End of the Road: 1991 Mercury Colony Park

The American station wagon is gone. Some European brands will sell you one, as will Subaru, if those cars are really station wagons rather than "5-door hatchback SUVs" or something.
* This was the last full-size wagon from Ford. GM would offer them through 1996. Chrysler last offered a full-size wagon in 1977.
* The biggest Mercury wagon had been called "Colony Park" since 1957.
* Washington state "collector vehicle" license plates are a good deal if you just like driving something old. Anything 30-plus years old qualifies, and they're around $100 and considered to be a "permanent registration". After you buy them you don't have to pay for new tabs every year.

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Sucking in the 70s: Three Cars from America's Most Tasteless Decade

Stop by 15th Ave West and Dravus, and you'll find the gas station where the 70s survived. Both cars pictured below were very successful. The Chrysler B-body coupe, pictured here as the 1976 Dodge Charger but also sold as the Chrysler Cordoba, Plymouth Fury and a bunch of other names, was a big hit at a time when the company was staggering toward bankruptcy. And the 1978 Mercury Cougar, which was the same car as that year's Ford Thunderbird, sold an unbelievable 565,000 copies for Ford and Mercury combined.

On the one hand, these cars are remembered as gas-guzzling land yachts from an era when Detroit was increasingly losing market share due to its inability to compete with smaller, more practical, higher quality and less garish-looking cars from Japan. On the other hand, at least these cars tried to add a little artistry to their design, unlike today's world of identical gray SUVs.

The 1974 Maverick pictured below is parked around the corner; I suspect it also belongs to the gas station. Love the vintage stereo receiver in the back seat!

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1962 Mercury Comet, 1964 Ford Ranchero

Another example of there being so many 50-year old cars in Seattle, I can shoot them two at a time. 1962 was the first year that the Comet was a Mercury. Originally planned as an Edsel, it was sold as just "Comet" in 1960-61. This car and the Ranchero were based on the same platform.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1965 Mercury Econoline van

Yes, I said Mercury. In Canada, many towns had a Ford dealership or a Lincoln-Mercury dealership but not both. Ford addressed this by letting Ford dealers sell the upscale Mercury as the Monarch. Mercury dealers sold Ford trucks and vans as Mercurys and Ford cars under the brand name Meteor. Ford wound down the separate branding after the US and Canada signed a free trade agreement in 1968.

This is the first Ford cab-over van. It's based on the Falcon chassis, which seems like a daft idea to me considering what a wimpy vehicle the Falcon was. Ford's inline 6-cylinders were the only engines available; you can see the motor mounted over the front axle between the seats.

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1964 Mercury Montclair Marauder

Mercury just couldn't win with the public, but it was not for lack of trying. They substantially updated their full-size models every year, and their standard 390 c.i. V-8 was quite powerful. Yet in 1964 Mercury sold just over 100,000 full-size cars while Chevrolet sold 1.6 million.

Mercury offered three cars in its full-size lineup, the Monterey, the Montclair and the Park Lane. All three lines were available in two different body styles. The "regular" car was called Marauder, while the Breezeway had a electric rear-window. Mercury offered at least one Breezeway model every year from 1957 to 1965.

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1964 Mercury Comet Caliente convertible

In 1964, the Comet still looked significantly different than the Ford Fairlane. By 1966, they were different in name only. Mercury just wasn't selling enough cars for Ford to continue creating a distinctive brand.

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1961 Comet - For Mercury, This Is as Good as It Gets

Behold: the only product ever marketed by Ford Company's Mercury division that (1) was something more than just a Ford with different trim, and (2) was sold in large numbers. The Comet, introduced in 1960, was based on Ford's Falcon compact but had a longer wheelbase and some parts from the Edsel. Originally intended to be sold as an Edsel, when that ill-fated car was killed in November, 1959 the Comet became a stand-alone model sold at Lincoln-Mercury dealers.

The Truth About Cars notes that, "the Comet’s styling was actually ahead of the whole Ford clan in 1960. It almost perfectly predicts the ’62 Fairlane and Meteor twins, as well as Ford’s general styling trend in the first half of the sixties." The Comet also sold about twice as many copies as all other Mercury models combined. And although it had a pitifully-underpowered straight-6 in its early years, by 1963 it was available with Ford's powerful 260 c.i. V-8. And some were sold with a four-speed transmission (a four-speed column-shifter, if you can believe that).

In 1964 the Comet became just a Ford Fairlane with slightly different trim, heralding the beginning of the era when most Mercurys were just Fords with a different name.

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1973 Mercury Marquis

Nothing says '1973' quite like a huge, brown car from Lincoln-Mercury. We've already spotted a '73 Lincoln Continental, and guess what? It's brown! In the 90s, I read that this particular car, and similar Lincoln models, were the top choice for Illinois demolition derbies. Now that's some real Detroit iron. Here's another '73 Marquis on curbsideclassic.

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1970 Mercury Cougar

Try making a list of Mercury's 10 coolest cars. After the first and second generation Cougars, you've got the 1949-51 model, the king of the lead sleds. After that, uh, you've got the 1969 Cyclone Spoiler II. Yeah you're going to have a hard time getting up to 10 cars.

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