Always loved my parents Mercury’s. The Colony Park was their favorite model .. Fran Kral Lincoln -Mercury was the dealer a cut above in service and sales. I miss them and all the Mercury’s 😢. Thank you for the fond memories this music brought back to me!
My father in law, Harry Weiss, wrote that music back in the 1950s. Mercury held a competition for music to the "Move Ahead with Mercury" lyrics, and they made it known throughout the music industry. Harry wrote it, and they paid him three thousand dollars for it. Playing piano since teaching himself at the age of three, he went straight out to Steinway in New York , and began trying pianos, narrowed it down to two over a period of about three weeks. But he knew he had to make a decision because somebody else was looking at the same two pianos. So he chose the one he thought was best and went in and plunked down his three thousand dollars for it. The next day Richard Rogers, who was the other guy trying the same two pianos, came in to get that same one, but had to settle for the other one. Harry's grand was a fabulous instrument. I always hoped to inherit it, but it was not to be, but that is another whole story. Thanks for posting this. It's lovely to remember these old advertising tunes that are so much a part of American life.
Many Packard stylists went over to Mercury Lincoln when the Detroit factory closed in 56. One of the Packard designs, the reverse slant rear window first introduced on the Packard Balboa in 1953 was still in production in 1966.
Hardtops, convertibles, fastbacks and the unique breezeway rear window. ‘66 was the dawn of Mercury’s golden age. Darned shame the last years of the Cat saw nothing but Ford lookalike models!
I was 9 years old the summer that my parents bought their first new car. We lived near a Ford/Mercury dealership in a small town that kept maybe 25 vehicles on the lot. I remember that we test drove a new Comet Capri, bought ended up buying a Fairlane 500 because my mother couldn’t get over the fact that the Comet had a window sticker of $3,006.05 and the Fairlane had a window sticker of $2,843.44. Even as a 9 year old I thought what the heck difference does $162.00 make? Funny how you remember such minutia.
My first car was a '66 Montclair which I bought in 1970. A true land yacht, it floated down the highway. Only problem was it got 8 mpg. When I started working out of town, I had to let it go. Beautiful car that I couldn't afford to feed.
The star of Mercury's 1966 lineup was - I think - the then-completely-new Comet. No longer a compact, Comet was now intermediate-sized, using the same platform as the Ford Fairlane.
So sad Ford let Mercury become a Ford clone division and become redundant. With these cars shown here, Mercury showed plenty of its own personality. You couldn't tell the basic shell and platform (on a longer wheelbase of course) was shared with the full size Fords. In the final days, the Grand Marquis was a Crown Victoria clone, with fancy trim.
Alas, "they all did 'Badge Engeneering" by the 1980's. I'm a diehard vintage car guy, love em all. But in a way, the mid-priced cars were 'doomed': Olds, DeSoto, Mercury, Pontiac... When most of these marques were created, buyer expectations were pretty 'basic'. Heaters and Radios were optional luxuries; armrests & passenger side windshield wipers were sometimes optional in the low-priced range. Even into the 60's, if you wanted better handling in a full sized car, you bought a wide-track Pontiac; the latest tech - Olds, etc... as time went on, the consumer begant to expect decent handling/performance and 'comfort' - even a semblance luxury - in a Ford, Chevy or Plymouth. So the idea of having to move up to an Olds/Buick/Chrysler for a leather interior of power windows to even be available became moot. Sadly, that basically meant many mid range marques did too. But.... that's why we love the vintage rides!!!
You're correct! That was an error in my haste to assemble images for the montage to 'animate' what is an audio-only recording. Hope you enjoy hearing the "Move Ahead With Mercury" song for 1966!
Move ahead in your Mercury at 110Mph! let them know your not driving a Volkswagen!!!! They will all be impressed at the "CLUB" when you arrive in your Mercury, you will fit right in with the other stuff shirts, with your Mercury!!!
