Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

58 (?) Merc Questin...


Recommended Posts

Ok, ive been checkin around some pages for 58 mercury pics, i love this cars appearance, but what i have noticed is there seems to be a variety of taillights..

They all said 1958 Montclair, but for what ive seen, there are three different taillights designs, have i been seeing concept/prototype pics??

mercmontclair.jpg

mer58mon.jpg

This onealso have different side-trim..

mer58mon2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, ive been checkin around some pages for 58 mercury pics, i love this cars appearance, but what i have noticed is there seems to be a variety of taillights..

They all said 1958 Montclair, but for what ive seen, there are three different taillights designs, have i been seeing concept/prototype pics??

mercmontclair.jpg

mer58mon.jpg

This onealso have different side-trim..

mer58mon2.jpg

The top photo is what looks to be a Turnpike Cruiser (a '57), and that one would have glitzier tailights than the rest of the Mercury line------given that it was the top of the line back then. If it were a '58 it would have the "rocket spear" inset in the rear fender.

The other two below are definitely '58's.....not much changed between the two years 'cept for front ends and tailight/bumpers.

I'm a little fuzzy on 1957-58 Mercs as they were a weeeeee bit before my time! :D

Someone else who would remember when they were new could probably give more info.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's a pretty cool reference. The 1958 Mercury brochure on the the Old Car Manual Project website. This stuff is great entertainment in addition to reference!

http://www.tocmp.com/brochures/Mercury/1958/index.htm

I agree with Mr Obsessive that the top photo is a '57 and it's definitely a Turnpike Cruiser (the rear window is a dead giveaway). I believe there were a few '58 Cruisers made but I don't know much about them. It was just about a '57 only model and was also available as a convertible that had a continental kit as standard!

I couldn't resist adding this pic of the '57 Cruiser from the Owner's Manual. Check out the antennas!

wh4349c.jpg

Edited by mr moto
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Funny thing is, I don't remember seeing many '57-58 Mercurys of any sort back in the '60's when they would have been mostly on the road. I noticed a LOT of '50's cars as a little kid in the '60's but Mercs seemed rather scarce. Their shapes were certainly distinctive enough to be anything but forgettable! :D

From what I was told by my Dad, 1958 was a bad year for the country in general due to a nasty but curt recession. So there wouldn't have been much of '58 anything to go round I guess compared to other years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wh4349c.jpg

Pure Rocketship '50's!!

Sigh........... :D Wouldn't it be nice if the car designers today could have free reign with designs as they did back then?..............Good or bad! Instead we get super boring designs (although that IS starting to change) that seem to hang on for years.

Pity. :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The best website I've seen for stock and custom car pictures is www.carnut.com They have an index that breaks the pictures down by make and year. Once you make that selection, then they're listed by model and special features.

If you can't find a picture of a particular year or model there, then it probably isn't available...

Good luck,

Raul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1958-1960 were big "flop" years for the big 3 car makers as compared to the great success of the 1955-1957 years. Look at the sales numbers for the end of the decade, they dropped off quite a bit. I'm not sure what the economy was like, but 1960-1961 were the first years of the compact "ecomony" cars.

Bob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the problems with the '58 new-car season, that had nothing to do with the recession, was the institution of the Federally mandated window price sticker. To that point the buyer could pound out as good a deal as he could, and the dealers were sometimes really flexible.

The start of the Monroney sticker also helped kill the buzz for the Edsel, which was already released a year late because of a scarcity of qualified dealers. Here was this new car, kinda flashy, with a new dealer network, and now it had a price sign, too! Too many people resisted the urge...

Edited by rick r
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...