It’s wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to call the 1958-60 models the “Lost Mercury”; after all, how many do you see these days? How many did you see back then? They didn’t sell terribly well, partially because the market for medium-priced cars was a little soft in that three-year period (even stalwart Buick was suffering from poor sales). But we shouldn’t let that grim fact take away from these rare Mercs today, because they’re beautiful (in the context of the late ’50s/early ’60s) cars, especially when they look like this bright red 1960 Colony Park, brought to us by our faithful classified-comber T.J. It’s being sold on Marketplace in Landrum, South Carolina, with an asking price of $49,500, but there is a question or two about the car that might go unanswered.

The first question regards the powertrain. The seller presents the car as having a 383 “Marauder,” which is exactly what the car was listed as having when it sold at Mecum’s Dallas/Fort Worth Auction on October 31, 2025. However, the Colony Park came standard with a 310-horsepower 430 two-barrel. Additionally, the 383 had red valve covers and air cleaner (according to the examples I can find), while the 430 had gold equipment as shown above. I would imagine then that this is a 430, but unless someone in the reading audience has extensive experience telling a 383 and a 430 apart by way of a single picture, this one may remain a mystery.

Of course, the other mystery is why the car is up for sale so soon after the auction. The Mecum selling price (which you can find simply by signing up for Mecum’s website) was $41,800, so the seller’s looking for a little profit. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that, but this doesn’t look like the kind of car you buy to flip right away on Marketplace. It seems like a very nice car, and the seller says that the car has excellent paint and body work and doesn’t appear to have had any rust repaired.

All Mercury station wagons had four-door hardtop architecture in 1960, and the Colony Park is truly midcentury stunning. The Colony Park wasn’t especially rare when new, as 7,411 were sold. That’s actually not too bad for a mid-priced wagon.

The interior looks extremely well-preserved or well-restored, probably the latter.

The upholstery doesn’t quite match the few examples of other Colony Parks I found online, and the sales material is inconclusive when it comes to Colony Parks. It’s little matter. It looks great, and it looks era-appropriate. By the way, the dashboard is exactly as you’d hope it would look: optimistic in a spaceship manner.

From what I can gather online, this car has been sold several times over the course of the last seven years or so. It’s so nice that I can’t imagine there’s something significant wrong with it, but who knows. If you’re interested, a few questions to the seller just might solve a lot of mysteries.