The other day, I was opining on the subject of fallen flags like Pontiac and Oldsmobile, so today I thought I’d change direction and focus on Mercury, specifically a 1968 Monterey two-door hardtop. This particular example is in Washington, Missouri, and is in true barn/garage-find condition. It’s said to run, but it looks shaky, so let’s investigate further. This big fastback is listed here on Facebook Marketplace for $4,500, and we have Zappenduster to thank for this tip.
It wasn’t long after Pontiac left this earth that Mercury, too, got the vaudeville hook. Their demise wasn’t really a surprise, as they had been reduced to just a cosmetically altered Ford; we were still feeling the effects of the 2008/2009 recession, and the bankruptcy of GM and the Chrysler Group – it was a tough time to be in the domestic car biz. Rolling back to 1968, we find Mercury managed a respectable eighth-place finish in the great domestic automobile production race with 360K units. This Mercury hardtop is one of 15K Montereys assembled in ’68, the entry trim level that also included a four-door sedan, hardtop, and a two-door convertible. Perched above the Monterey were the Montclair, the Parklane, and finally, the Marquis/Brougham series, offered as a two-door hardtop (Marquis) or a four-door hardtop/sedan (Brougham). What I didn’t realize about Mercury’s ’68 lineup is that the two-door hardtops, excluding the Marquis, had such a radical slope to their fastback design; there was no notchback alternative.
This car’s listing says little, but the pictures tell the story – this one’s tired and dusty. There’s plenty of light surface rust (years in the sun?), and the overall integrity of the body is unclear – except for the lower passenger-side quarter – there’s a mouse hole-sized rust cavity going on there. While the trim is all intact, the bumper’s chrome finish seems thin – but maybe that’s due to accumulated garage mung. All in all, the body looks straight and free of crash damage.
The laconic listing does make one statement: “motor runs; needs brakes.” The engine’s particulars aren’t disclosed, but the two-barrel carburetor indicates it’s a 390 CI V8 of either 265 or 280 gross HP (the compression ratio is the difference). And speaking of that carb, it looks either new or thoroughly rebuilt. A three-speed manual transmission was still standard equipment on ’68 Montereys, but not surprisingly, this Merc has a Merc-O-Matic automatic.
The front seat upholstery, what’s left of it, is certainly problematic – it’s hard to make an appraisal of the rest of the environment. The back seat, typically, looks OK, but the dashpad, over top of the instrument panel, has a bit of a swale to it. I’d assume the innards are going to need a rework.
We don’t see full-size Mercurys of this era very often; their ’68 production volume was very slim compared to their Ford counterpart (360K vs. 1.7 million units), and in some respects, perhaps it’s surprising that Mercury lasted as long as it did. I’m not sure who the likely buyer for this Monterey would be, but it would be a sharp-looking car, fully restored, wouldn’t you agree?
…for those Australians who may have wondered where Ford got the frontal styling for the 1976 ZH Fairlane & Marquis, witness the 1968 Mercury.