1973 Mercury Marquis in the showroom.
Lincoln-Mercury Henry Motor Co., Michigan City, IN.
Lincoln-Mercury dealer, circa 1955.
John Titus Ford-Mercury, Crossett, AR.
1956 Mercury Montclair in the showroom.
Parratt-Keever Lincoln-Mercury, Michigan City, IN.
Lincoln-Mercury dealer service area, circa 1957.
Laughlin Miles, Lincoln-Mercury, Alton, IL.
Stacey Rowell Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Key West, FL.
I like the pic of the huge taillamp on the `58 Park lane sedan at Laughlin L-M! Those were a trademark of that model, being new that year. The `59 Park Lanes ended up looking just like any other `59 Mercury.
“Circa 1955” is an impressive building, suitable for a branch bank. Location seems to be California.
The star for me is that elevated camper top on the Econoline in the last photo.
There were several makers of pop tops for these Econolines. This one below was in my neighborhood for years.
Wow!
I love that top photo. “Gee, Susie, isn’t it swell that I could borrow my grandpa’s car for our first date?”
…and it’s really neat that he left his Lawrence Welk 8 track in the stereo!
Good try, but no 8 tracks, no cassettes and no FM in cars in the 1950’s. We just listened to Dick Biondi on The Big 89 (WLS out of Chicago) on the AM radio in the ’50’s.
…but you could order a record player in some cars, first the Highway Hi-Fi from Mopar, then the RCA turntable that could play regular records that I think was available in Fords. They were unusable except on smooth, straight roads, and quickly disappeared once tape-based systems became available. Lincoln did offer FM radio in 1958 – a separate tuner – but they weren’t popular, as they were expensive and there weren’t many FM stations to listen to yet.
Or Art Roberts. . .
The guy in the first photo is a salesman, look at his shoes! Susie? From accounting.
A staged pic. Two employees of that dealership, likely.
As a Mercury fan, I enjoyed this very much!
Arkport Motors Lincoln-Mercury-Comet, Arkport, NY was a must stop place when my family passed through to the larger town of Hornell, NY in the early 1960’s. It was the first place in November 1960, where pre-introduction, two 1961 Lincoln Continentals were ‘hidden’ in an open shed behind the dealership along with the new 1961 Mercurys. I was immediately smitten, especially with the dark metallic gray, red interior and black top four door convertible. The solid dark blue sedan was gorgeous as well; the 1961 Mercurys…well, invisible. Continued to be a ‘magic place’ until it closed out in 1966-’67 when the Mercury franchise was sold to the Hornell Ford dealership, Lincoln dropped.
I wonder what that $10,000 Continental Mark II was in for?
Were the two pictures of the Michigan City, IN dealerships of the same building, but at different times? At first, I was going to comment how cool it was that this basic look was maybe a common design theme for L-M dealerships long before such things existed. I think this is the same building.
I would have loved to have seen a ’73 Capri in the first photo, but I do see a wall sign for one behind the Marquis!
As it isn’t a color pic, can’t be certain. The first pic looks like a like of depressing, black, cars. Not a lit a curb appeal then.
Yes, it’s the same building. Parratt-Keever bought the Henry Motor Co. in late 1956, so the photo of Parratt-Keever is probably from right after the dealership changed hands.
I’m surprised to see that Lincoln-Mercury evidently had standardized signage even back in the 1950s – four of these dealerships have the same art-deco style Lincoln-Mercury sign.