Share your 'Mercury Memeories' :D

[addyguy]

With Mercury being axed by Ford Motor company, we have another brand with a long history disappearing from the automotive landscape.

So, share you memories of Mercury - did you, or someone close to you own one? Did you have any 'fun memories' of trips in one, or interesting stuff that happened with one?

Mine that come to mind:

When I was a young lad, close friends of the family owned a 1979 or 1980 Mercury Zephyr wagon. Maroon, with a matching vinyl interior. We used to spend a lot of time in the summer at their cottage, so I used to get driven there quite a bit with them in that car. I think it had an I-6, and it was very, very reliable - I ran into them years later, and they drove it for like 17 years!

Whe I was in college, I owned a 1986 Honda Civic. Gas was really, really cheap, so I was thinking of getting something bigger. Guy I went to college with had a 1981 Mercury Cougar 4-door sedan with an I-6 he wanted to get rid of, really cheap. It needed some work, but it was solid and ran well. I took a look at it, but passed just b/c it didn't seem to make sense to ditch my Honda for it. I still 'kick myself' about that one when I think about it - it would have been a good car!

My best friends second car was a 1998 Mercury Tracer 'GS' with the Mazda 1.8 I-4. He drove it for a couple of years, and it was pretty quick and sporty for an 'econo coupe'. Had a wonky shifter, leaked a far bit of oil, and the starter quitting is what eventually made my buddy ditch it; but it was fairly solid and relable while he had it.

Got any Mercury stories to share?

 

[daves87rs]

Oh, the GM memories....I rode in anything from the 1980 model to the 2006 years...still ride a boat though...

 

[The_Jeff]

2 of your 3 stories are fox-body related. My dad's fairmont wagon was reliable for an 80s cars but us kids hated the vinyl seats, the heater core antifreeze leak on the floor, the other mystery leak on the rear floor that made an ice skating rink in the winter, the always-pinging 200ci I-6.

When it was 13 years old I learned to drive on it. The steering was overboosted, but rack & pinion, and held the road good, and the torque and buttery clutch made the stick shift easy to learn.

on topic I like the song "crazy about a mercury", it has a nice mellow pace.

 

[Torino]

OK, back in the middle 50's I had a Merc convert (1950). Lowered, skirts, nosed and decked with a white top, white interior and a killer black lacquer paint job. Flat head with Eddie Edmunds heads, intake, Engle 3/4 cam and full headers. Used 2 1/4 in. exhaust with the REAL Smittys (steel packed), column shift 3 speed and overdrive. Iconic, to say the least John--Las Vegas.

 

[Johnny]

Two of my Dad's cars that I remember was his 1949 Mercury and his 1965 Mercury Comet Caliente. Remember very well the monthly trips from Dallas to Chickasha, OK to visit with my Aunts, Uncles, and Grandmother. Use to double date in the 1965 Comet.

Wish I had the money as I would buy a new Grand Marquis before they shut the door, but my 2005 Grand Marquis will just have to do.

 

[Benzadmiral]

My second car was a Mercury, the 1965 Park Lane four-door with the "Breezeway" option -- a power rear window! It slanted inward and when activated slid down behind the rear seat. With that down plus the four main windows and the triangular vent windows open, on a cloudy summer morning you could get by without the A/C.

The Park Lane was white with dark red leather (?) upholstery and the big 390 CID Thunderbird engine. Got probably 12 mpg on it, but it ran on regular, and gas (this was 1981-85) was about a buck. It ate tires pretty quick, but those were bias-ply or bias belted tires, and you could buy a set for $100 then.

And it definitely was different from its stablemate, the '65 Ford Galaxie and LTD. I sat in several of those when they were new. They didn't usually have leather, felt overall quite a bit cheaper than the Mercury, and I don't think you could get the Breezeway window on 'em (they weren't styled for it). If you ponied up for a Mercury then, you definitely got more car. (I still think so when I look inside a Mercury Milan vs. a Ford Fusion, and I like the Fusion.)

 

[Nick R]

My grandmother alwasy bought mercury. Nautica, Villager, then a Monterey. She then switched to ford, and is on her 2nd edge.

 

[01rangerxl]

I have no memories of this car, but my dad bought a 1978 Mercury Zephyr wagon new. It had a 2.3L...I can't remember what transmission, but likely a manual because in the 1970s/80s my parents always bought the most basic trim level they could. The car was light blue with a blue vinyl interior. I think the only option they got was AC. The car apparently had constant problems with the carb almost from the time it was new. It didn't run great, sometimes stalled, and had some other issues. My parents traded the car on a similarly equipped (same color and everything) XJ Jeep Cherokee.

About 8 years after they bought the Zephyr, my parents got a 2.3 Ranger (same engine), but the Ranger had EFI and was one of the most reliable vehicles they have bought.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted By: Johnny
Two of my Dad's cars that I remember was his 1949 Mercury and his 1965 Mercury Comet Caliente. Remember very well the monthly trips from Dallas to Chickasha, OK to visit with my Aunts, Uncles, and Grandmother. Use to double date in the 1965 Comet.

Wish I had the money as I would buy a new Grand Marquis before they shut the door, but my 2005 Grand Marquis will just have to do.

I have a distinct feeling that my next car after the PA will be a Grand Marquis. Much as I like the Milan, the pleasure of having a big car to handle the smashed streets around here will be very tempting.

 

[KrisZ]

My first car was a used 91 Marcury Tracer, the transmission was leaking from an input shaft and the drivers side tires were wearing really fast (the car was probably after accident). There were other thing that weren't working, but despite all that I liked the car and have good memories of it.

 

[Kaboomba]

My grandpa always owned at least one GM as long as I can remember. He had a '87 Colony Park wagon and a '89 GM, and I rode around in them all the time. He bought a new 2003 GM when the '89 needed rust work.

My dad bought a '88 Colony Park wagon after his '89 Country Squire wagon transmission started slipping--at 285K mi of weekly trips carrying 9 people and pulling a 3500lb trailer, and eight times over the Rockies that way.

My first car was a 1988 Mercury Cougar LS 3.8L V6. I drove it for four years and put almost 100K mi on it, sold it to my brother with 230K on it.

I drove that car all over the CO rockies when I was 17, and once got 28.5 mpg after doing 105mph across Nebraska (dumb, but fun).

I lowered it with Eibach springs, Mustang GT sway/roll bars, and put ContiExtremeContacts on it. It cornered like nobody's business.

I'm always looking for my next Merc.

 

[Frbl]

1974 Mercury Cougar XR7. Sweet! Mine was silver-gray with maroon interior. 351cc Cleveland engine. Beautiful car all around.

Best memory: On a highway on-ramp I figured I had to get up to speed quickly and what better time to "blow out the carbs" - so stomped on the accelerator. I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw smoke and I was afraid I was burning oil. Until I let up on the gas pedal and realized I was burning rubber.

Worst memories: 1) Having the automatic transmission slip out of park on its own and almost hitting people and things - it had a recall to fix that. 2) The rust - especially on the door posts so that that doors would no longer close. 3) getting rid of it.

 

[Win]

An uncle had a '67 Cougar. Don't remember that much about it.

My father bought my older sister a new 1972 Cougar XR-7 with the 351 Cobra Jet engine, 265 gross HP iirc. White with a black vinyl top. It was her going off to college car, replacing a '67 327 (maybe 307) Camaro.

edit: Now that I think about it, he bought her one of the German built Mercury Capri's sometime after college. He bought her a lot of new cars! He drove Lincoln's at that time, and the Lincoln - Mercury dealer was a friend of his.

 

[ekpolk]

Without question, one of THE VERY BEST cars we ever had was our 1990 Mercury Sable wagon which was my wife's ride for over 10 years and 150+k miles. It had the 3.0L Vulcan pushrod V-6. By today's standards, the output was pretty sad (only 125 or 130 hp IIRC), but the car still moved pretty well. It received Mobil 1 most of its life, and had spotless innards when I traded it in.

Yes, I know, and knew then, that it was, for the most part, nothing but a rebadged Taurus with slightly different sheetmetal. That said, I still felt I liked the styling a tad better than that of the Taurus. It was still a GREAT car that served us very, very well.

 

[UncleS2]

I've never owned one- but Mom sure loved her big blue '94 Grand Marquis, bought used in Jan 96 and finally traded off for an 08 Crown Vic about 1 1/2 years ago. Yup, she owned & drove it for over 14 yrs!

The only other "family" Mercury I can remember is a little 62? 63? Comet wagon that one of my uncles owned when I was a kid. He drove his family of 6 from Northern CA to NE Tx & back several times in that car.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

The Merc-O-Matic transmission and the Cruise-O-Matic transmission. Nothing special about them, I just like the way they were named.

The Mercury Breezeway. I liked the idea behind the rear window.

1969-1970 Mercury Cougar. A great looking car in it's day, especially the distinctive sequential tail lights.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: Benzadmiral
Originally Posted By: Johnny
Two of my Dad's cars that I remember was his 1949 Mercury and his 1965 Mercury Comet Caliente. Remember very well the monthly trips from Dallas to Chickasha, OK to visit with my Aunts, Uncles, and Grandmother. Use to double date in the 1965 Comet.

Wish I had the money as I would buy a new Grand Marquis before they shut the door, but my 2005 Grand Marquis will just have to do.

I have a distinct feeling that my next car after the PA will be a Grand Marquis. Much as I like the Milan, the pleasure of having a big car to handle the smashed streets around here will be very tempting.


I know,those roads are actually worse than here in PA.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: Win
An uncle had a '67 Cougar. Don't remember that much about it.

My father bought my older sister a new 1972 Cougar XR-7 with the 351 Cobra Jet engine, 265 gross HP iirc. White with a black vinyl top. It was her going off to college car, replacing a '67 327 (maybe 307) Camaro.

edit: Now that I think about it, he bought her one of the German built Mercury Capri's sometime after college. He bought her a lot of new cars! He drove Lincoln's at that time, and the Lincoln - Mercury dealer was a friend of his.


wow,did he ever buy you a new one ?

 

[Win]

About four fifths of a Pontiac!

 

[Scdevon]

1967 Cougar XR-7. 289 V-8. Fun car and one of the best looking cars of all time.

Am I the only one who thinks Ford/Mercury made the best looking cars in the 1960's?