Hey y'all, Looking to see if anyone can shine some light on my serial number from my '58 Mercury Medalist, and reinforce what I think I have figured out. I've been digging around here and Google and have found very little info on the Merc codes. I pieced together a good bit, but I'm guessing at half of it based on what I was told the car originally had. #L8TA526546# 58C-20701-259-20H-A-R (Body-Color-Trim-Date-TR-AX) I have no clue what 'A' in the serial number is, or the '52'. Trim and Axle are a mystery as well. I believe the L should be the Merc code for the 312, but Ford used a different code. The car also had a 3 on the tree, so the trans A code should be for the Standard. Ford also used the T for the Edison Metuchin plant but I don't know if that code cross references to Mercury, so I'm unsure of this. I think the color code is a 2 tone 07 white and 01 black. Am I reading that right? The prior owners told us the car had its original paint, it was black with a white roof. The code would make sense, but I saw reference to Ford putting the lower body code first. Did Mercury flip it? I do know the 58C is correct for the 4 door Medalist, should be car number 6546, August 20, 1958. I know there's a few late 50s Mercs on here, can anyone help fill in the blanks?
Engine codes P - 312 M - 383 (Marauder) K - 430 (Super Marauder) L8TA526546 L - See below data plate, it has different K prefix. It may dictate luxury levels. 8 - YOM 1958 TA - Assembly plant ?? 526546 - Consecutive Serial number Body - 58C - 4 door sedan Color - 20701 Trim - 259 Date - 20H. 20 August Transmission - A Axle - R
It should be noted that Ford started their serial numbers at 100,000, but Mercury started at 500,000, so yours is the 26,546th serial numbered car.
@mgtstumpy That color info is awesome, thanks. I also noticed the other data plate doesn't surround the serial number with #s like mine does. The extra number signs aren't supposed to mean anything are they?
L 312 8 1958 T Meuchen, NJ A sedan 5 mercury 26546 serial number 58C 4 dr Medalist 07 upper White 01 lower Black 259 my book does not list this one 20H 20th day of August A 3 speed R 3.70 hope this helps
Jim, that's perfect, thank you. Very surprised about the 3.70 gears...haven't checked the rear end itself yet. I might want to be changing those out before I go running 3000k rpms up and down the interstate...
yeah, in the old days we could spin them as fast as we wanted, but now we have to check to make sure it's ok.
Just found this thread. To Squirrel, your breakdown of the codes was spot on except the trim code 259, which you book didn't have. Probably you have an early book. 259 was used in the Base or Medalist series and is for the Medium Gray vinyl bolsters with Dark Gray Saran-Nylon Fabric inserts. This series also used codes 216 for the green interior and 231 for the blue interior.
Although over a year and a half late, here is a breakdown on the 1957 Mercury data plate codes starting with the serial number 57SL23789M: 57=1957 model year; SL=St. Louis, MO assembly plant; 23789=13,789th 1957 Mercury scheduled for production at the St. Louis plant, (Mercury started unit numbers at 10001 and they did not come down the assembly line in numerical order); M=Mercury line. The second line of information is as follows, BAE=Ford's Engineering code for the 1957 Mercury, 57=4-dr hardtop, A=Monterey series; (Color) 246=2-Flo-Tone paint scheme, 46-Sherwood Green upper body panels and side inserts, Classic White roof, lower body panels and projectiles; (Trim 757A=Dark Green Ribbed vinyl with White plain vinyl bolsters, Dark Green plain vinyl accents, Dark Green Chain cloth inserts; (Date) 17M=17 December 1956 as the day this car was scheduled for assembly, Item 315=Inner plant rotation number. There was a total of 88,451 Mercurys produced at St. Louis for 1957, the highest serial number is 57SL98451M. Hope this helps.
How about this one please! Is engine size identifiable on this tag? Anything else would be appreciated also. It’s a 58 Monterey convertible. Just wondering about any other info. Thanks in advance! Allan
K = 430 4bbl 76A = Convertible 01 = Tuxedo Black Being Canadian probably has a lot to do with the differences. I don't have any info about cars "up there". so don't believe anything in this post really pertains to that car.
Here is a breakdown of your Oakville, Ontario built 1958 Mercury starting with serial number 176AK58-123252: 1=Mercury; 76=2-dr convertible; A=Monterey series; K=Oakville, Ont. assembly; 58=1958 model year; 123252=23,252nd 1958 FoMoCo of Canada passenger car scheduled for assembly. (At the Oakville plant all four lines of passenger cars in 1958 used a common unit sequence started at 100001. This included Ford, Meteor, Mercury and Edsel). The second line, Model 176A=same as serial prefix; Trim BAC=Medium Gray vinyl bolsters with "Breathable" Black vinyl inserts; Paint 01=Colonial White paint. Unfortunately 1958 FoMoCo of Canada data plates contained no information regarding the engine/transmission installed. That would change in 1959, but not 1958.
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