(first posted 5/20/2011) One of the cool things about living down here in the greater Daytona Beach, Florida area is the fact that we have a bunch of car related stuff happening pretty much year round. While Curbside Classic is not about “trailer queens”, at many of the shows I frequent there are many near daily drivers in attendance. (That red TR3A I posted yesterday was in the parking lot of a show.) This 1959 Mercury Monterey is one of those near daily drivers. I have seen it on at least three different occassions, twice at a show and once parked in the lot of Ronald McDonald’s home.
As this olelongrooffan sarcastically mentioned in the title of this post, there are chrome doodads all over this car. Admittedly, during a discussion with the owner at its most recent sighting, he added a couple items just for fun.
But really, take a look at that dashboard. There is more chrome on it that my 1963 Falcon Station Bus had on its entire body. And a suicide knob to boot.
I especially like the number arrangement on the speedometer of this Monterey. It even has chrome dashmounted power seat controls. In 1959.
The first time I spotted the old Merc was at Bellair Plaza on A1A just a few blocks from my home in Ormond Beach. This was a couple years ago and my habit back then was to gather just a couple images of a particular car and move on. Thanks to lessons learned here on CC, I have learned that two images just won’t cut it anymore! Yes, my fellow Curb Dwellers, this image is a two-fer as that is a 1959 Chevy in the background it.
As I mentioned, the second time I spotted it was in Mickey D’s parking lot resting comfortably up against that city mandated landscape buffer. Take a look at the rear end of it. The ten different lamps on it are surrounded by miles of chrome.
Another look inside reveals even more chrome as well as an aftermarket a factory air conditioning system. I bet it has to work overtime to cool that huge greenhouse cabin.
Its owner did admit to me that he had added the spotlights on both front fenders to his Monterey but they were period correct. Check out that chrome accent on the front fender just above the bumper.
Only to be matched with this trio of semi discs on its rear flanks. Yep. Chrome. Everywhere.
The owner just had to add to all that period correct chrome with a pair of curb feelers on each corner, just for fun.
I still don’t know what these attennas on each “C” pillar are for. There is an antenna mounted on the passenger side front fender also.
And those car shows I mentioned earlier? It appears this car has appeared at as many of them as this olelongrooffan has over the past few years.
This 122 inch wheelbase automobile is long and low. And it just roomy enough inside for a King.
Yes, my fellow Curb Dwellers, Elvis is alive and well living in a 1959 Mercury Monterey and is still stuffing himself with Big Mac’s.
That’s not a dashboard, that’s a jukebox!
Wonderful. Really liked all the great photos. How did the engine look?
Like a big blue 50’s era Ford engine. Nothing really fancy or chrome though.
The antennae on the rear roof panels are for contacting Sputnik.
Through a good portion of the ’50s, my dad supplemented his income by buying rebuildable wrecks from a friend with a junkyard. He would buy one, fix it, drive it for a while, then buy another and sell the first. One of the most famous in family lore was a ’58 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser with–if it is possible–even more chrome than this car.
It was famous because my mom, who had just learned to drive, drove it to the store and back with the parking brake engaged, which smoked the transmission. And this was the cast-iron case Cruise-o-Matic which took three strong men and a mule to lift. Let’s just say Daddy, whose temper could be volcanic on occasion, was not pleased.
Wow! A 1959 car seen less often than the 59 Plymouth.
I get a kick out of these old Mercurys. A lot of people don’t know or remember that Ford made a serious try to move Mercury upmarket in the late 50s. Remember that the 57-60 Mercury got its own body. When the Edsel went into the 1958 lineup, it was slotted between Ford and Mercury. The lower Edsel models were based on the Ford body while the higher two models shared the Mercury body. Actually, I believe that the “all new” 59 Ford went to the Mercury body as well, so that Ford, Edsel and Mercury all shared the same body shell.
It is interesting that the basic body shape was pretty conservative. It was in the ornamentation that Mercury went a little over the top. This may be the most flamboyant FoMoCo product ever. A shame that Mercury had to go back to the column shifter for the automatic transmission – this car deserves pushbuttons (as were on the 57 and 58s). Unfortunately, Mercury tried to become an Oldsmobile/Buick fighter right about the time that the bottom fell out of the mid price market. By 1961, Mercury had moved so far downmarket that it was advertised as being among the traditional low priced 3.
What a great car to close out 1959 week. I cannot tell you the last time I saw one of these.
insider tip: 1959 week isn’t over!
I think the 1959 Fords were a rebody of the Ford 1957-58 Cars, as was the 1959 Edsel. Ironically those and Mercury touted the quality of each in ads I’ve seen that compared them with contemporary Buicks (like a gallon of milk being poured down the cowl or something).
But for 1959-60 Mercury’s were on an exclusive chassis for I think, other than 1957, the only time in their history.I always liked the over ornamentation of these years. For some reason it works best on the Mercury body, all of the chrome doesn’t seem out of place, or tacked on like the 1959 Fords.
I am open to persuasion on the source of the 59 Ford body. It is plainly different from that of 57-58, including the doghouse, windshield, roof and rear doors/quarters. Much of the 59 Ford body bears an eerie resemblance to the 57-58 Mercury (but less so the 59 Mercury as I reflect further). I could be convinced that the 58 Mercury shell got a good reworking to be the 59 Ford and a better reworking to be the longer-wheelbase 59-60 Mercury. But I do not believe that Ford (particularly under the conservative Robert McNamara) would have created a completely new body for the 59 Ford from scratch only to be used for 1 year. More likely, McNamara used it as a way to get his moneys worth out of the underused 57-58 Mercury body shell by getting more volume out of it and to have a fresh Ford to fight the 59 Chevy, all at the same time. This is the kind of 2-for-the-price-of-1 that would have appealed to McNamara.
I’ve pondered that question myself. The Mercs came in two wheelbase lengths; was it the same body shell with a longer rear (or front)? The Mercury seems wider that the ford too, which would be the key to help determine your assumption. Some body aspects can be changed easier, but certain key hard points not. Windshields are a good indication; they hated to tool up new ones if not necessary. If the Merc windshield fits the Ford: Bingo!
I was just reading comments about ’59 Mercs. In case anybody really cares, no, the Mercury cars are not the same as Fords in ’59. I have a 4 door Montclair sedan with the overhanging roof. I have found that so far, the only parts that interchange are the dome light and the rear axle, plus some brake parts. The glass does not interchange, nor do steering parts. Of course, the engine parts on Y-blocks are the same. Shock absorbers match only because both were woefully inadequate. Mercury got the longer wheelbase on the Parklane by moving the rear axle to a second set of holes in the spring mounts. There may be a few other interchanges, but seriously, MEL (Mercury, Edsal, Lincoln division) designed most of their own stuff. Most of the systems on my ’59 are ridiculously over-engineered, hence the seat controls on the dash, the cable driven wipers, self-greasing chassis parts, and reverse rotation speedometer. I can’t believe we ever got into space with that kind of technology. That said, these cars were built for improving highways and higher speed travel than even a few years previous, and mine will still run down the road like a champ, albeit with a late model 460 and C6.
These cars were the last hurrah of heavyweight hugeness in design, just as the ’78, ’79, ’80 cars were the end of cars without computers. In between those extremes, in the mid-sixties, lie the best American cars built, in my opinion. DD
According to David E. Davis, who wrote it at the time of Ford’s much-ballyhooed 1979 “downsizing”…there were only three completely-new full-size Fords up to that time; the 1949; the 1965; and the 1979. Other changes, even dramatic ones, were just reskinnings.
Mercury is less clear. It’s well-known that the 1949 Mercury was intended to be the new Ford; but with cost overruns and uncertain expenses, it was used as the new Mercury instead…a completely different chassis from the Ford and as it turned out, Mercury’s glory years. Likewise, the 1965 Ford and Mercury are pretty obviously badge-engineered clones…but whether the lines were brought together earlier, is not that obvious.
I would submit the similarity in the late 1950s lines had more to do with the same stylists being tasked with both cars, than – at that point – the cars having actually become the same. Ford, under the Whiz Kids, was moving in that direction, but hadn’t gotten there…yet.
Although there is dramatic apparent differences between a ’49 Custom and a ’64 Galaxie, I can see how each succeeding model year in that span was a modification of the previous year, not a clean break.
I can testify, from my years perusing parts books at NAPA, that the ’65 to ’78 models were all on the same platform. A lot of the suspension parts–even the shock absorbers–were the same on all those years.
Pouring milk down cowls?! What was that intended to prove? I sure hope they rinsed well after the demonstration.
Ford’s version of pushbuttons — Tele-Touch — didn’t work very well, though. It was electrical, rather than purely mechanical, like on Chrysler products, and mounting the buttons on the steering wheel bus meant the wiring ran down the steering column, where it would get snagged or damaged, then short out.
Suicide knob? I thought they were usually called necker knobs.
Aside from power seats, the 1957-58 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser even had a seat memory system. I don’t know how reliable it was, though.
Seat memory? In ’57-’58? I had a couple of Lincoln LS’s in the ’00’s that developed amnesia pretty early in the first year. I’d set the memory, everything would be fine for a few days, then after a couple of weeks the position of the seat would only bear a faint resemblance to what I had requested (“No, car, I’m really not 6’5″ – I don’t want the seat this far back”). Now these were Ford management leases, so when I mentioned this on the eval. forms we got, I was contacted by some engineers who wanted to run some tests (they said it was a common complaint among owners – marvelous, real people paying real money are having these problems). I got some pretty cool pool cars (I remember in particular an Audi A6 and a BMW X5) on those days when they had my LS.
Anyway, I’m betting in ’57-’58 any kind of memory seat would develop early-onset Alzheimers.
I called them “knicker knobs” and that is all I’ve ever heard anyone call them until the last 10 years.
As one can clearly see, GM swept all others under the table with their modern designs. All other comers were imitators, and not very good ones, as they all tried too hard and looked dated even for that time.
This thing, along with some other models from the various OEMs that were ornamented to excess – well, we referred to them as “chrome tanks”.
In the St. Louis area where I was originally from, we called the steering wheel thingies “suicide knobs” too. I always wanted one, but heard too many stories, true or not, about accidents and near-accidents caused by the thing breaking off on a non-power steering vehicle half-way through making a turn.
I figured it was time for a new avatar, so I put up a photo of my 1964 Chevy Impala SS and me in the Air Force out on Beale AFB – from summer, 1970! Now that was a car!
Great Merc Ive only ever see one of these a rare car here A local farmer had one privately imported they also had a Merc ute Im not sure it dripped this much chrome but its many years since the last sighting.
|Really strange roof treatment on this car , as if it has been taken from a bigger car and fixed over the existing roof.
That dash looks like a period juke box or pinball machine.
It’s amazing how different this Mercury looks (to me, anyways) in comparison to the 1959 Lincoln Premier.
Is there ANY other car that put the power seat controls on the dash? Maybe on the center console, like windows in some cars, but the dash?
Get a load of that grille…76 separate chrome rectangles!
Of course, that’s nothing compared to the 1958 Buick’s 160 chrome squares.
Yeah, those designers demonstrated real restraint there:)
My grandparents had a beige one with that same green interior. Being a six year old car nut, I remember that dashboard as being the coolest thing I had ever seen in a car, much cooler than the dashboard in my parents 61 Parkwood wagon. A few years later my grandfather picked up a used 61 Belvedere coupe. That Plymouth replaced the Mercury in my dashboard cool factor.
There’s a story about how Ford raided Packard for designers and engineers during the latter’s decline in the early and mid-’50s. Those folks are said to be responsible for the high quality of the ’57-’60 Mercs. Those four years were the only ones where Mercury had its own exclusive platform. Some of my earliest memories were of Dad’s black ’57 Colony Park wagon.
The Edsel and 58 Lincoln had a touch of the Packard Predictor about them,a one off Packard show car with Edsel like grille and slant back rear window.Packard were going to use a 56 Lincoln for their new car but the money had long since run out and it never happened.
These years of Mercury were a disaster, a parody of automobile, wannabe Edsel’s … I am a Ford guy 55 years running [ Mercury included ] but I can’t imagine what they were thinking……give me a “59” Ford or “57”, “58” anytime…. my apologies but these Mercs are …..I just don’t know…….
Ford was trying to “out Buick” the competition. Buicks through 1958 weren’t exactly known for their simplicity of design or sensible size. But, when this car was planned, Buick had knocked Plymouth out of third place in sales, and was setting sales records.
The Edsel had originally been planned to fill the gap between Mercury and Lincoln. But along the way, the decision was made to move Mercury up the price ladder to become a full-fledged Buick competitor. Mercury would receive its own body, not shared with Ford, to take on Buick.
The Edsel, meanwhile, would now straddle Mercury with two lines of cars – one based on the Ford body, and the other based on the Mercury body.
The buyer confusion created by this plan was bad enough, but this all hit the market just as the medium-price market collapsed in the midst of a severe recession. By the 1961 model year, the Edsel was gone, the Mercury was again based on a Ford body, and the new compact Comet was keeping Lincoln-Mercury dealers in business.
Uh thank you.. thank you very much…
Unusual to find a lower trim line like a Monterey with all these optional extras (power windows, power seat, factory air, etc.) Some of these are rare, especially the air conditioning, even in the more expensive series.
Mr. Bill
I like this car a lot, especially the interior colour. Only just noticed the debt the headlamp housings/front fenders owe to the 57 – 59 Chrysler/Desoto lines, which I’ve always thought were nifty. Integrates everything nicely.
Friends of my parents had a 59 Mercury station wagon when I was a kid. At the time, my folks had a 60 Ford Country Sedan and I thought that that Merc was THE coolest wagon. It was big and black and I’m guessing a low line Commuter as it had A LOT less chrome than this car.
My dream wagon would be a 59 Mercury 2 door hardtop painted a nice/ALMOST flashy 2 tone.
BTW, that speedometer looks sooooo squeezed, like there’s really only room for 0-55.
I love how the seat control is labeled fore and aft. Quite fitting for this old yacht.
Oh to have had a camera this afternoon. At the transmission repair shop at the end of my road and US33 was an absolutely perfect ’59 Park Lane convertible in a quiet yellow with black top. Absolutely gorgeous!
Long time Mercury fan here. I like this a lot,and would love to do a drive in and veggie burger in this car in 50s clothes.I’d like to see a 50s horror film Creature from the Black Lagoon would do nicely.
Mercury always seem to get a lack of respect among the other makes,dismissed as a Ford in drag or a poor man’s Lincoln.Maybe it’s being English and supporting the underdog that give’s me a soft spot for them(I follow West Ham and Blackpool football clubs) but Mercury did make some great looking cars.
So cool! When I was a little kid, back in the ’70s, our family car was a ’65 Chrysler Newport Town & Country nine-passenger wagon. The car it replaced before I was born was a Neptune Turquoise ’59 Monterey (Dad was a Ford and then Mercury guy until becoming Mr Cadillac after the one-off Mopar). Wish I could have seen/rode in that car!
The ’59-’60 Mercs had electric wipers wiping in a parallel pattern, unusual. The Lincoln had vacuum. Not much crosspollination here!
A Wurlitzer on wheels. It would cost a fortune to build this car exactly as built originally today.
The inspiration for the late 50’s Mercury was the ’56 XM Turnpike Cruiser showcar. I don’t think it was that bad for the era. The production version was then overdone IMO. It was a mistake to move Mercury upmarket. There are some youtube videos out there that go into the features that set the Merc apart from Buick etc. They were trying hard enough.
I got one of these that i am currently making into a fuel injected daily driver/ 5.3 Vortec with 460E..
Fun project so far but early in the game. i found one with no missing chrome and very little rust… Making her Neptune Blue Metallic with white Metallic roof and a Black and White leather interior with disc brakes and modern suspension and electronics. So actually I will have a 35k car that is absolutely worthless to anyone but me….but I like the car and i am going to drive the mag wheels off the thing.