1953 Mercury Monterey Custom
The Monterey, named after Monterey Bay, was Mercury's flagship mid-range full size vehicle which replaced the Mercury Eight from previous years. It was the only nameplate for Mercury to be continuously produced throughout the 60's. They were produced for over 22 years before a brief hiatus after which the name was revived for a short time in the early 2000s. They were first introduced in 1952 making the 1953 Monterey you see here a very early example of one .....
of these cars. The car was purchased by the current owner in 2012 and in 2013 received a full restoration. The body is all very solid and painted in a beautiful PPG Torch Red paint. The body has been shaved of its handles so the doors and deck lid are all on electric poppers. All of the chrome and stainless trim is in excellent condition and up front it has a custom grill. The car comes with nicely painted rear fender skirts but they don't fit in place with the current wheel/tire set up. The car has some other very cool old school designs incorporated like the lake pipes and chrome spotlights which are cosmetic. All of the lights, etc work well with no issues and it has the blue dots in the rear taillights. The glass is also in good shape throughout. The car rides on a set of nice 14 inch chrome wheels with Coker wide white radial tires.
1953 was the last year for the Flathead which this cool Merc is still sporting under the hood. The motor has been fully gone through and it has 10,000 miles on it since being finished. It is a 255 ci motor rated at 125 hp and has been built up with a Isky 505 jr cam, Offenhauser aluminum heads, Offenhauser 3 deuce intake, 3 super 7 Stromberg carburetors, chrome air cleaners, a chrome alternator, and an MSD electronic distributor. The car sounds great through the Fenton cast headers into dual exhaust with Smitty mufflers. It is kept running nice and cool thanks to the mechanical puller fan and added electric pusher fan. Paired with the motor is a Merc-o-matic automatic transmission that shifts smoothly with no issues. Other nice upgrades include the dual CCP master cylinder, Optima battery and Holley electric fuel pump. The car runs out great and is ready to go!
Inside the car features White roll & pleat upholstery which is in excellent condition throughout. The carpet is done in Red and is in great shape as well. It has a nice split front bench seat as well as a bench in the rear. The dash is nicely painted in Red and is topped with all of its original gauges, radio, knobs, switches, etc. These cars had some very cool toggle switches that were clearly aircraft inspired and are really neat to see in place. In front of the driver sits the original style steering wheel with the Mercury horn ring. The trunk is nicely carpeted and offers plenty of storage space for all your car show gear.
This cool classic Mercury is a nicely built car that has a very cool look and drives great.
Take it home for $42,000.00!