This is another one of those car names that people seem to spell in a couple of different ways. Is it one word or two? De Soto or DeSoto? ElDorado or El Dorado? de Ville, De Ville, deVille, or DeVille? I have seen them all spelled differently, even in respected car magazines and on car websites. However it’s spelled, this 1964 Mercury Park Lane (or, is it Parklane?) looks rough from afar, but when you dig a little deeper you’ll see that it appears to be solid and it just needs a little lovin’. I just described most of us. This Park Lane is listed on eBay in Debary, Florida with an unmet opening bid of $2,500 and there is no reserve. Bid to buy this cool project patina-heavy hardtop sedan.
The Park Lane was the top of the line for Mercury in 1964 and this four-door hardtop model has an overload of patina, and maybe not in a good way, judging from the lack of bids. I’m surprised because in looking at the photos and reading the description this really sounds like a good car. Hagerty lists a #4 fair-condition car as being valued at $5,400. It seems like this car could be close to that after a new paint job and some carpet, which surely wouldn’t cost $2,900 if a person were doing part of the work him/herself. Or, even if they were doing none of the work him/herself.
The wheels aren’t stock but I think they look great – they could almost even be a size bigger. Did I just say that out loud? I love the looks of this era Mercury and the breezeway operable rear window would be a great option for cruise night. I can’t really tell what color this car would have been originally? Tan? Teal? The rocker panels look more solid than the roof does, which seems strange. And, what’s that hot mess on the bottom of the trunk lid? The owner mentions that the “drivers door glass is cracked but a replacement glass is included.”
There may be more work involved with the interior than just adding new carpet, but that’s the main glitch that I see from the two interior photos that were provided. The seller says that the “rear window is power but needs the switch replaced.”
Some parts of this engine have been painted, as you can see, but it doesn’t look horribly out of place. Bone-stock is always better in my world but not too many people live in my world. I don’t even live there sometimes. Do you see that AC compressor? Yes, this car has AC and, believe it or not, it even works! This car “runs drives and stops original numbers matching 390 v8 with automatic transmission.” The 390 cubic-inch V8 that the seller mentions would have had 250 hp when new. It sure looks clean under that lid and it doesn’t look like it would take really too many weekends to bring this whole car back to looking great again. The big question with these patina-heavy cars is: would you restore and paint it, or would you just get everything working perfectly and drive it as it looks now?
Maybe I’m showing my age here or just call me old-fashioned but I would paint and restore it to it’s original beauty. The “patina” fad is over-rated and putting clear coat over rust looks really stupid to me. All cars (except a DeLorean which was stainless steel) had nice colorful paintjobs when new so why shouldn’t they now. here’s what it probably looked like 53 years ago. My dad had a 63 breezeway. love that back window.
I have had 5 or 6 of the ’63 Breezaways. I loved every one of them.
Here’s me in 1964 in my dad’s ’63 Breezeway. I thought that car was so cool. I thought I was the MAN sitting in the driver’s seat. WOW, Thanks for bringing back those memories. Kenny.
Even in B&W, this car sparkles.
I really like the bodystyle of the breezeway 4 door hardtop. Little too much patina for my taste, I would paint it also.
I think this one has rust, as opposed to patina. Definitely deserves a decent paint job.
Did you see the underside of the trunk lid? Yikes!
This car has a lot of rust.
Just fix what’s wrong with the car, paint it, and drive and enjoy. These were
big, heavy cars that simply floated down the road on V-8 power. Sadly,
these cars are seldom seen today as they literally rusted from the inside out.
Would like to buy this car and be somebody at my local car show.
One of the best trim features on this car is the horn button which has the anniversary writing on it.
They don’t even show a picture of that in the Ebay ad.
MORE Scrap Iron!!!! Geeez! Where are all the Decent Cars?
Geeez yourself Richard. It’s DEFINITELY not Scrap Iron. Come On Now… Umm, and HELLOOO !!! This is why it’s called “Barn Finds”, for cars that were found in barns or looking like they were sitting idle for years !!! Not “Showcar Finds”. !!! I think you must be on the wrong site dude. LOL !!!
Why are you Randomly capitolizing Words?
It seems that you are looking for cars that are fully, or partially restored; that’s not what this site is for. As for this car being ‘scrap iron’, you couldn’t be more wrong. This is what we car lovers call a “diamond in the rough”
That’s a deal and a half. If I was in that area and could look at it I’d be all over it. BTW 4.5 hours on the auction left and still no bids. Someone could get a deal.
This is the fourth time in the last month it’s cycled through eBay without any bids. The rest of the Internet doesn’t seem to place that much value on it.
Steve R
I love this car!!!!!! I wished that I could go into Florida! LOL, I grew up there and will never ever go back there again! Shipping costs would eat me alive! It’s over 3000 miles between us! I think that if they would have stored it sitting on its wheels it would not be so rusty on the top side! YOU SHOULD NEVER TURN YOUR VEHICLE OVER TO STORE IT!!!!!! Some people?
I’m with you Kenny, make her pretty again.
Someone help me out here. I’m not really a domestic guy, but when I was a kid my dad had a 1964 Mercury Meteor. To me it looked very similar to this car and being from Canada I know there was differences between our local market and the US. Was this basically the same vehicle?
I believe so, it would be like the falcon vs frontenac. Keep in mind, this is coming from a hardcore mopar guy..
The Meteor was similar in size to the Fairlane which was a mid sized car.
This is the biggest they had. Most of the cars of this style were called Monterrey.
Monterey, Montclair and Park Lane after 63. Meteor and Monterey for 61 and 62 Monterey and S 55. The Meteor became the midsize Mercury for 62 and 63, a clone of the Fairlane.
The Park Lane seems to have been first used in 1960.
Two words as I suspect it’s named for an upscale a street in a major city, Like Buick and it’s “Park Avenue”.
Grandpa had one of these. I watched in amazement as my kid brother tried to make his escape out the back glass at speed. Pop saw the attemp in the mirror and I got the whooping. Ah memories
Those Magnum 500 wheels would look super with a larger profile tire like a Radial T/A or something from Coker that is period-appropriate. The inside of the trunklid will call for some metal patching or maybe source a whole new lid? The rockers do look solid but there is a good sized curb gash almost the entire length on one of them. Repaint, carpet, glass, then drive while you fix everything else.
Alexander is right, get out the DA sander and get some primer on this jewel and go from there…These were such great cars.