Motion Pictures 1960 Mercury: The Odd One

Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post:

1960 Mercury: The Odd One

Continue reading the Original Blog Post

 

I have always dug these cars. This was my buddy Michel's car that he drove all over the Denver metro area up until he moved back to France.

 

Love em….

 

Someone should photoshop one of these into a Starliner. I was thinking of that on Monday when I walked into the shop. We had the Ford, the Edsel, but no Mercury. The windshield is almost a deal breaker but not really. Anyone?

 

Funny, I thought I was the only person in the world who got off on this year Merc. If I remember correctly I even built an AMT model of one when I was a kid.

 

Really a great looking car.

I will say though, that I don't love the reverse angle on the B pillar from a styling perspective. That opinion is not limited just to the 60 Mercury here, but also to other cars that have the same or similar styling lines, ie 58 Impala and others. But that's a minor criticism. All of these mentioned are tremendous looking cars

 

A former coworkers ( in Detroit) first car was a 60 Merc that he got from his brother around 1965. His brother had the Alexander Bros fill the door handles and trim. He could never find the photos of it though.

 

"Best Built Car Built in America"

No sense getting a Lincoln that year.

 

^^^^^ Hell yes!^^^^^

 

Let’s not forget how nice those grills look in the same year Chevy haha

 

They fit 59’s ….. not 60’s

 

The rear end isn’t as elegant in real life as in the photos. It’s a bit heavy for me, it’s all a bit Edsel. I prefer the ‘61 ‘62

 

The year I was a sophomore we had a buddy whose folks owned a 4dr hardtop '60 wagon. It was baby blue with beautiful pearl white interior. We'd load the splash pan in front of the radiator with bricks to drop it, & put a set of baldies on it & go hunting babes ... they loved that interior, & the radio would pick up KOMA at 3 PM.

 

Gorgeous cars. Wish I had one.

 

You are correct..

 

The rear of the Merc reminds me of the same year Rambler.

 

Mark…I love em all…but am more of a Blue Oval guy….but could swear a bud had one on his 60 Elco..thanks for clearing that up

 

No takers on a Starliner version? We can call it the Mercury Moonliner, no?

 

There was a kit, they used to have pictures of other available kits on some of the box art. I have seen ragtop kit versions.

There ya go, a 10-second eBay search turned this gem up.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1259454222...E1XKjYTpq2taFSHwU8cdmEzg==|tkp:Bk9SR97TvpDlYg

 

Wow, and those kits were something like $1.49 back then??

 

They were $1.49 for years. I think my folks figured out that they could spend less than $10 and I'd stay out of their hair for days, just sitting in my room, sniffing glue, building models. That was early 60s, still got most of them in the attic, except the ones I blew up with firecrackers and glue bombs. Never had the 60 Mercury, though

 

Cars back then had so much style to them, unlike the jellybean lookalikes today...

 

Here is definitely a case for painting your aluminum radiator black!!! ^^^

 

My dad used to stop at a hobby shop on his way home from Grumman and the kits were discounted to $1.09. A shop closer to home they were $1.27.

I picked up a built-up '62 Ford kit last year for $25 and had to get it apart without breaking anything critical. I also picked up two '62 Ford convertible kits recently, one was semi assembled, the other was untouched. The pair ran me $125.

 

That concept would be a great addition to my garage next to my 51 and my 64 Marauder. I have the tools, shop and abilities to build it. Sadly, in my area 60 Merc two doors and 60/61 Starliner roofs are next to impossible to find. Hell, they were rare 63 years ago. Most Wisconsinites preferred 4 door sedans back then. A friend had a beautiful black 61 Starliner in 1970, first car, totaled in less than 3 months. Hard tops and converts had a short life expectancy back then.

 

I always liked them because they were odd ducks and seldom seen. Figured they would build into a nice mild custom.
So I built up an AMT hardtop, salvaged from an old glue bomb. Paint is airbrushed Alclad - Scarabeus blue/green, Modelhaus WWW's, front and rear bumpers. Tufted interior is from AMT prepainted GTO kit, cut down to size and painted Tamiya pearl white.