Mercury
Sometimes friends send me car pictures. Folks who know me. Cars are art, and beauty, and fashion. Now and then grotesqueness, but that doesn't last long, because it's a buyers' market and buyers don't much go for ugliness. Especially when the neighbors have a beautiful new car.
Ford Motor Company introduced the new middle-price-range Mercury for the 1939 model year.
It was similar to the Ford but upscale, larger with a 116 inch wheelbase compared to Ford's 112 inch wheelbase. And those were the days when American cars had plenty of legroom in the back seat.
My college friend and fraternity brother Brad had a 1939 Mercury convertible our years together in Gainesville.
Then the 1940 Mercury:
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Actually, it hasn't always been a buyers' market* - - during World War 2, industry in the U S shifted abruptly and totally to wartime production, the 1942 model year was cut short, there were no 1943, 1944, or 1945 car models, and automobile production did not resume until the end of the war. New 1946 model cars were only slightly changed, some cosmetic trim changes from the 1942 model years.
Understand, that in that automobile era, a big deal in America was the annual, hyped introduction of new car models every fall. I remember from home, going outside in the front yard fall evenings and watching for the searchlights playing in the Panama City sky, calling attention to one car dealer or the other's showroom where the new cars had just gone on display. And local dealers didn't determine when the searchlights went on: that was controlled from corporate HQ in Detroit.
The top picture is a 1948 Mercury club coupe. I checked out viewers' comments, and one ignorant bozo said that it looked like a 1946 Mercury to him. Well, duh!
Just like Ford, Mercury, basically a Ford with a longer wheelbase than a Ford but a shorter wheelbase than a Lincoln, had a new look for 1941
and a styling update for 1942. When the war was over, late 1945, the new 1946 models came out, with, like all the rest of American automobile production, only slight styling changes.
In fact, for most American cars (there were no foreign cars on American roads then, that didn't happen until the early/mid 1950s when German and English cars began showing up, novel and smaller), until the car manufacturers caught up with heavy demand to make up for no new cars during the war years, car were unchanged from the 1942 models. Most 1946, 1947 and 1948 cars were basically identical to the 1942 models. You had to have a sharp eye to see annual model year changes.
But this is about that 1948 Mercury.
Here's a picture of the predecessor 1942 Mercury.
another
Here's a 1946 Mercury. Changed front trim from the 1942.
Here's a 1947 Mercury. Changed the trim around the front grill from painted the color of the car body, to chrome. A new, fancier front bumper. Still the black rubber rear fender guard (the fender guards were to protect the fender from being chipped when rocks were thrown up from the road). Basically, cars don't have fenders anymore, it's all incorporated into the overall body styling.
Here's that 1948 Mercury again. No changes from the 1947 except the chrome fender guard. Oh, the little antennae on the front fenders was so the driver could see the corners of his/her car for maneuvering.
See, I'm trying to help you, because, while there are actually a couple of math questions at the Pearly Gate, including the one about two trains leaving two distant points at different Times at different speeds and when will they meet? He may ask you about our 48 star flag, and how long did we have the 49 star flag, and what new state made it a 50 star flag. Saint Peter will be asking you any number of questions about detail in automobile styling and design. You'll be shown pictures and asked to identify the car make, the year model. He may ask you how you know it's a 1948 and not a 1946. He may recall Ralphie's dad's 1937 Oldsmobile and ask how you can tell immediately that it's a six and not an eight. And for what model year did Cadillac changed their V16 from flat head to OHV? There'll also be questions about the wheelbase length, the body styles available that year, the engines available that year. I've been trying for years to get you ready for the Big One, but there's just so many details.
For example, do you know that, unlike other GM cars, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and most Cadillacs, Buick did not adopt the all steel "Turret Body" for 1935? Do you know why?
Do you know what model year Ford Motor Company changed from flat-head V8 to OHV V8?
Do you know what model year Buick changed from Straight Eight to V8, and which Buick model was not changed until the following year?
Do you know what model year Oldsmobile changed from straight eight to V8? And when was Olds' first major redesign after WW2?
Do you know what model year Cadillac changed from flat head V8 to OHV V8? How can you spot whether it's a 1948 or 1949 Cadillac?
For what model year did Chevrolet start offering a V8 after decades of only the straight six? And did you think that was Chevy's first V8, or are you aware that there was a Chevrolet V8 back in the nineteen-teens?
You got to know all this stuff, man, I've got it down pat, so I'm as sure for heaven as if I were already there, and I'm only trying to help you. My mind is so full of this stuff that there's no room for memorizing Bible verses, but I've got this car stuff down, nomesane?
And, oh, here's the 1949 Mercury, their first postwar total redesign.
Mercury departed from ID with the new postwar 1949 Ford styling for 1949
it was drop dead gorgeous, and used the same body style as the all new smaller 1949 Lincoln.
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Maybe I'll just sign off and go with this, less than halfway through - -
T89&c