Hi All, I'm looking at buying a 1955 Mercury Monterey. I took it for a test drive yesterday and it runs great. The only real red flag I noticed was the speedometer. The dash as a whole looks great, but the speedometer doesn't work. I could hear the cable spinning and trying to move the needle, which makes me think the problem is on the dash end (might be a stripped gear or disconnected cable). I wanted to get some input on whether or not this is a deal breaking issue before pulling the trigger. I realize my description is pretty vague, so an accurate diagnosis is pretty much impossible, but do any of you have any experience with repairing the speedometer on a Ford/Merc like this? Is it any different from the average mid-50's speedometer? On that note, any other advice on what I should be looking for on a '55 Monterey? Original paint has a bit of patina, but no real rust problems anywhere. Chrome and gl*** looks great. It starts right up (still has the oil bath air cleaner) and the Merc-o-matic shifts smoothly and stays in gear. There's a few bits of missing interior trim, but nothing major. Thanks in advance!
Sounds like a stripped gear. A pain to take out but can be repaired. Laying on a floor board with your head on a brake pedal is a bi--h. When you drove it, did you select "L" to see if first gear was OK. Merc-O-Matics started in 2nd gear normally and then shifted about 20-25 to high/3rd when driven normally. It will stay in 2nd if continue to accelerate without letting shift to high. If you jumped on it hard from a standing start it will start in 1st and go thru the gears.....NOT advisable on an old car looking to buy but starting in 1st by selecting it is IMO. Good Luck
Thanks for the reply, Jimmy Six. Good to know there's nothing unusual about '55 Merc speedometers. I checked second and third gear, but not first. From what I've read, third gear is where slippage typically occurs on these old Merc-o-matics. Does first tend to have problems as well? Thanks again!
An inoperative speedometer after 64 years would not be a deal breaker for me! Post some pictures of the car.
I'm of 2 minds about this. If I was in the market, and was looking at a car like that, and that was the only thing wrong I would buy it. But from the tone of your post I get the impression you are new to the world of old cars and think you can buy a 64 year old car as if it was brand new on the showroom floor, and look forward to long years of trouble free service. This is not realistic. Old cars usually have something the matter with them. Buy even a good one and you can expect to spend hundreds, possibly thousands making it really right. And then, old cars require a lot more maintenance and upkeep than new cars. So, if you are looking for a carefree hobby don't buy it, don't buy any old car. If you can accept that the fun of an old car comes with expenses and problems, go ahead and buy it.
I would suspect a broken or inoperative speedo cable first. This is simple and cheap to fix. Not likely the speedo is broken but if it is, it can be fixed or replaced. When you drive the car does the odometer move? If it does, that shows the cable is working and the speedo is broken. If it does not move that shows the speedo is not being driven by the cable and the problem is probably the cable.
any pics of Merc to share? motor/trans ever rebuilt? seats/headliner in good shape, etc - if you are just on the fence and not ready to jump and make a deal for this car with a great body style go ahead and use the speedometer as an excuse not to buy - otherwise buy it - anything can be repaired/replaced
Rusty is correct in many ways. I have a 56 because it's what I was raised with and understand well and have what I feel a better mechanical knowledge and tools collected over 40 years of racing. One other thing about a 55 Merc, it is or was built as a 6 volt car and the 56 was not. But still good luck..
Thanks for the replies everyone, much appreciated. If it helps, I'm looking at this car as a fun long term project to tinker and learn with, not a daily driver. I've been wanting to get into cl***ic cars for years and I'm finally in a position to do so. My thought was to grab something to serve as a guinea pig to get my feet wet. I don't want something so valuable or pristine that I'm worried about my investment, nor a heap that may never run again despite years of work. Something in the middle would be my ideal: something that runs at least decently, but with potential for improvement. Jimmy, it currently has a 12 volt battery so it looks like someone converted the car somewhere along the line. Jalopy, it looks like it received some upholstery work at some point. Current seats and headliner look and feel great, but I don't think they're true to the original interior trim (headliner and carpet might be original, but the seat upholstery is close, but not quite right compared to what I've seen online). The trim code is 557, but I'm having trouble tracking down mercury interior trim codes for this year. The exterior still has the original sunglaze/Alaska white combo. Seller has only owned the car for the past few years and evidently I know more about the car than he does (which is saying something). It looks like the engine and air cleaner were repainted blue a while back because the original yellow is showing through in some spots. My guess is the engine would have been removed for the repainting, which might indicate some kind of work being done, but again it's just a guess. It sure drives nice though. In short, I'm not looking for something that's turnkey, I'm looking for a project, but if I can get one that runs decently and looks halfway decent, I feel like it'll give me a nice starting point.
If it has a 12v battery does it also have an alternator or 12v generator? If it is just the battery, someone probably threw it in the car to get it going because it was the only battery they had handy. No problem, just get the right battery. If the car has an alternator someone has tried to change it to 12v and 9 chances out of 10, half ***ed it. This would be as big a concern to me, as the speedo.
The Speedo shouldn’t be a deal breaker. If the mercury is like a ford, check out the front crossmember for rust. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
If a previous owner did a hack job on the 12 volt conversion, I'm ***uming worse case scenario would be redoing the conversion properly. It looks like these Mercs had the same power train as the '55 T-birds. There appears to be a lot conversion kits available for '55 T-birds. I would think one of those work for this Merc because it has the same 292 Y-block, or am I way off base?
You're worried about a speedo not working on a 64 year old car? This is not the hobby for you Sir!!!!
I still have NOS parts in stock to repair your 55 Mercury speedometer. So not a major deal breaker on that. Make sure to listen to the guys here who have experience with the model and check the car accordingly. Remember it’s 67 years old.
I had to replace one of those speedometers at work. It was not a fun job. The small screws and nuts are very hard to get at under the dash. My main concern would be the automatic transmission on an original car. If it has never been rebuilt it will go out on you with some use. The seals are now 67 years old, and hard as a rock. Even if it has been rebuilt 30 years ago, so figure a rebuild in your future.
The Jalopy Journal
