It’s time again to give Dearborn’s middle child a few minutes of attention, with this set of images portraying the brand in some of its better days. Most shots date from the 1950s, but a couple do come from the 1960s. And regarding the folks posing alongside these Mercurys, they make a curious juxtaposition; from family-types to some with a James Dean vibe.
While I appreciate the Cougar in the last picture I just can’t take my eyes off the college age woman’s hat. Clearly 1968 or 1969 so that hat! None of the older pictures, with older women, are wearing a hat. Maybe because I am Southern California now is why it looks so strange to me. Not what I’d see at UCLA. Also it is huge.
That hat jumped out at me too. Before I clicked on it to enlarge the pic, it looked almost like a yarmulke. After enlarging, it looks more like a bicycle helmet. I’ve never seen a hat like that one.
Love the photos. I have seen a few of these before. I had a cousin who had ’53 Mercury sedan, t upscale model. He and another cousin drove it from Troy, NY to Miami, Florida in thirty hours, taking turns sleeping and driving. Remember, there were in interstate highways at the time. Check out this ’53!
And let us not forget Joe Cool.
In this photo, the boys get together to see what’s under the hood or, presumably, to repair it.
I always like the dashboard of the ’52 to ’54 models, especially the heatercontrols.
Did Mercury have their own engines or were they just Ford engines? One reason GM was able to have many divisions was that each had their own engines, at least up to a point. Part of GMs downfall was doing away with division engines.
Yeah – I think GMs marketing machine was caught out in the cold when US customers realized that the sizzle on the steak was really sizzle on gristle. As far as I’m concerned, GM sold basically the same design of car from ~1955 to 1980, and when they had to compete with FWD they choked. There’s only so much a car company can do when their commitment is to cost cutting and marketing, vs. actual product value. I think GM got what they deserved.
Except for hard points demanded by Fisher Body, there was considerably less commonality in GM divisions than you think until 64-65. It was not just engines, transmissions, frames and suspensions had significant divisional differences. Only GM’s sheer volume could have possibly justified it.
Look at this proud owner of a ’56. Bet he hoped to pick up the chicks in this one.