This Monterey's heater controls weren't styled like a car's at all — Mercury set them on levers angled like an airliner's flight deck, straight jet-age styling behind the wheel.
Lead trim: Monterey 255 cu in Flathead V8 (1952–1953) · up to 161 hp
Mercury Monterey1952–1954
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Mercury Monterey yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactThis Monterey's heater controls weren't styled like a car's at all — Mercury set them on levers angled like an airliner's flight deck, straight jet-age styling behind the wheel.
The Mercury Monterey is a series of full-size cars marketed by the Mercury division of Ford, named for Monterey Bay. The initial Monterey (model 72C) was introduced in 1950 as a high-end two-door coupe within the Mercury Eight series to compete with the hardtop coupes General Motors and Chrysler had introduced the previous year; the hardtop was introduced for 1952, when Mercury received a styling and engineering redesign (18% more window area) and the Monterey became a separate series and Mercury's top line over the mainstream Custom, with a convertible and four-door sedan in the new series. The 1952–1954 generation rode a 118.0 in wheelbase, 202.2 in long (1952) and 73.5 in wide, with the 255 cu in Flathead V8 and, for 1954, the new 161 hp overhead-valve Ford Y-block V8 (256 cu in on the infobox). A station wagon was first introduced as a Mercury for 1953 with an optional "woodie" appearance, the same year a Siren Red Monterey Convertible became Ford's forty-millionth car; 1954 saw the bubble-top Monterey Sun Valley with a Plexiglas front half roof similar to the Ford Crestline Skyliner. The Mercury XM-800 concept car debuted as the Mercury Monterey XM-800 at the Chicago Auto Show early in 1954.
Collectors Spotted in the Mercury Monterey Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Mercury Monterey yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
2 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monterey 255 cu in Flathead V8 (1952–1953) | 1952–1953 | 4.2 L V8 | 125 hp | — | — | RWD | — | — |
| Monterey 256 cu in Y-block V8 (161 hp, 1954) | 1954–1954 | 4.2 L V8 | 161 hp | 238 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
The Monterey Premier's heated AND cooled front seats were a segment first — rivals from Honda and Toyota had nothing like it.
By 1972 the Monterey had quietly become a different kind of car — for the first time, automatic transmission, power steering, and power brakes all came standard rather than optional.
Mercury dressed this Monterey to borrow Lincoln's prestige, right down to four horizontal headlamps — the whole lineup was marketed as styled 'in the Lincoln Continental tradition.'
For 1963, every non-convertible Monterey came standard with a power-retracting rear window nicknamed 'Breezeway' — its mechanism borrowed straight from Mercury's station wagon line.
This Monterey was drawn up as a maybe-Edsel before Mercury claimed it — so the design it ended up wearing was never meant to be a Mercury at all.
Chrysler debuted pushbutton shifting first, so for 1957 Mercury fired back with its own mechanical pushbutton transmission controls to compete head-on.
In 1955 the Monterey borrowed its engine straight from Ford's own halo car — the same 292 Y-block V8 doing duty under the hood of the new Thunderbird.
This Monterey's heater controls weren't styled like a car's at all — Mercury set them on levers angled like an airliner's flight deck, straight jet-age styling behind the wheel.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
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Its steeply sloped windshield gave the Lumina APV one of the deepest dashboards ever fitted to a mass-produced car.
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