A Far Too Brief History of Mercury

we are looking for a man in a new mercury cougar exactly like this one he's a dangerous double agent and a master of disguise haven't seen him [Music] when mercury ended in 2010 the overall car fandom shrugged their collective shoulders this brand that was intended to be a middle option between a ford and a lincoln had long before succumbed to badge engineering and half baked plans of models from other manufacturers this is a far too brief history of mercury so welcome back to all cars y'all i am john and i have fond memories of mercury from my youth but i've always struggled to really like them with the exception of a few individual products for most of my life mercury was just nice ford with a bit of chrome and nothing to really make it worth the premium price to me they never really differentiated themselves as well as olds or buick did from say a chevy not surprisingly looking back on their history it is a mess with a nearly constant shuffle of nameplates and platforms but leading to some successes along the way now mercury was formed in 1938 by edsel ford yeah that edsel to be the forward answer to buick and oldsmobile in the mid-priced segment and bridge the gap between ford and lincoln in 1935 ford had only ford and lincoln to compete against the seven different brands of general motors and the four that chrysler had ford had the standard deluxe v8 and lincoln had the model k which was amongst the most expensive cars sold in the us rivaling the cadillac v12 duesenberg or the mercedes and rolls-royce brands inspired by the companion make program that gm had done where new name plates were created without making them a whole separate brand this is just what gm did with oakland when they created pontiac ford launched the lincoln zephyr as a sub-mark and made the deluxe a sub-mark of ford but then created mercury as a completely new third brand in this strategy in november 1948 the mercury eight was introduced at the new york auto show with a two-door four-door two-door convertible and a two-door trunked sedan as options it was a hit selling over 65 000 vehicles its first year in response ford returned the deluxe to a trim line not a companion brand in 1941 the mercury was redesigned and fittingly with its future to come with its share of a body shell from ford but it had a four inch longer wheelbase it also received its own grille trim and tail lamps for 42 the eight got a dashboard similar to the upscale lincoln zephyr the ford flathead v8 was offered with 100 horsepower and the liqui-matic semi-automatic transmission that was both complex and unreliable with production suspended for world war ii only 24 704 mercuries were produced for 1942. after the war and with the rise of henry ford ii ford's divisional structure was once again changed mercury was merged with lincoln forming the surprising lincoln mercury division you may have heard of it in 46 mercuries were essentially the same as 42 models but with minor revisions and no liqui-matic transmission option in 1949 ford launched an all-new post-war design and now the mercury and lincolns shared a body shell and were distinguished by headlights and grills with slightly different interiors they all shared versions of that ford flathead and this version of mercury became extremely popular very famous and very successful as a street rod modification the massive success of that 1949 version led to a six-fold increase in sales and mercury was now the sixth most popular brand in the us in 1950 the monterey name was used for the first time on a mercury as a special edition of the two-door coupe and in 51 mercury got its version of ford's new three-speed automatic dubbed the merc o-matic god i miss those old brand names in 1952 mercury redesigned the line replacing the one eight with two nameplates first the monterey was its own model line and shared bodies with lincoln and the custom by 53 and as the economy recovered from its post-war doldrums mercury hit a high point of market share with five percent in 54 ford replaced the flathead v8 that dated back to 1932 with a y block overhead valve v8 and mercury got its own version of it they also released the monterey sun valley with a fixed acrylic sunroof that allowed the car to feel open and airy but also became a little bit of a terrarium in warmer climates it didn't last until 1956. in 1955 the mercury line was again redesigned now with a three model range the montclair at the top the monterey and the custom in 1956 the custom was renamed the medalist since there was already a ford custom again it kind of feels like they just didn't really have a plan in 1957 the lineup was again redesigned with a 122 inch wheelbase to place it between ford and lincoln the slow selling medalist was cancelled with the monterey becoming the standard of the lineup and the turnpike cruiser slotted above the montclair as the flagship in 1958 ford once again revised its divisional structure this time to make room for the ill-fated edsel mercury edsel and lincoln were all combined into one division and the edsel citation and corsair were sharing chassis roofline and overlapping in price with mercury's the turnpike cruiser was made part of the montclair line and the park lane was introduced as the new flagship model with a 125 inch wheelbase they also introduced a 7.0 liter marauder v8 as an option on all cars with a super marauder version with 400 horsepower becoming the first mass-produced engine to make 400 horsepower the economic downturn of the 50s hit mid-price brands the hardest while edsel ended up being discontinued there was a movement in ford to streamline and cancel both mercury and lincoln ultimately ford president robert mcnamara continued mercury with several conditions lincoln shrunk their cars and kept only the continental the division shifted to a nine year model cycle and mercury was to adopt ford bodies on their own wheelbase the number of divisional bodies produced by ford dropped from 5 down to 2 by 1961. in 1960 mercury entered the compact car segment with the comet beating gm to this market by about a year this was originally intended to be an ensel and was sold without mercury badging until 1962. it was a stretched version on 114 inch wheelbase of the ford falcon and became the first mercury without a v8 with its standard inline 90 horsepower 6. in 1961 they introduced new full-size cars based on the ford galaxy the montclair and park lane were withdrawn and the meteor was introduced as the entry level full size a car also originally designed as an edsel in 1962 they revised their lineup again the meteor was applied to an intermediate name the counterpoint of the ford fairlane 1964 the montclair and park lane were reintroduced above the monterey and the meteor was dropped and in 65 the full size were redesigned taking many styling cues from lincoln there was a move here to make them more like lincoln once again in 1967 two of mercury's most successful name plates were introduced the cougar and the marquee the cougar was based off the mustang and intended to bridge a gap between it and the t-bird the marquee was a counterpoint of the ford ltd and was a name plate that would continue in various forms until ultimately mercury was killed off unsurprisingly mercury revised its model range once again in 1968 the montego replaced the comet now as an intermediate based on the ford torino and the cyclone was moved from a performance version of the comet to a standalone model above the cougar psy in 1969 the park lane and montclair were discontinued the marauder became a stand alone with a 429 cubic inch v8 and the marquis got hidden headlamps to differentiate itself from the monterey in the 1970s mercury refocused on higher content vehicles and started de-emphasizing sportier cars sort of they entered the sub-compact segment in 1970 with the capri imported from germany smaller than a pinto it was marketed as a compact sports car rather than an economy car and interestingly it was the first ford product in north america sold with a v6 also interesting for its run from 1970 to 1978 it was not sold with mercury badging in 1971 the cougar was restyled but positioned to compete against the chevy monte carlo the old cutlass supreme and pontiac grand prix the comet made a return as the counterpoint to the ford maverick itself based on the 1960 comment surprisingly in 1971 lincoln mercury began selling the day tomaso pantera and ended up selling 5500 of them through 1975. by 1973 model year the intermediate montego line based on the ford gran turino was redesigned and grew the cyclone was cancelled and much of the line got updates to meet increasing safety standards including phasing out convertibles 1974 the cougar was redesigned and now based off the torino chassis and styled as the mercury option to the t-bird by this point the model lineup was confusion but after the canceling of the monterey the new grand marquis was introduced the monarch was introduced and successfully positioned as a luxury compact car 1976 mercury finally got its version of the pinto called the bobcat the capri was restyled and renamed the capri 2 and became the second most imported car to the u.s after the beetle by 1977 the middle of mercury's lineup was selling poorly so they started to make some changes the montego was dropped the cougar expanded to include a sedan and station wagon bodies and now the counterpoints of the ltd ii the cougar xr7 being the counterpoint to the t-bird while it may sound like heresy cougar sales nearly tripled with these changes in 1978 the zephyr was introduced a compact car replacing the comet and the counterpart of the ford fairmont and notably the introduction of the fox platform a platform ford would use well into the early 2000s notably they sold 580 000 vehicles and 40 percent were cougars in 1979 the marquis was downsized the capri returned now as a counterpart to the mustang the redesign of the marquee and strong cougar sales boosted mercury to its all-time sales peak of nearly 670 000 units between 1978 and 1982 mercury redesigned its entire lineup and began diversifying its model range both with four products as well as re-badged versions of vehicles from other manufacturers designers tried to give mercury its own brand identity separate from ford but the brand continued to create lookalike copies of badge engineering by 1982 the bobcat and the monarch were ended the mercury lynx was introduced a counterpart to the ford escort as well as its first two-seat vehicle the ln7 which was a counterpart to the ford exp in 1983 the cougar xr7 got an aerodynamic exterior redesign along with its counterpart the t-bird the cougar name was also dropped from sedans and wagons and became the marquis and the grand marquis became its own model line based on the crown victoria the compact zephyr was discontinued and the disappointing sales of the ln-7 left it cancelled strong sales of the cougar led to mercury being the fifth highest selling brand in 1983 the best it would ever do the front wheel drive topaz debuted in 1984 as the counterpart of the ford tempo this continued forged use of more aerodynamic design and was the first lincoln mercury to offer an optional driver side airbag and introduced new mercury logo a successful launch the topaz helped the division reach about 500 000 in sales 1986 was a pivotal year the sable was introduced as the companion the counterpart to the taurus and replaced the marquee while offering a few items different such as c pillars tail lamps and a light bar grille to distinguish it from its ford brother the light bar went on to be a distinguishing feature of many mercuries for much of the 80s in 1988 the grand marquis got a substantial exterior redesign the topaz was redesigned to help differentiate it some more from the tempo and the mercury tracer replaced the links between 1987 and 1989 this was based on the ford laser which is itself based on the mazda 323 and would show an increasing use of foreign designs in mercury's plans 1989 was the 50th anniversary of the division and multiple commemorative editions of cars got produced the sable got an exterior update and the cougar and the t-bird of course got a ground-up redesign being slightly smaller but on a longer wheelbase and was benchmarked against european a special note is that in 1985 ford imported its sierra xr4i from europe and named it the americorps xr4ti [Music] taking the name americorps from the german word for mercury they marketed these cars through mercury division and seeking to recapture some of that success they had of importing the capri in the 1970s and in 1988 it was joined by the scorpio also from ford of europe but overall this was a dismal failure and it was cancelled in 1989 and is one of the shortest lived brands in modern american automotive history in 1991 the capri returned this time as a two-door four-seat convertible produced by ford of australia and intended to compete against the miata but based on the mazda 3-2-3 the tracer returned as well as a clone of the escort and both of those were based on the mazda protege 1992 saw two of the division's biggest sellers get major major redesigns the sable retained only its doors and its roof but remained a new interpretation of the original style the grand marquis got a major update as well got an all new body but the carryover chassis got a major upgrade to handling and the car got its first overhead cam v8 in a american brand car this redesign was much better received than gm's work on the caprice or the roadmaster and the grand marquis went on to be the best-selling mercury sedan through much of the 90s in 1994 mercury got its first minivan the villager oddly ford never attempted to bring its own minivan the aerostar to mercury but partnered with nissan for one the quest and ended up using an old name for a mercury wood trimmed station wagon size between the two chrysler offerings it helped mercury sales to about 480 000. after 94 the capri was canceled with poor sales and in 95 the topaz was replaced by the mystique the near twin of the ford contour this platform honestly deserves its own video as a massive investment by ford to create a world car led to a car that handled well but was criticized for being too small inside and is often heard to have had terrible reliability in 1996 the sable got its next redesign with ford putting forth the effort to make it more different than the taurus this new design was not well received and sales fell in 97 the tracer was redesigned along with the escort and only differed in grill and badging in 1997 mercury also left into the suv craze with the mountaineer a ford explorer by any other name but standard v8 and all-wheel drive and a different grill and as the t-bird was cancelled so too was the cougar at least temporarily the mercury grand marquis benefited from the cancellation of the gm roadmaster and capri models with sales increasing nearly 20 from 1996 to 1997 and in 1999 the cougar returned this time as a version of the ford probe and based on the mystique platform but designed only for mercury the villager was redesigned as well through the 2000s until the vision was ended mercury attempted to revitalize their lineup while attracting younger buyers in spite of the fact that their best-selling model was the grand marquis in 99 the tracer and mystique sales were ended leaving only the cougar grand marquis and sable as their cars the cougar had dismal sales and was canceled in 2002. by 2002 the mountaineer got its hand-me-down version of the ground-up redesign of the explorer but with new and more distinct styling and that was the final year of the villager well the last redesign of the grand marquis changed the body on largely the same chassis it now received minor exterior changes with a near complete redesign of the chassis in 2004 when ford had its own minivan the free star mercury got its own version of the monterey as a direct competitor to the chrysler town and country 2005 mercury doubled its suv offerings to two with the mariner based off the ford escape which was itself based off another mazda platform the sable was quietly retired and placed with the montego essentially a ford 500 and the milan based on the ford fusion for the first time since 1940 the division did not offer a station wagon the mountaineer was redesigned again in 2006 and the first hybrid mercury was introduced in the mariner along with the brand's first cvt in 2007 the monterey minivan was discontinued in 2008 the montego was updated and named the sable in an effort to further differentiate itself from its ford brethren and got a more powerful drive train and some new styling the milan now outsold the grand marquis and the mariner was redesigned in 2009 the sable was cancelled as full-size cars were selling poorly and in 2010 the new generation of the ford taurus was developed without any mercury counterpart in june 2010 ford announced it would close mercury at the end of the year when it had about one percent of the market of a historic note surprising to hear that mercury had sold less vehicles at the end than either oldsmobile or plymouth prior to their discontinuation in conclusion mercury is a company had some high points and some highlights but through most of its history really failed to stand out with few exceptions i get that through most of the 50s and 60s i was struck by the near constant shuffle of names and platforms but seldom is there this feeling that ford had any idea what to do with the brand from the outside and looking in and looking back in time it feels like they they felt they needed mercury to compete against olds and buick but no real idea of how to invest in platforms bodies and interiors to make them stand out make them distinct and make them worth a premium price after researching this video my opinion was actually reinforced that ford literally just threw models at mercury often without a strategy invested minimally to make them different to make them better and they were alternately shocked when sales either fell or when they rose as the end neared they pulled models from other manufacturers such as nissan and manda mazda and again alternately expanding the lineup or simplifying it back down models such as the makur or the capri were half baked ideas that didn't feed into a cohesive plan of what mercury truly was declining sales led them to being shut down but in the 2000s it feels and appears that ford was simply not trying new ford products such as the focus edge flex its new suvs and others were never even considered as mercury options by the final years only three models were available the mariner the milan and the grand marquis in short it's hard to miss a company that had some brief moments of rich history really attractive cars a few memorable products but for 30 years was a hodgepodge of models with no cohesive identity or any real reason you would need to choose them over their ford counterpart other than little bits of chrome thanks for watching guys rival ring rival ring

Channel: All Cars with Jon

Views: 67,187

Keywords: car, cars, automobiles, trucks, All Cars, mercury, mercury cars, mercury autos, mercury history, mercury story

Id: bP8Qp6QafUM

Length: 23min 44sec (1424 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 29 2022