The Mercury Monterey is a full-size near-luxury car introduced by the Mercury division of the Ford Motor Company in 1950. It would later share the same body style with the slightly more upscale Marquis, and the Park Lane and Montclair until the latter two were extinguished after the 1968 model year. The Marquis-Monterey body was, built on a longer wheelbase and had a longer body than the Ford LTD, Ford Galaxie, and Ford Custom. During its production the car served as the high-end, mid-range, and entry-level fullsize Mercury at various times throughout its run. It was the only Mercury to be in continuous production throughout the 1960s. The Monterey was discontinued after 1974.
Third generation (1957-1958)
The fullsize Mercury was redesigned for 1957 and grew considerably larger as well, riding on an exclusive 122 in (3,099 mm) wheelbase, elevating Mercury above the new Edsel product line. A new frame design allowed a lower floor which made the car look lower and longer. Interior features included a front seat track stop to keep the front seat back from breaking loose, a new design for the safety steering wheel, a new radio, and memory power front seats. The station wagons were divested from the Monterey series, with the Commuter, Voyager, and Colony Park lines and becoming their own series called the "Country Cruiser" in 1959. The 312 Ford Y-block gained 20 horsepower to go with the added weight, and the 290 hp (220 kW) 368 cu in (6.0 L) Lincoln Y-block V8 became an option. Early 1957 Montereys had two headlights however later examples were fitted with four with the turn signals positioned in the headlight alcove above the headlights. Optional turn signal indicators were installed above the headlights to signify to the driver that the lights were functioning.
1958 brought an all-new engine: the 383 cu in (6.3 L) MEL V8. With the new engine came the Multi-Drive three-speed automatic transmission. As tailfins became to gain favor with competitors, Mercury sought to downplay the appearance and offered similar appearances but with much less dramatic bodywork.
For 1957, Mercury offered mechanically activated pushbutton transmission controls in response to the Chrysler TorqueFlite pushbutton controls introduced in 1956. The Mercury control buttons initially offered five buttons and was called "Keyboard Control", with a long button on top labeled "Drive" with four smaller buttons below labeled "Brake", "Neutral Start" which would allow the engine to start with the ignition key, "Hill Control" and "Reverse" with later versions separating the "Drive" button to "Performance" and "Cruising" for 1958 and relabeled as "Multi-Drive". A separate push/pull lever was included below the control buttons labeled "Park" which would lock out the control buttons until the Park button was pulled to release it. The control panel was installed to the left of the steering wheel. In 1959 the keyboard control was discontinued and used a steering column gear selector lever.
Source: Wikipedia
Last edited by Man of Steel; 07-07-2023 at 02:25 PM.
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