1953 Mercury Monterey Hardtop 

The Mercury Marque, gone since 2011, where it won't be long before the last Mountaineer ends up as a refrigerator and a new generation of auto buyers forgets the brand ever existed.  But it had a pretty good run.  Take this V8-powered 1953 Mercury Monterey hardtop.  It's a stunning car -- light, compact, decked with chrome yet still somehow restrained, at least compared to what followed.  The ad asks us to "Imagine tingling, jet-smooth, alive-with-action performance" and "visualize a kind of construction that builds a car as a whole.".  Take a 60 minute test drive and you'll see for yourself.  Gosh people in those days has sooooo much spare time, what happened?

For consignment, a lightly modded and slightly rodded 1953 Mercury Monterey hardtop.  This car has a different from factory engine and slight mods have been made to the bodywork, but it retains its original charm.  On the rockers we note faux lake pipes, some frenched headlights, a wide arm side spear, and an ultra wide and expansive looking rear continental bumper with a simple inflated tire tube in the middle.  This car may have more on the back end than the front, which to many is an attractive feature.  ( More junk in the trunk?  I'll go for that!)

Exterior
Yeah yeah there's junk in the trunk, but upfront will not be outdone with the chromed double D sized dagmars leading the way in front of the toothy grille and affixed to the wrap around bumper.  A long hood scoop is chromed on its edge, and on either side are “frenched” headlights in single circular form.  Laser straight and rust free steel is bathed in a nice coating of white paint throughout.  This finish is not without faults, there is ample bubbling on the wrap under lowers as well as chipping in various areas that are starting to turn to surface rust.  There is also plenty of chrome trimming to accent it, including some wide trim side spears, window surrounds, lake pipes, chromed wire wheels, B-pillar wraps to go with the wrap around glass, rear quarter bump out trimmings just before the rear tire and massive rear tail light bezels.  Of course we can't leave out the larger than life continental bumper.  Dual exhaust peeks out of the back bottom and the spare on the bumper is sans its covering or tire for that matter, as it is simply an inflated tire tube mounted on a steel wheel.  Wide whites wrap the 15-inch chrome wire spoke wheels and some search lighting is on either side.  What exactly were people looking for???  Fill me in so I can write about it.

Interior
Here we go off to the interior races with red uppers in vinyl and a curvaceous chrome delineator along with actuators and cranks and then some slightly soiled cream vinyl lowers and a red vinyl armrest in the middle.  The sills are red painted steel and match the vinyl pretty well.  Sills on the passenger doors is chipped and peeling.  Inside, 2 large benches welcome passengers with short tuck and roll inserts in vinyl and red vinyl uppers and bolsters.  Seat belts have been added and these reside under a red vinyl headliner that is nicely preserved.  Red carpeting is on the floors and the car has some flaming graphic floor mats.  A large two tone white and black steering wheel with slightly cracked bakelite rim and a full interior chrome horn ring is fronting the original dash.  It is an impressive array of futuristic rounded over panels protruding from the dash front which has a central crescent visored speedometer and two side “trays” with dice topped levers for airflow, temperature controls, and fan speed to drivers right.  Below are more knobs and pulls for various controls and the ignition.  In the center of the red painted full metal jacket rounded over dash is a clock and just below an aftermarket AM/FM/Cassette radio.  Below this is a trio of aftermarket gauges in a faux wood panel.  Dice are being rolled all over in this interior as toppers for the levers, shifter, and even hanging in fuzzy form from the rear view mirror.  LET IT RIDE!!

Drivetrain
Under the hood in a somewhat dusty. but not corroded or rusted, engine bay sits a later model 302ci V8.  It is topped with a 4-barrel carburetor and has a C4 3-speed automatic transmission on the back.  There is a Ford 9 inch rear axle in use and dual exhaust and glasspack mufflers are on and underneath.  So don't be fooled by the faux lake pipes.

Undercarriage
Heavy undercoating has maintained the floor pans and framing of this car.  We note some surface rust on the suspension which is front independent coil springs and rear leaf springs and some on the exhaust but it is hole free at this point.  Drum braking is on all 4 corners.  

Drive-Ability
An easy starter and smooth idler.  It had some power for the takeoff and bias free panic stopping.  Meanwhile the steering was easy and the transmission shifted smoothly.  The speedometer did not track mph, the odometer is also dormant, and the clock is frozen in time.  

An interesting luxury meets semi rod meets lots of classy chrome, all draped in white with a snazzy red and white interior peppered with dice.  That about sums it up for this consignment!

53SL42175M

53-1953
SL-St. Louis, MO Assy Plant
42175-Sequential Unit Number
M-Mercury Line

Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special interest automobile showroom, featuring over 850 vehicles for sale with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle barn find collection is on display. This vehicle is located in our showroom in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, conveniently located just 1-hour west of Philadelphia on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The website is www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888) 227-0914. Please contact us anytime for more information or to come see the vehicle in person.