Ford pulls the plug on Mercury after 72 years

Robert Shepard

Robert Shepard

Website Administrator / Past President - Golden St
I read multiple reports in the media today regarding Ford's decision to stop making its Mercury brand. No word on what will happen to Mercury / Lincoln dealerships.




Robert Shepard
 
they will toss in a small Lincoln for the dealers and discount the heck out of the remaining Merck's to help them get rid of them. accourdign th ethe paper artical I read today.
 
I grew up in a FoMoCo household, and my 1st car was a '52 Mercury, so this is not good news. I think part of the prob here is the "brand" mentality. My '52 wasn't a brand; it was a make of car. While basically a Ford, the '52 had an identity of its own. The Mercs of recent years have been virtual Ford clones, just as the last Olds products had become Chevies for all practical purposes. "Badge engineering" is not the proper way to design a car.
 
Jim Tighe said:
I grew up in a FoMoCo household, and my 1st car was a '52 Mercury, so this is not good news. I think part of the prob here is the "brand" mentality. My '52 wasn't a brand; it was a make of car. While basically a Ford, the '52 had an identity of its own. The Mercs of recent years have been virtual Ford clones, just as the last Olds products had become Chevies for all practical purposes. "Badge engineering" is not the proper way to design a car.
Click to expand...

VERY well said Jim. I was thinking the same thing when the news was let out. The old mercury cars had an identity all their own, they were so unique. Makes it real aggrivating when restoring one because reproduction parts are next to impossible to find depending on what you have because so few body/interior parts interchanged from Ford vs. Mercury (referring to my former 1964 Mercury Monterey). When I was born mom had a 1964 Comet & she kept it for a long time, that car was so cool! In more recent years all the Mercury name stood for was a different trim package... add different emblems, grill, and tail light lenses & a Ford Crown Vic becomes a Mercury Marquis...(sigh)
 
Dwayne, Chrysler Corp. played the same game for years with Plymouth and Dodge, and to a large degree with DeSoto as well. As for Mercury, the car had a really pronounced i.d. of its own for only 4 years, from '57 to '60, when it was neither an up-line Ford, nor a down-line Lincoln. Some components were still shared, esp. in the power train, but each make stood out from the other two as a separate car. Part of the overall prob with Merc was that FoMoCo could never seem to figure out where the car fit in the product line-up scheme of things.

For me, the prettiest Merc ever was the 1960 Parklane 2-dr hdtp. One of our parish priests in Muncie bought one, a metallic bronze beauty. A local family that year traded an impossibly beautiful 1956 Packard 400 on a metallic turquoise Parklane. The Packard family took a horrible loss on the 400, as the dealership asked only $995 for it on the used car lot, from which it vanished almost immediately. Never saw it again.

BTW, does anyone on here have a Mercury Professional Car?
 
Dave Martin in Phoenix used to own a Mercury Professional Car. Patrick Martin has one that has been altered to lok somewhat like a Lincoln and I of course have a REAL Lincoln hearse
 
Rick, in addition to my Mercury-based "Lincury" hearse, I do also have a real Lincoln hearse, a real Lincoln flower car, and a real Lincoln limousine. Your turn! :angel:

Now according to what seems to be most people's mentality, my Mercury has just instantly become a rare collectible and has doubled in value overnight! LOL
 
Mercury vs Ford

Dwayne was talking about the Comet, those were awesome cars and hard to kill too. Back then the Comet wasn't a Mercury offering of a Falcon. The Mercury Comet and the Ford Falcon were similar in size but that was near the end of the comparison. That is the problem with GM and Ford today their cars all look alike they just change the badges. And now they are doing away with the law enforcement staple the Crown Victoria! This makes no sense to me, their idea of a replacement for the CV Police Interceptor is a Taurus, give me a break! The cars we have for cruisers now in order to put a prisoner in the back you have to grease the guys sides with Crisco!
 
Well, that's just perfect. I just bought a 2010 Mariner. Good thing I paid it off the day I bought it, although I got a letter stating it's transmission was recalled. I guess I should get that taken care of before the dealer pokes me in the eye with a sharp stick.
 
Just because the brand is being discontinued, doesn't mean that the cars will no longer be serviced or warranty honored. Ford will continue to maintain a parts inventory, and Ford / Lincoln dealerships will continue to service the cars.
 
Rick Franklin said:
Dave Martin in Phoenix used to own a Mercury Professional Car. Patrick Martin has one that has been altered to lok somewhat like a Lincoln and I of course have a REAL Lincoln hearse
Click to expand...

I also have a real Lincoln hearse with a coachbuilder idenity crissis. Since Collins owned the M-M name in '91 it is listed as a M-M and has all the badging on the outside, but on the inside it says built by Collins Industries.
 
Yes my thankfully long gone Merc was a first call car that came out of Chicago via Carl at CW Coach. It was pretty much the same as as a Country Squire with different tailights and of course different badging.

There was'nt a Cot Bar in it with no way to secure a cot and the floor was angled upwards towards the front. Made me wonder how many times the "Passenger" ended up saying hi to the driver.
 
Ron Devies said:
Dwayne was talking about the Comet, those were awesome cars and hard to kill too. Back then the Comet wasn't a Mercury offering of a Falcon. The Mercury Comet and the Ford Falcon were similar in size but that was near the end of the comparison. That is the problem with GM and Ford today their cars all look alike they just change the badges. And now they are doing away with the law enforcement staple the Crown Victoria! This makes no sense to me, their idea of a replacement for the CV Police Interceptor is a Taurus, give me a break! The cars we have for cruisers now in order to put a prisoner in the back you have to grease the guys sides with Crisco!
Click to expand...

I agree with you Ron, I really hate to se the Crown Vic go. This is just another example of the car industries "telling us" what we need.
 
goodbye Mercury..........

Lots of good posts here. I too am sad to see Mercury go away. I have a 2007 Mercury Grand Marquis and I like it better than most of the bazillion Cadillacs I've owned over the years. Luckily, I just got a new 2010 Crown Vic police car so I'm in good shape at work for the next few years. Interestingly enough, most of the 'car experts' and car magazines are predicting the Ford Taurus will replace the Crown Vic as America's new front line police car. I disagree. I think the new Chevy Caprice will sell like hotcakes and sell more cars than Dodge, Ford, and Carbon motors combined.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top