Reverse slant rear glass: how many cars employed this design feature? Production cars with reverse glass appeared in 1957 and 1958, with the Mercury Turnpike Cruiser and the Lincoln Continental. Shortly thereafter, the Ford Anglia 105E came along, then Reliant got into the act with its Regal. Of course, Citroën’s Ami was a radical example festooned with other weird traits. Though reverse slant glass wasn’t lighting up sales, Mercury elected to re-introduce the feature in 1963, installing it on the Monterey, the Montclair, and the Park Lane. The retractable window draws air from the front vents out the rear – though under the right circumstances, it can also draw tailpipe emissions into the cabin! This survivor-quality, low mileage 1964 Park Lane Breezeway two-door sedan is for sale here on facebook Marketplace at a price of $14,500, and it’s located in Gardena, California. Thanks to T.J. for spotting this one for us!
The Park Lane was Mercury’s top-shelf offering in 1964. The standard engine was this 390 cu. in. V8, good for 250 hp and paired up with the Merc-O-Matic automatic gearbox. The seller lists several repairs and maintenance work, including a rebuilt carburetor, rebuilt distributor, completely new brakes from soup to nuts, new tires, new shocks and a rebuilt power steering unit – but there’s more including a driving video, so check out the listing! This car has only 16,400 documented original miles and two owners.
The interior is sparkling clean, with only the mildest of age-related wear, including a couple of cracks in the steering wheel. The dash, the upholstery, the carpets, the gauges – all appear to be in great condition. The seller notes that every light works; the trunk is slightly ragged, with a stained mat, broken rubber seal, and paint loss around the perimeter. The Breezeway was sold as “the window that came in out of the rain”. Alas, its reverse rake was stylistically controversial, and the advent of air conditioning finally did away with the feature completely.
This example has never been repainted, which presents a dilemma: what to do, if anything, about that surface rust? I’d use a rust-stopper and call it good, but the rest of the car is almost too fine for that. What would you do about the cosmetics? Meanwhile, Breezeways don’t often come up for sale in unaltered condition. Hagerty says excellent examples will sell north of $15k, but that encompasses all models, not the Park Lane in particular. “Good” Park Lane Breezeways will sell for half that. What would you pay for this ’64 two-door?
Another excellent write-up. For an exceptionally nice Mercury sporting factory instrumentation. Never had the opportunity to enjoy the “breezeway ” feature. The reverse canted C-pillar is not as appealing as the “sportsroof” variant. But the roll down would be worth it.
It is an interesting car and nice that it is a 2-door. However I think it is going to take a little more money and time to make it nice. I think at almost 15 K to start you could be upside down fast!
The Super Marauder 390 usually came with a 4bbl but apparently you could order with a 2bbl..because..economy?..lol
An interior shot shows thru the windshield that paint on the hood looks a little rough. Unusual for a car with such low mileage to me. The price would have to come down a bit to make a quality paint job affordable. The breezeway rear window is a major selling point, and Mercury in those years had the market cornered. If the car has no AC, the window certainly helps.
Thank you Michelle. Other than the worn paint, this Mercury looks good. With the numerous mechanical updates, it likely is in good shape. So to me it really deserves fresh paint, the clear coated worn paint look just doesn’t fit a car like this.
Some would consider the “patina” attractive, but plain and simple this car needs a paint job. It would look much better, and also rechrome the rear bumper. Also that “Super Marauder” 390 was the hotter option and put out about 290 hp. Lastly five will get you ten the car has 116k miles on it.
The 1957-58 Turnpike Cruiser had retractable glass, but not a reverse-slant rear window.
You’re right! It was a breezeway but not a reverse slant. Thanks for the correction.
Lovely looking car. 1964 has always been my favourite year for Ford and Mercury cars.
Another sweet Merc!
Leave this one as is!!
Great looking 64 Mercury 2dr survivor, and for the work already done, seems like seller is realistic with his asking price. I’d opt to do a good respray without going down to bare metal. These 390s are great engines and if were mine I’d upgrade to a 4 bbl. Good find.
Breezeway coupes are exceptionally hard to come by. Nice car – but extraordinary mileage claims require extraordinary proof and documentation. I am not sure I’d touch what it likely the original paint – I’d drive this one as is.
I am a Chevy guy, but that is a Fantastic car. I would only repaint the hood, tops of the front fenders, and maybe the roof, and leave the rest of the paint (and the rest of the car) as it is. Does looks to me like the front seat has been recovered though, as it is a slightly different hue from the rear seat.
I painted my 65 Mercury Marauder like that. It was a true survivor, so I just resprayed the hood, roof, deck lid and top of fenders in its original color, and it turned out nice. No reason to sand down to bare metal on a clean survivor like this one, unless you’ve got money to burn.
These were well styled Mercury’s. The breezeway feature truly ventilated the interior quickly. This was a Packers idea that Ford took. I’m not quite sure what happened to the hood and fender and greenhouse of the vehicle. Is that the result of too many automatic car washes with bristle brushes? The car would need stripped down and repainted. That would be costly if done correctly.
This is the first Park Lane coupe I’ve seen of this vintage. Saw a ’65 PL 4-door in a Hemmings issue that was really loaded, even power locks.
As to this one, definitely respray the whole car. Seats look great.
As you can imagine, I was a car freak even as a child. I remember the print ads for these cars in our Life magazines. It showed a little bird taking refuge from the rain under the overhang of the open slanted back glass.
We came close to buying a Mercury of this vintage, but my dad ended up with a ’62 Olds instead.
Dad had a Montclair 2dr. Breezeway (bought it new with power EVERYTHING, factory air & AM/FM radio!); apparently, there have been 3 Parklane 2dr. Breezeways ordered as R-codes discovered, & one Monterey – my goal is to locate another Montclair & restomod it as an R-code, but all original otherwise- they do benefit greatly with a 15″ wheel & 4 wheel disc brakes upgrade however