A couple of weeks ago when viewing the ’66 Chrysler Newport Town Sedan, Aaron65 commented that it’d be hard to go wrong with anything from ’65 or ’66 and thinking about it, I have to concur. As a result, today we have this equally interesting 1966 Mercury Park Lane Hardtop, one of 19,204 produced that year making this the volume king of the non-Comet cars, even more surprising when taking into account that the $3,460 base price was one of Mercury’s highest. Last year we featured a ’65 Breezeway version of the Park Lane, but I prefer the style of this one. After being assembled on February 2nd, 1966 in the St. Louis, Missouri factory, this particular car likely lived most if not all of its life in Wyoming (although it was produced for the Los Angeles District Sales Office).
The standard 4-barrel 410 CID Marauder V-8 produced 330hp which as you’ll see someone tried and failed to extract from the car. The transmission chosen for this one is the new 3-speed Ford C-6 “SelectShift Cruise-O-Matic”, another fantastic product name. It was paired with a 2.80 rear axle, non-locking in this case The color code denotes Light Beige paint as seen on the inside of the trunk lid and various other areas, perhaps the exterior was repainted this metallic color which suits it very well. The interior features the full Crinkle Vinyl bench seats in Parchment. Enjoy, I’ll be in the next row if you need me…
Wow, this was one loaded-up Mercury. I have always found these attractive, and 1966 is one year where the Mercury would have made me think hard over a Dodge or Chrysler Newport had I been buying a new car that year.
There were some details on the 65s that never did it for me but the 66 fixed all of them. I love the way the a/c vents are so neatly incorporated into the dash.
I wonder what’s up with those headreasts on the front seat? Were those actually offered or did an owner have them installed somehow? Also, I am not sure that this was a C6 transmission yet in 1966 – I think that “green dot” Cruise-O-Matic was still the FX/MX/FMX family that dated back to the late 50s.
Perhaps this car was ordered by a zone rep? That would account for all of the options.
I looked at the brochure for the 1966 Mercury, and could not find any mention of optional headrests. Odd, as Rambler was offering them as an option in 1960!
If you look at the back of the front seat, it’s apparent that they are not integral with the seat and aftermarket (or dealer installed?).
1966 was the first year of the C6, the last year of the Green dot valve body, making it a one-year only configuration.
While well equipped, including power locks, it still lacks tilt wheel (a GM Saginaw unit), cruise, and power vent windows, and FM radio. Still, not too shabby.
A bit of trivia regarding this interior-Canadian 1965-66 LTDs used the Park Lane Interior for some reason, perhaps related to local production.
Just wrong – I can’t bare it
Somebody scored the 410 crank.
Nothing else left to sell. Lol
Jeez, why not just buy the whole engine and disassemble it in the comfort of your own garage? Talk about penny pinching!
They’re figuring on returning for the block once they win a few races and bank some prize money. That’s why they put the caps back on.
I’m thinking that is what they did and once they were done stuck the block back in the engine bay before hauling it off to the yard. I can’t believe that someone would have stuck the block back in there if they took it apart in the yard. It would be laying on the ground in front of or beside the car.
That makes a lot of sense, but it’s strange that if you’re piecing together FEs anyway, you wouldn’t want a spare block for a future project. Hey, I know space is at a premium for me, too. Maybe that’s all it is.
I agree that the block should have also been taken. Years ago FE blocks like 289 blocks were easy to find but today a good FE block not so easy anymore.
It’s still there as of last week if you guys want to organize a road trip to add to your stash of FE blocks…I’m all full up myself at the moment 🙂 It’s likely been there for a long time too, these are mostly in the “classic” section of the yard and only a couple miles off I-80 if you’re ever passing through, free admission too. While even the high turnover stuff in this yard can sit for a year or more the older stuff has been here since before I started visiting so it could have been a very long time. Maybe someone already has half a dozen blocks in the garage and just needed a crank…
It could be freeze cracked, have serious cylinder wall or some other damage. Since the 410 is the same bore as the 360 and 390 I could see someone having other spares already. Or maybe they already had a 428 with a hurt crank.
Here’s another car like the ’66 Plymouth the other day that does not have the GM coke bottle look but IMO this is a more timeless design and quite attractive although I would vote for a darker color like Hawaii 5-0 triple black.
Did Chrysler copy this for the 1967 Newport or what? I guess Engel must have decided to go with a Mercury clone for Chrysler instead of the usual cribbing of GM’s last cars’ styling for Dodge and Plymouth.
With that said, I sure like the nice, simple, round, complete set of Mercury gauges. Looks almost sporty. In fact, the Mercury gauge arrangement would replace the linear Falcon speedometer of the 1965 Mustang.
It’s actually something a strange twist since Chryslers of that time frame only came with a temp and fuel gauge.
Didn’t Chrysler also use an ammeter? My Dart has one anyway, and they often boasted about it in their dealer filmstrips (and I might watch too many of those).
Sad. The dash looks similar to the 61 Continental. Perhaps a non collecter car and worth more in its weight in scrap metal than an excepting any offer would make. Still I’ve seen worse restored in the UK.
Normally, yes, but for some reason, it’s missing from the mid-sixties Chrysler line-up. Even more strange is that the Imperial kept its ammeter, as well as Dodges and Plymouths, including the lowly A-body.
I think it was the temp Guage that went away on the Chryslers of that period, replaced withlights for bothcold and hot. The ammeter stayed.
That’s really weird. If there was a gauge anyone else would have besides fuel, it would be for temperature, and not the electrical system.
Leave it to good old Chrysler to march to the beat of a different drummer.
It may have been the persistent pesty calls from that determined fire loss claims investigator.
LoL
Yes. Even if they didn’t have an oil pressure gauge they always had the – or + ammeter gauge, unlike a voltage gauge that was seen later on cars trying to look more techie and BMW-like, like my 1990 TransSport. I think this was so you could see them charging at idle, since Chrysler products had alternators a few years before they universally replaced generators – and in fact the gauge would be labeled “Alternator”.
As of course you all already know, that’s a 1963 Plymouth Sports Fury dashboard, a somewhat butched up version of the new for 1962 Plymouth design (the one everyone else hates).
Of the two, the 1963 Plymouth dash looks far worse and definitely falls into the head-scratching category. A dash that goofy has to have a good story behind it.
To me, it looks like someone in management decreed that the Plymouth dash would have a tachometer option. That’s certainly what the big nacale in the center looks like it should have in it, with the two, smaller, outer gauges having combination ammeter/oil pressure and fuel/temperature gauges.
But the interior design group couldn’t get it completed in time or it didn’t get approved, so they came up with this really half-assed set-up.
And then there’s the bizarre, old-west font for the lettering and numbers. Chrysler really did some strange stuff back in the day.
I prefer the ’65 over this. The hood design here was one year only, where the leading edge comes right to the grill. It strikes me as plain and down market.
All other post ’64 Mercs had the hatch type hood with a separate header panel, which was more upscale IMHO.
The service plate mentions “Rotunda” service parts. I don’t remember this brand.
I checked the web and it appears to be the direct supplier of service and diagnostic tools for Ford & Lincoln service departments.
Learn something new each day.🚗🚗
Rotunda was (and may still be, for crash parts) Ford’s brand for replacement and service parts, much like Mopar is for Chrysler.
The Ford Rotunda was FoMoCo’s tourist attraction and promotional site in Dearborn. It is said to have received more visitors in the 1950s than the Statue of Liberty. It was built in 1933 for the Chicago World’s Fair, dismantled after the Fair ended, and re-erected in Dearborn. It burned in 1962. The company obviously took great pride in it, to name its parts division for it. There was a CC last year:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/vintage-snapshots-and-photography/vintage-photograph-ford-rotunda-1953/
Little known fact is that Rotunda was the name of a large but pleasant woman who was the wife of a top Ford exec. The name was to honor her for the cookies she made for board meetings.
That’s amazing given that “Rotund” means, well, “large”
A chubby girl in my high school and church circles was named Rhonda, and was sometimes referred to as Rotunda. I think by my father.
It’s more than just amazing; it’s utterly unbelievable.
What an absurd story. It reeks of a Friday night over-beers BS session tall tale.
Don’t believe everything you read on the internet, even at CC. 🙂
I don’t.
See drum brake thread. Lol
They say that opposites attract and that was certainly true with Rotunda and her Ford exec husband. He was a skinny little nerd, a real square. Rumor has it that when he was out of town on business, she would have people over to her place to taste her sticky buns. When hubby found out that was it! He had the gas shut off! No more baking.
Meh. Last week’s Newport Town Sedan would have been my choice in this category for ’66. This one is quite well equipped though. Looks like it would have been a comfortable, competent ride for what I’d imagine were some loooong drives in Wyoming for its owner. The Legislative Staff parking stickers back up the stereotype for owners of cars like this: conservatively upscale, substantial, but not ostentatious. I can picture it sharing the staff parking lot with several Delta 88’s, LeSabres, etc. Maybe a stray Bonneville for the flashier types.
“Staid” is the descriptor that comes to mind. For my money the Newport did “Staid” with more style.
A reminder of the past: the label advising checking the engine oil level at every fueling.
If Ford didn’t want you to use the warranty number for title or registration purposes, what were you supposed to use?
I think the point was to take the VIN from one of the other sources, not that tag, which could easily be changed, and was mounted on the driver’s door, which could also be swapped out.
This article very clearly displays the multiple locations for VIN numbers. I counted perhaps at least 4 locations.
That T-bird next to this one was a nice car in its day too. Those sequential turn signals!
At that time I would have stopped in at a Dodge dealer to check out a Polara had I been in the market to buy.
I just can’t fathom taking all the top end of that engine apart right there in the yard, as mentioned above.
Great piece!
That “Legislative Staff” member must have received free gas to fuel that 410, especially by the early ’80’s.
Try again.
I may get 12 mpg in mine if I am light on the pedal. These engines have such great low end torque that even with a high gear ratio they move off the line well. Of course, when at 60 mph it is fun to mash the throttle and be at 100 mph in no time and smooth as silk. Fortunately these big Mercs only came with a big V8 as there is a world of difference between a small block and a big block. New Yorker only had a 440 while the big Plymouth could have a 318. No comparison in driving at all. I just love driving my 67 Park Lane out on the highway. Go big like 410, 428, or 440 or go home.
I think you kind of made his point for him 🙂
The previous owner may have been like my father. He usually traded every three of four years, but when the 1974 gas crisis occurred, he hung onto his 30,000 mile 1970 Olds Ninety-Eight, 455 engine and all.
Unlike our neighbor, who quickly traded his 1971 Ninety-Eight for a 240D. He smugly asked my father, “When are you going to trade for something smaller, and easier on gas?” To which my father replied, “I can buy a hell of a lot of gas with what I’m saving on car payments!”
I so love the lines on this. So nice.
But please make mine a Breezeway. That is one car I aspire to own.
Surprisingly clean styling, in contrast to just a few years earlier.
It is interesting that in the mid sixties everyone was cribbing the 1963 Pontiac’s stacked headlights but Mercury chose to crib the 63 Pontiac’s tail lights.
Somebody harvested the engine guts which sent this car to the wrecker, there was a nice black Mercury this model hiding away a few streets from where I used to live I never saw it on the street, it had been complied and wore NZ plates.
These full-sized 1965-’66 Mercurys occasionally turn up with three speed manual shift transmissions which was still the base equipment, plus the four speed was optional as well. In the early 1970’s, my dad bought a 1967 Monterey four door hardtop with front damage that had a 410 with four speed which had been used to tow a camping trailer. We swapped another front clip on, repainted it and used it for a family car. That is after swapping a 390 automatic out of another ’67 Monterey in it, sold the 410 and my brother kept the four speed.
As collector cars, full-sized 1960’s Mercurys except the convertibles are very overlooked, relatively cheap compared to even contemporary Fords of the same year. As such, they are one of the better collector car values for those who know. Best part, if you show the car, you won’t see any others at the same show.
Lots of details here remind me of those early 1960s Lincolns. This would have been a great cruiser on Wyoming’s highways
Thanks to JimDandy for reminding me that the crankshaft is the prize (Wiki says it was same as 428’s)!
A beauty shot to remind us what this one looked like in its best moments:
Had I seen two features of this car in isolation – the “Mercury” script on the trunk and the rear fender emblem (with fake wood!) – I would have guessed that the subject car was from the 70’s, as these two features strike me as very “Broughamy”.
OTOH, that gorgeous dash is pure 60’s gold. . .
Those Wyoming legislators staff stickers are pretty dang cool! I wonder if this Mercury was one of the oldest cars in the parking lot by the 1980s?
I was probably more interested in 1965-66 ful sized American sedans when they were new, and I was 8-9 years old, than at any other time in my life. My perhaps skewed memories are of liking the Ford, Chevy and Pontiac, and not much else. And I unlike many CC articles which have enabled me to see some cars with a new perspective, I can’t say that looking at this Mercury 55 years later does much to change my mind. Now if it were a Comet …
This Park Lane was built right before Mercuries began to capture my (youthful) attention, beginning with the 1967 Cougar and then the 1968 full-size lineup, complete with the voluptuous hips that GM pioneered on the 1963 Grand Prix. In my mind, Mercury was simply a rather tasteless try-hard upper middle brand before then and did not reach its peak appeal until the 1968-1978 time-frame as a Lincoln-for-less. This Park Lane, well-equipped as it is, simply came a little too early for my liking!
I find this greenhouse to be a bit bland, while the Breezeway is anything but. Nice three sided taillights though. What’s the Delco device under the dash?
This is a great find, Jim. A few years ago, I mentioned that the ’64/5 Comets might be “Peak Mercury”:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/great-28-car-number-9-and-cc-cinema-196465-mercury-comet-the-100000-mile-durability-champion/
I think there’s an argument to be made, however, for the ’65/6 full-size Mercury; they were well-received in the press, and Car Life gave the big Mercury its “Annual Award for Automotive Excellence.” As a few commenters mentioned above, they also had really nice interiors/dashboards to go with their handsome exteriors. The general theme came off better than Fords of that era, although I like them too.
Yeah, this one was a bit of an eye opener for me, prior to looking it over these had kind of flown under the radar with me, even the ’65 Breezeway from last year didn’t do that much for me. But this one was very impressive in pretty much all respects.
I’ve always liked the big Fords and Mercurys of the mid Sixties, though the chances of my dad bringing one of these home would have been somewhere between slim, no, and not a chance. A few years ago my wife and I saw a white ‘66 Park Lane convertible in our Toronto neighbourhood when we were out for a walk. Bright summer day, no clouds, and the top was down. Beautiful car, but I’d forgotten how BIG these cars were. Still, I’d love to take one for a spin. I hope that sedan gets either restored or parted out. It looks to be in decent shape otherwise.
I found it! The 66 of someone I know. I know him because I saw him drive past me back in 2004 or 2005 while in mine going the other way. I turned around and followed to Grocery Outlet so our cars could meet. Beautiful car in an understatement.
A lovely car! Is that Morro Bay in the background?
Good eyes! Looks like the big rock.
A very nice car indeed .
I wonder if there isn’t a rusted out one else where to allow one nice one to be assembled ? .
In my initial look I thought the exterior paint color well suited too until I saw the original tan in the trunk .
There were very good cars but like to many American cars of this time they weren’t much fun to drive quickly, in the hills, or park in older, narrow street neighborhoods .
In Wyoming or for any serious highway / interstate travels they’d be hard to beat .
I’m looking at the under dash thing mentioned, maybe it was an FM radio converter ? . those were very popular all through the 1960’s .
The aftermarket head rests too were nice and a common thing .
-Nate
Where is this car?
Need to know if you still have this car. I need those parking lenses BAD. Especially if not cracked you can call if better to communicate 8164477409
I actually have a 1966 Mercury Park Lane Convertible (two door).
I’m looking for the driver side & passenger side plastic arm rests. I have the pads, but simply require the plastic arm rests. These look right! Any idea where this vehicle is located? Any points of contact would be appreciated.
I still need that lens. If you find out where this car is it would be really appreciated by contacting me at 8164477409. Thanks
Brother I am looking for parts on this car as well. Did you get any response. I really need the back window as well as some nicknacks
No response yet
Emiliano ;
This was from 2021 and the car may well be long gone now .
HOWEVER ~ if you take the time to research what years and models shared this window you can then go to LKQ.com and put in a search across all their U.A. self service yards, I do this and sometimes have to travel out of state but it’s always well worth the effort to me .
_some_ of their yard offer part removal services .
Good luck hunting ! .
-Nate
The car was at Cheyenne Auto and Metal in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Their number is 307-634-5859
The car most likely is still there, this yard keeps a separate section for it, some of the cars have been there for many years.
The car was at Cheyenne Auto and Metal in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Their number is 307-634-5859
The car most likely is still there, this yard keeps a separate section for their vintage stuff, some of the cars have been there for many years.
The car was at Cheyenne Auto and Metal in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Their number is 307-634-5859
The car most likely is still there, this yard keeps a separate section for their vintage stuff, some of the cars have been there for many years.
I need a few parts off this 1966 Parklane if its still available. email me the info please. to: shevat6@yahoo.com
The car was at Cheyenne Auto and Metal in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Their number is 307-634-5859
The car most likely is still there, this yard keeps a separate section for their vintage stuff, some of the cars have been there for many years.