I've got a few memories i'd love to share. Mercury #1 was a 1984 Topaz. A royal pos. Next one was a '87 Grand Marquis, a 1/2 way decent car. I liked it. Then along came a 1992 Sable wagon. I got stuck with doing the head gasket's on the pos 3.8, and then the transmission. No more after that.
Share your 'Mercury Memeories' :D
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Originally Posted By: 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?
Certainly the Lincoln Continental and the Thunderbirds from '61 to '68 were the coolest-looking, and yet most elegant, cars of the time.
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?
Certainly the Lincoln Continental and the Thunderbirds from '61 to '68 were the coolest-looking, and yet most elegant, cars of the time.
The lone Merc that ever passed through my family growing up was a '74 Comet. 250 CID six, C4, basically a dolled-up Maverick. But dead-nuts reliable for the whole time my folks had it, and pretty economical too. I wound up driving it to college my first semester because my car ('73 Satellite) dumped its timing chain at 200,000 miles the week before classes started and put a valve through a piston :-/ Got the Sat back together about halfway through the semester and never drove the Merc again. I don't even remember what actually became of that car for some reason- its about the only vehicle my folks had that I couldn't tell you its exact fate. It may still be out there somewhere... but I doubt it.
Fast forward to ~1990... my mother-in-law was driving a tired Topaz 5-speed (yes, they made a few) when my wife and I got married. That eventually passed to my brother in law who drive it for several more years. Also boring, slow, but dead-nuts reliable. My in-laws had quite a few more Mercs (and Ford products in general) than my family did, and there was a late-70s Cougar (302 powered) that managed to strand every member of my wife's family at different times during the 80s. The last straw was when it stranded my father-in-law on his way to the airport for a business trip. It was gone within weeks of that stunt... ;-p
Fast forward to ~1990... my mother-in-law was driving a tired Topaz 5-speed (yes, they made a few) when my wife and I got married. That eventually passed to my brother in law who drive it for several more years. Also boring, slow, but dead-nuts reliable. My in-laws had quite a few more Mercs (and Ford products in general) than my family did, and there was a late-70s Cougar (302 powered) that managed to strand every member of my wife's family at different times during the 80s. The last straw was when it stranded my father-in-law on his way to the airport for a business trip. It was gone within weeks of that stunt... ;-p
Originally Posted By: Benzadmiral
Originally Posted By: 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?
Certainly the Lincoln Continental and the Thunderbirds from '61 to '68 were the coolest-looking, and yet most elegant, cars of the time.
My favorites are the "Engelbirds" The series of Thunderbirds that Elwood Engel did the basic design for before leaving for Chrysler in '62. That would include the 61-63 "banana-nose" T-birds, and (although no longer 100% Engel) the basic lines of the 64-66 sequential-taillight T-birds. Best looking birds ever, IMO.
Maybe I'm biased (OK, there's no "maybe" about it) but I have to give the best looking car of the 60's overall award to the Bill Brownlee-designed 68 Charger. But heck, MOST 60's cars look fantastic. It was my single favorite decade for automotive styling, followed by the early (pre-74) 1970s when curves replaced straight lines, and then followed by the 50s and 30s when cars were scupltures. Styling today is essentially dictated by aerodynamics. Nothing interesting at all.
Originally Posted By: 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?
Certainly the Lincoln Continental and the Thunderbirds from '61 to '68 were the coolest-looking, and yet most elegant, cars of the time.
My favorites are the "Engelbirds" The series of Thunderbirds that Elwood Engel did the basic design for before leaving for Chrysler in '62. That would include the 61-63 "banana-nose" T-birds, and (although no longer 100% Engel) the basic lines of the 64-66 sequential-taillight T-birds. Best looking birds ever, IMO.
Maybe I'm biased (OK, there's no "maybe" about it) but I have to give the best looking car of the 60's overall award to the Bill Brownlee-designed 68 Charger. But heck, MOST 60's cars look fantastic. It was my single favorite decade for automotive styling, followed by the early (pre-74) 1970s when curves replaced straight lines, and then followed by the 50s and 30s when cars were scupltures. Styling today is essentially dictated by aerodynamics. Nothing interesting at all.
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Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: Benzadmiral
Originally Posted By: 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?
Certainly the Lincoln Continental and the Thunderbirds from '61 to '68 were the coolest-looking, and yet most elegant, cars of the time.
My favorites are the "Engelbirds" The series of Thunderbirds that Elwood Engel did the basic design for before leaving for Chrysler in '62. That would include the 61-63 "banana-nose" T-birds, and (although no longer 100% Engel) the basic lines of the 64-66 sequential-taillight T-birds. Best looking birds ever, IMO.
Maybe I'm biased (OK, there's no "maybe" about it) but I have to give the best looking car of the 60's overall award to the Bill Brownlee-designed 68 Charger. But heck, MOST 60's cars look fantastic. It was my single favorite decade for automotive styling, followed by the early (pre-74) 1970s when curves replaced straight lines, and then followed by the 50s and 30s when cars were scupltures. Styling today is essentially dictated by aerodynamics. Nothing interesting at all.
My favorite cars from that decade:
1969 BOSS 429:
1969 BOSS 302:
1969 Charger R/T:
1969 Challenger R/T:
1967 Thunderbird:
One from the 50's that would probably have some people scratching:
1957 T-Bird with a 427 SOHC.
Originally Posted By: Benzadmiral
Originally Posted By: 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?
Certainly the Lincoln Continental and the Thunderbirds from '61 to '68 were the coolest-looking, and yet most elegant, cars of the time.
My favorites are the "Engelbirds" The series of Thunderbirds that Elwood Engel did the basic design for before leaving for Chrysler in '62. That would include the 61-63 "banana-nose" T-birds, and (although no longer 100% Engel) the basic lines of the 64-66 sequential-taillight T-birds. Best looking birds ever, IMO.
Maybe I'm biased (OK, there's no "maybe" about it) but I have to give the best looking car of the 60's overall award to the Bill Brownlee-designed 68 Charger. But heck, MOST 60's cars look fantastic. It was my single favorite decade for automotive styling, followed by the early (pre-74) 1970s when curves replaced straight lines, and then followed by the 50s and 30s when cars were scupltures. Styling today is essentially dictated by aerodynamics. Nothing interesting at all.
My favorite cars from that decade:
1969 BOSS 429:
1969 BOSS 302:
1969 Charger R/T:
1969 Challenger R/T:
1967 Thunderbird:
One from the 50's that would probably have some people scratching:
1957 T-Bird with a 427 SOHC.
My dad had a 1952 Mercury with 3 speed and overdrive from 1953 through about 1958.
That era Mercurys were upscale Fords with a hint of Lincoln styling. Longer wheelbase, more sound absorbing material, nicer seats. Also 125hp instead of 110 like the Fords. I think the extra weight made performance about the same as a Ford. That was before my driving years but as a passenger, it was a very comfortable road trip car.
Dad's 2nd Mercury was a 1957 Montclair 4-door hardtop with the Turnpike Cruiser engine which was a 368 cubic inch Lincoln engine. 1958 to about 1960 Mercury was an in between car with probably more engineering separation from Ford and Lincoln than any other time.
That was the family car I got to drive and it's performance was good for the era. It was also a gas hog, about 12 mpg no matter how you drove it.
That era Mercurys were upscale Fords with a hint of Lincoln styling. Longer wheelbase, more sound absorbing material, nicer seats. Also 125hp instead of 110 like the Fords. I think the extra weight made performance about the same as a Ford. That was before my driving years but as a passenger, it was a very comfortable road trip car.
Dad's 2nd Mercury was a 1957 Montclair 4-door hardtop with the Turnpike Cruiser engine which was a 368 cubic inch Lincoln engine. 1958 to about 1960 Mercury was an in between car with probably more engineering separation from Ford and Lincoln than any other time.
That was the family car I got to drive and it's performance was good for the era. It was also a gas hog, about 12 mpg no matter how you drove it.
My first memories were of my father's '74 Grand Marquis with 460 ci. That thing was a tank -- literally. My father then owned 3 Sables. He ran all of them over 100k mi. I've had 2 Mariners. All were good.
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I owned an '84 Topaz coupe for about as year. It was 7 years old with 72k miles when I got it. It was the biggest POS I've ever owned.
Ran terrible. Shifted terrible. Parts would break and fall off on the road.
However, even after all the repairs I made, I still made a $100 when I sold it. Good riddance.
Ran terrible. Shifted terrible. Parts would break and fall off on the road.
However, even after all the repairs I made, I still made a $100 when I sold it. Good riddance.
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