The Mercury Eight received a new design right before WWII broke out and then things were put on hiatus until after the war. This 1947 Mercury Eight Series 79M Club Convertible wouldn’t look that much different than the 1941 model other than a new grille and a few other touches. This Merc can be found listed here on eBay in Guilford, Connecticut with a buy it now price of $10,500 or you can make an offer.
What a great grille! Here’s what it should look like and hopefully will again. Mercury made the Eight for the years 1939 to 1951, that’s quite a span of time if you take into consideration everything that happened over those few years. You can see that this one still had running boards, although they were covered by the bottoms of the doors and built into the rear quarters. The next and last generation Eights would be what we consider modern 1950s designs without running boards. This is a drop-dead gorgeous car, or it would be if it were to be restored. This car was originally Monsoon Maroon but it was painted red around 1960, according to the seller.
Mercury made a little over 10,200 Series 79M Club Convertibles in 1947. There was also a Town Sedan, a Sedan Coupe, and a Station Wagon. This Club Convertible is a “Barn find! Recent purchase from a gentleman who owned it since 1957. Runs & drives!” It does have a fair amount of rust repair to do, but it’s also a 72 year old convertible. The power top isn’t working and the top needs to be replaced. You can see the original seat fabric and maroon leather under that checked cover.
This is one great-looking flatty! Unfortunately, it isn’t the original 100-hp 239 cubic-inch flathead V8. The seller says that it’s a 1950 Flathead V8 but we don’t know what it is. Any guesses? A 255 maybe? Whatever it is they say that it’s “sweet running” and this car is pretty sweet overall. Hagerty is at $54,900 for a #2 excellent condition car so this isn’t one that you could just drop off at a restoration shop and have them go at it if you were watching your pennies, but I sure hope it gets restored. If a person had a little skill with welding it would be a fun project car. Have any of you owned a Mercury Eight?
Gotta love it!
I used to see one nearly identical to this car but had a Columbia two speed rear axle in the early 60s when this was a 200 dollar car. I stopped many times to try to buy it, but no deal. And then one day when I went by it was gone. This one has a bit too much rust for ME to handle but I’d fix the top and do what it needed to make it reliable and drive it. I live in Michigan, so by the time I got to one end of it the rust monster would have eaten the other end. But it now has dropped to 8500
My parents had a 41 Mercury Convertible which they drove until 1951. When my father decided that is was time to have the seats reupholstered, we sat on beer crates. This was obviously pre-seatbelt days. He was given $300 on a trade in for a 1951 Cranbrook. The minute he got home, he realized that he had made a mistake.
Most guys interested in these are older than I am. Hopefully there is someone out there that still wears a white tee shirt with Lucky Strikes rolled in one sleeve.
HAD ONE OF THESE BACK IN HIGH SCHOOL 1953–,PAID 250.00 ON USED CAR LOT –WAS A REGULAR CUSTOMER AT THE LOCAL JUNK YARD–WHEN THE FIRST ORIGINAL ENGINE THRU A ROD WENT TO THE JUNK YARD AND PICKED ANOTHER COMPLETE $75.00 ENGINE WHICH FAILED AT 10,000 MILES SO BACK TO SEE “TONY” FOR ANOTHER $ 75.00 ENGINE WHICH ALSO RAN FOR 10,000 MILES SO BACK TO SEE ‘TONY ” WHO HAD ANOTHER ENGINE WAITING FOR ME –PUT IT IN AND WITH 100 MILES ON THAT ENGINE SOLD THE CAR !!! GREAT TIMES AND MEMORIES BUT AT 83 i DO NOT THINK THIS WOULD BE S GOOD PROJECT FOR ME