Ypsilanti, MI.
1965s in the showroom.
Next to a DeSoto franchise, L-M had to be the worst franchise to have during the 1950s. That poor ’52 Lincoln sedan; it looks just like a Ford that had a bit of an eating problem. No wonder Cadillac grew so strongly at the time. No real competition.
Wow that color shot of the ’52 Lincoln really brings out how gorgeous these cars were when new, It just looks so rich and substantial. The B&W shots really don’t do the cars justice.
That said Paul is quite right, they were surely no competition for Cadillac in luxury and styling, but still super nice cars in their own right in a different way, quite renowned for good handling as proven in the Mexican Pan-American races in ’52 & ’53, unlike the rather wallowing corpulent Caddys.
Anticipating the “earth-tone” seventies color era when seemingly everything was brown or green. Speaking of the Cosmo I note the lack of an outside rear-view mirror. Surely Lincoln didn’t make one an extra cost option.
I was just thinking that color photo of the `52 Lincoln looks like it was shot this morning! Colors are crisp and the photo is pretty clear! Color looks to be somewhat of a Terre Cotta shade?
What a crappy, no frills store that Fitzgerald LM appears to be. This is a luxury dealership? Looks more like a low budget used car lot.
I remain such a big fan of Art Deco design, and neon lighting. They both added elegance and energy, to the most humble dealership surroundings. This ongoing ‘Vintage Snapshots’ series, has really galvanized my appreciation for domestic post war design, until the later part of the ’50’s. Consistently clean, elegant design, not austere at all.
Love the once very popular police three-wheeler, in the sixth pic. Like many other cities, my town used them for parking enforcement, at the end of their service lives.
Looks like the Trinity Lincoln-Mercury building is still standing (though sadly not the sign structure) – used now as an urgent care place. It’s in Ft. Worth, Texas.
The building in background is still standing as well – that had been a Montgomery Ward distribution center, but at some point recently was turned into an apartment/retail complex called “Montgomery Plaza.”
Google StreetView link:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/TiisfGYKXGuVoF2h8
Wow! Two building re-purposing success stories. Great to see. The facade on the Montgomery Plaza, actually appears even more attractive IMO. With the exposed iron framework. Love that they retained the rooftop signage, as well. I actually like a lot, when they keep retro commercial signage like this.
Thank you for investigating this, and sharing the refreshingly excellent results. Nice to appreciate.
When did Mercury come on the scene?
1939.
Yeah – the 1952 Lincolns are about as Lincolnesque as Lincoln Versailles.
At first glance, the dealer in Ypsilanti, MI looks like it’s for sale itself.
My Dad bought every Mercury he owned from SESI in Ypsilanti.
At some point in time (by the late ’80s), Trinity Lincoln-Mercury became Bailey L-M, and moved west to a spot on Forest Park Boulevard, west of downtown and north of the Interstate (20, later renumbered as I-30 when Loop 820 was completed). Bailey moved it and his AMC/Jeep store (across from the L-M store on Forest Park) to the west side of the town of White Settlement, on the I-30 frontage road, where a “Taj Mahal” showroom complex was built, accommodating his L-M, Jeep/Eagle, Saab, and Hyundai stores (his Mazda and Pontiac stores were out on east Loop 820). The sheer costs of building the Westside store complex (Three showrooms, two complete service departments, one body shop and one used car building) probably drove his company to bankruptcy around 1991 or so (I remember his inventory of new cars included an LSC and a Mercury Tracer LTS…). Today, part of that location is home to Hooks Lincoln, “Tarrant County’s only exclusive Lincoln dealer”.
I’m not sure I ever knew about Charlie Stuart Mercury. It appears that he moved his Studebaker dealership to other quarters, because this looks like the same building.
’52 Lincoln photo-bombed by a ’49 Caddy (of similar color … attempting to camouflage)
I’ll take the Cad 😆
I was wondering if the Caddy dealer parked that Cad outside the Lincoln showroom to force the comparison! “See what you’re missing?”
Lincoln just wasn’t trying in those years. To me the ’52-54 Lincoln looked less luxurious than the Mercury.
When the 1952 Lincoln was being developed, the company initially set the Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight as the target.
Before the car was introduced, Ford management realized that this approach ceded the top of the market to Cadillac, so a (frantic) last-minute effort was made to upgrade the car. But that wasn’t enough.
The Lincoln did boast Ford’s first new ohv V-8, and was the first American car to feature ball-joint front suspension. So it did have some features not initially available on the Ford and Mercury.
But Lincoln still bought Hydramatics from GM all the way through 1954. Guess most customers figured they might as well have the rest of the Cadillac around that transmission…
I’m sure that Ford management wasn’t thrilled about that state of affairs, but felt that it was more important to have Lincoln offer an automatic transmission. So the company bit the bullet and used Hydramatic in Lincolns until the 1955 model year.
Ford also tried to buy Studebaker’s new automatic for the Ford and Mercury lines, but Studebaker wanted exclusive use of it.
Actually the L-M franchise was considered to be quite successful in the late 40’s – 50’s. In that period they were often rated number one in sales per dealer. Of course, they usually had fewer locations then. The L-M combo was pretty much a postwar creation.
This architectural design, appears familiar. Not sure, but Ford may have used it as just one template style, for small dealerships from the 1960’s through 1970’s.
The Versailles in an earlier commentt made m wonder where they hid the Bobcats back in the 70’s. I couldn’t imagine a Bobcat sitting in a showroom full of Continentals and Grand Marques. Maybe behind some discreet curtians past the restrooms? A lawn shed out back?
Worse than thinking of a Cimarron sitting next to an El Dorado Biarritz in a marble floored and chandelier lit Cadillac dealer.
I can’t say how other dealers did it, but at the Chev-Olds emporium my Dad worked at, “lesser” models like Novas, Chevettes and Monzas had thier own little area around the side of the building, over by the used cars. The showroom held about 6 cars and was reserved for Cutlass’s, 98s etc. along with a Corvette if one was around for any length of time. Chevy was making some pretty nice pickups by that time, but I never saw one in the showroom.
As the dealership principal said, “the showroom is for the folks with the money”.
The lesser lines were regarded as a nuisance, and often had to be accepted from the zone office if you wanted your order for Cutlass’s or Z-28s expedited.
I’ll bet the L-M dealers saw the Bobcat the same way….
That sounds like another reason to visit the Datsun, Honda or Toyota dealer for a small car. The sales force didn’t treat you like a second-class customer.
Initially, CAFE standards were calculated on a sales-weighted basis for the entire corporate fleet of vehicles. Sales of gas guzzlers thus had to be balanced by sales of vehicles that scored good mileage.
Ford was selling plenty of big cars in the late 1970s – the Ford LTD, Mercury Marquis, Lincoln Continental and Continental Mark V. Those cars generated healthy profits for Ford, but also guzzled lots of gas. To balance their sales, Ford had to push sales of the Pinto, Bobcat and Mustang II.
I would therefore imagine that Ford was pushing Lincoln-Mercury dealers to sell as many Bobcats as possible.
Looking through the photos I try to remember when my father bought his first car. I do remember him going with my mother’s younger brother to look at Falcons. I would have been 7 years old at the time. As a labourer with the city he didn’t make a big wage but the house was paid off and there was no other debt.
We had a single car garage that was not very wide nor long. He finally decided to buy a basic Mercury Comet 4 door sedan complete with plastic seat covers, a fender mounted driver side mirror, undercoating, and engine block heater. No radio. Great car that stayed with the family for over a decade. He kept the Comet dealer brochure and I do remember being intriguted with the early sixties artwork inside.
Actually, having a Mercury Bobcat on the showroom floor with Lincolns & Grand Marquis’s kind of makes sense. If parents are in there buying a new Merc/Linc, and they have a son/daughter of near-college age, they may look over an see the ‘Cat and say: “hey; that would be a nice car for Johnny/Susan to take to school next year…”; esp if it’s a wagon. Case in point: my parents bought a 71 Marquis, and later bought my sister a ’75 Bobcat when she went to Ohio State U. (newly-licensed me drove it out to her from New Jersey, since she couldn’t have a car there til later in her freshman year). Btw, that IS a nice Harley 3-wheeler! Sis & I went to South Orange-Maplewood, NJ Junior HS in late ’60s. There was a crossing guard there at Tillou & Ridgewood Rds who had one. His name was Rusty. Friendliest cop on earth. Everyone at the school missed him when he retired.
Looks like Sesi moved west from Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor in 2011
Under the heading of ancient history, True story. My dad’s coworker at Haynes Stellite, Glen McKool, a Scotsman, wandered into the Lincoln-Mercury dealer in Kokomo, Indiana. The year was 1953. He drove in with a 17 year old 1936 Ford. His well worn overcoat was probably of the same vintage. The salesmen ignored him. FINALLY, a younger salesman came over to offer assistance.. Glenn said that he would like that dark green Lincoln hardtop with the white top. “How would you like to finance it?” “Like this,” Glenn replied, taking a cow choking roll from the aforementioned overcoat pocket, “20, 40, 60, 80 ………..”
Been Lincoln mercury buyer since 70’s. Still have Lincoln Ls v8 yr 2000.
Francis became Francis Ford in the ’70s. I remember going there for parts with my brother back in the day.
The external rear view mirror wasn’t mandated until the mid 1960’s .
Hard to imagine leaving off such an important thing but that’s how it was back then .
Consider the beautiful 1965 Lincoln, it was Ford’s first car with disc brakes ad WOW was it a good stopper .
I 1971 one of my high school mates father was all agog over the Bobcat and bought two of them, always kept in the tiny garage they lived over .
I never even saw it dusty .
-Nate
Canadian Lincoln Mercury dealers, prior to the end of Mercury were blessed with the ability to stock and sell Ford light duty trucks, with dealers switching to Ford Lincoln at the end of Mercury in Canada. Some towns then had two Ford dealers, with one selling Lincoln as well.
Locally, we had Molyneaux Lincoln-Mercury-Comet, Dansville, NY which was tucked away on a side street in a narrow 1930’s-’40’s building with a one car showroom. Mercurys were his main emphasis, though a few Lincolns would occasionally appear on the lot. In the early 1960’s, they built a new mid-century modern style showroom and shop on the edge of town with a larger lot. Lincolns by then were a more frequent presence than they had been in the late 1950’s.
Only 17-miles away was Arkport Motors, Lincoln-Mercury-Comet and briefly Edsel, Arkport, NY was a larger, more modern facility with a multi-car showroom. Along with a selection of Mercurys, the big seller was Comet of which he kept many in inventory. At least a couple Lincolns were usually in the showroom as well. This was a favorite place for me to get my folks to stop if we were going through.