CarBrandLogos archive · Mercury · 1939

MercuryMercury Eight

Ford's answer to the gap between a DeLuxe and a Lincoln — and later the definitive custom.

Photo: Michael Spiller from Bradford, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in Mercury history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Mercury Eight, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

By the late 1930s Ford had a problem in the middle of its range. The Ford DeLuxe sat at the bottom and the Lincoln-Zephyr at the top, and General Motors was picking off buyers in between with Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick. Edsel Ford created a new marque to fill it, and the Mercury Eight, launched for 1939, was the whole of that marque's product line.

Esplanade Mercury July07Left · Infrogmation of New Orleans · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

Mechanically it was a Ford with a longer wheelbase, a wider body and a bored-out version of the flathead V8 — enough separation to justify the price, not enough to require a separate engineering programme. It sold respectably, was interrupted by the war, and returned afterwards on a new body.

1948 Mercury Eight convertible rear · Theodulf · CC BY-SA 3.0

In production

What secured its place was the 1949 redesign. The postwar Mercury was a full-width slab-sided car with a low roof and heavy proportions, and Californian customisers found that it responded to chopping and lowering better than almost anything else on the road. The chopped, lead-filled 1949–51 Mercury became the archetypal lead sled, and James Dean's black 1949 in Rebel Without a Cause fixed the image permanently.

1939 Mercury Sedan · Sicnag · CC BY 2.0

Legacy

The Eight name was retired in 1951, its role split between the Monterey and the Custom, but the shape it left behind outlasted the marque itself.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1939–1951

Technical specification

The Mercury Eight, in detail.

Production: 1939–1951
Class: Full-size
Layout: FR layout
Assembly: Main plant:item_style=margin-left:1.5em; Dearborn, Michigan; Wayne, Michigan (starting 1952); Branch assembly:item_style=margin-left:1.5em; Long Beach, California; Maywood, California (starting 1948); St. Louis Missouri;
Manufacturer: Mercury (Ford)

Explore Mercury Read the full reference ↗

Badge at launch