Mercury was dropped here in Canada several years ago. It was only a matter of time for everywhere else...
I remember reading something about this in the paper a while back but I didn't think that it would really happen.
The expiration of a nameplate does NOT make the ones that still exist worth any more, or any less. Witness Oldsmobile, Plymouth, Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, Eagle, AMC, Hudson, Nash, Studebaker, Packard, Kaiser, Fraser...need I go on??? You did not see the prices skyrocket as the last ones left the new car lot, did you? After all, they haven't built a '51 Merc since, what...1951?
Ah yes.. BUT Mercury haven't not existed before. Mercs are "real special". Unlike a "Oldsmobile, Plymouth, Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, Eagle, AMC, Hudson, Nash, Studebaker, Packard, Kaiser, Fraser"... lol
Mercury lost my vote when the changed their logo for one,you dont see chevy dumping the bowtie or ford the blue oval..........I come from a mercury family,my granddad bought a 49 merc new,and my folks always had mercs to,My mom always drove merc ragtops (53,58,68) and I still have the 68 I redoing it now for my new driver.My Dad had a 53, 56 and a 57 turnpike.........I will be sad to see it go away I was hoping for a new cougar even if it was based of the 'stang.........
It's actually amazing they lasted this long. The last Mercury I really liked was probably the 67 Cougar. That's a long time ago.
I'm surprised it took this long. They haven't made a car in years that wasn't a rebadged Ford, quite literally. It's one thing to share the same platform, but it's quite another to just swap a plastic grille and tail lights. Also the line gets really blurry when you can load up the Ford equivalent with more and better options than the higher priced Mercury line. That's why they have not sold Mercurys in Canada for years. What's the point? Ford is getting it now. They've gone from "Ford, the F150 Company" to an American car company that actually can make cars worth buying, even small ones.
Merc's once were a car worthy of the name, but for the last few years they were just a ford with a couple different plastic pieces. About 10 years ago our family had for a short time two FoMoCo Products: One Ford Contour, and the merc equivlent a Mistique. Both were poor, but I can fondly remember driving down the road and plastic pieces of the dash popping apart on the merc. Both were the same car minus some different plastic pieces, but the contour was assembled in MO and the mistique in Mexico. The assembly location showed in quality.
98% of people these days would even have a clue as to what the original Mercury head logo of Mercury represented.
Sad to see them go (Mercury is the reason for my user name). the reason they existed in the first place really doesn't exist anymore. Back when they were intorduced, like many other divisions, there was only one car per division, in different trim levels. Not separate models like now. So you could buy a Ford, in a couple trim levels, a Mercury in a couple trim levels, or a Lincoln. They spanned the range from basic car to mid-level car, to luxury car. In fact, there was enough of a gap inbetween them that Ford had brought out the Edsel to span the gap between Ford and Mercury. (the lower Edsels were rebodied Fords and the top edsels were rebodied Mercuries) Then manufacturers started making multiple models per nameplate in the '60s, and there was overlap. The mid and higher model Fords were priced above the smaller and mid level Mercuries, even though in each category: compact, mid size, full size, the Mercuries were always a little more formal and had a little more content. But they were still basically rebadges. My own '63 Comet shared a lot of parts with the Falcons. Hell, the doors could be swapped betwwen them and all the bodylines still lined up... But by the end of the '60s, even that slight distinction had gone away. Still, they didn't get real competition until the '70s and '80s so it didn't matter until then. Ford could have kept them relevant by making more of a spread in pricing/content. Moving Mercury to about where Lincoln is now, and putting Lincoln back into the top premium slot, not the ridiculous "near luxury" category they are in now. Like Cadillac, Lincoln should NOT compete on price. Neither should be considered a bargain luxury brand that "we have all the stuff for less money." Leave that to the Koreans. Or Mercury.
Good, I was forced to retire from the local L-M dealer because I was old, Now the dealer will have to retire because his product is to old.
Way off topic car, but their attempt at redoing the T-Bird didn't appear to help them at all. IIRC, they were selling for $45K and I saw a REALLY nice on a lot for $15K yesterday. Granted, it's been a while, but for a relatively good looking car, they sure did stick around for long.
The last Mercs that I really liked were the '67 - '71 Cougar (especially the Eliminator!), and the recent version of the Marauder.
Always thought Mercury sales should have skyrocketed after the release of the movie "Uncle Buck". But I think I'll still miss John Candy more.
I said it before and I'll say it again,,, If the upper management would get there act together and follow the other brands and re-introduce past sucesses like Ford with the Mustang,,Chrysler with the Challanger and even Chevy with the Camero they could have made a big comeback offering something akin to the 1950 mercury,,,something with style! Sadly I believe that would never happen,,,and another American automobile mark will be lost and remembered only by it's history. HRP
There was no confusing a '56 Mercury with a '56 Ford, but today, I don't know until I see the nameplate whether it's a Ford or a Merc
It was Yugo, then Mercury. Which brand is gonna croak next? Studebaker? What! You're kidding me. When did that happen? At least we still have Corvair. What!
Rumor has it the winding down of Mercury will occur at a 3pm press conference today, sad to say. http://www.freep.com/article/201006...Sources-Ford-to-announce-end-of-Mercury-brand
It's so sad and it's official. Ford will begin winding down Mercury. http://www.freep.com/article/20100602/BUSINESS01/100602047/1321/Ford-announces-end-of-Mercury-brand http://www.ford.com/news http://www.mercuryvehicles.com/ (Notice the little blurb in the bottom LH corner)
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